In Desert and Wilderness (Polish: W pustyni i w puszczy) is a 1973 Polish film directed by Władysław Ślesicki. Adapted from the 1911 novel In Desert and Wilderness by Henryk Sienkiewicz, it tells the story of two kids, Staś Tarkowski and Nel Rawlison, kidnapped by the rebels during Mahdi's rebellion in Sudan.
The film is 193 minutes long and is composed of 2 parts which were shown separately in theaters. Work on it started in 1971. It was filmed in Egypt, Sudan and Bulgaria, with an international cast and crew. At the same time, a four-part miniseries was made. It is similar to the film but has some additional scenes as well as some altered scenes. Another adaptation was released in 2001.
The film remains to this day the second most-watched Polish film in cinemas in history with 31 million viewers seeing the film only in the period of the Polish People's Republic (until 1989).
Cast
Monika Rosca .... Nel Rawlison
Tomasz Mędrzak .... Staś Tarkowski
Emos Bango .... Kali
Malia Mekki .... Mea
Edmund Fetting .... George Rawlison (Nel's father)
Stanisław Jasiukiewicz .... Władysław Tarkowski (Staś's father)
Zygmunt Hobot .... Kaliopuli
Zygmunt Maciejewski .... Linde
Ahmed Hegazi .... Gebhr
Ahmed Marei .... Chamis
Ibrahim Shemi .... Idrys
Abdel Menam Abu El Fatouh .... Mahdi
Hosna Suleyman .... Dinah
Abbas Fares
Stefania Mędrzak .... Madame Olivier
Fatma Helal .... Fatma
Jerzy Kamas .... Tarkowski's voice (uncredited)
Mohamed Hamdi, Bogumił Simeonow, Gawrił Gawriłow and others.