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Clash of Loyalties (Arabic: المسألة الكبرى, romanized: al-masʿāla al-kubrā, aka The Great Question) is a 1983 Iraqi film focusing on the formation of Iraq out of Mesopotamia in the aftermath of the First World War.[1]

Al-Mas'ala Al-Kubra
The official poster of the movie
Directed by	Mohamed Shukri Jameel
Written by	Ramadan Gatea Mozan, Lateif Jorephani and Mohamed Shukri Jameel.
Produced by	Iraqi Film and Theater Foundation
Starring	Oliver Reed John Barron James Bolam Helen Ryan Sami Abdul Hameed Qasim Al-Malak
Narrated by	Michael Hordern
Cinematography	Jack Hildyard and Majid Kamel
Edited by	Bill Blunden
Music by	Ron Goodwin
Distributed by	Iraqi Film Corporation
Release date	1983
Running time	184 minutes
Country	Iraq
Languages	Arabic English
Budget	$24 mil

The film was financed by Saddam Hussein, filmed in Iraq (mainly at the Baghdad Film Studios in Baghdad's Mansour neighbourhood and on location at the Tigris-Euphrates marshlands, Babylon and Kut) at the height of the Iran–Iraq War and starred Oliver Reed as Gerard Leachman, Marc Sinden as Captain Dawson[2] and Helen Ryan as Gertrude Bell, with score by Ron Goodwin.[3]

Investigative journalist James Montague, writing in the July 2014 issue of Esquire magazine, claimed that Marc Sinden spied for the British Government's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) during the filming of Clash of Loyalties in Iraq, after being made "an offer he couldn’t refuse, appealing to his duty and his pride in Queen and Country." In the article Sinden admitted that it was true.[4][5]

It is known for being the last film made to use the now banned "Running W" technique, invented by famed stuntman Yakima (Yak) Canutt, which was a method of bringing down a horse at the gallop by attaching a wire, anchored to the ground, to its fetlocks and so launching the rider forwards spectacularly at a designated point. It invariably killed the horse, or at best it was unrideable afterwards.[6] The British stuntman Ken Buckle (who had been trained by Yak) performed the highly-dangerous stunt three times during the huge cavalry charge sequence.[2][7]

Both Arab and English versions of the film were produced.[1][8]

Release and Reception

The film was nominated for the Golden Prize at the 13th Moscow International Film Festival in 1983.[9] It was screened at the 1984 London Film Festival, but was not otherwise shown theatrically in the United Kingdom.[10]

Cast

• Yousef al-Any as Blind Leader
• Ghazi al-Takriti as Dhari al-Mahmood
• Bernard Archard as Sir Percy Cox
• John Barron as General Haldane
• James Bolam as A. T. Wilson
• Helen Cherry as Lady Cox
• Barrie Cookson as Colonel Hardcastle
• Sami Abdul Hameed as Nationalist Leader (as Sami Abdul Hamid)
• Oliver Reed as Colonel Leachman
• Helen Ryan as Gertrude Bell
• Marc Sinden as Captain Dawson
• Michael Hordern as the Narrator

See also

• Lion of the Desert, similar Libyan film financed by Gaddafi

References

External links

• Al-Mas' Ala Al-Kubra at IMDb

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