Nonureva Really Surprised!

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

dglink Samuel Bronston produced three big-budget films at his Madrid studio during the early 1960's. The three films, "El Cid," "The Fall of the Roman Empire," and "55 Days at Peking" all featured well known stars, had casts of thousands, memorable music scores, and budgets that provided production values that splashed across the wide screen. Unfortunately, all three productions received mixed critical reviews and modest box-office returns. "55 Days at Peking" is typical of the three; headed by a trio of big names, Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, and David Niven, and directed by Nicholas Ray, the lavish production is set in China during the Boxer Rebellion. The historical period and the politics make a fascinating backdrop to a cliché-ridden story.Heston plays an American Major and glides by on his toothy grin and profile, while Niven depends on his innate Britishness to carry him through the role of an English diplomat. Ava Gardner comes off best; her beauty and grace imbue what is an undemanding role as a Russian Baroness with a priceless necklace, a murky secret, and a past littered with men. Similar to "The Good Earth," "Dragon Seed," and other Hollywood films of the 1930's and 40's, the casting of Western actors as Chinese characters persisted. Flora Robson as the Dowager Empress, Leo Genn as General Jung-Lu, and Robert Helpmann as Prince Tuan, are made-up Chinese caricatures, with Robson faring best and Helpmann worst. John Ireland, Harry Andrews, Kurt Kaszner, and Paul Lukas fill out the rest of the noteworthy Western roles.Dong Kingman's colorful watercolors over the opening and closing credits are worthy of mention, as is Dimitri Tiomkin's Oscar-nominated score. Set against a turbulent era, the script by Philip Yordan and Bernard Gordon creaks much like the archaic casting of whites for Chinese; the story links one cliché with another whenever it strays from scenes that depict historical events into a lukewarm romance or sugary domestic drama. A few scenes that involve children have dialog that was possibly cribbed from Hallmark cards and is borderline cringe worthy. This large-scale ode to Western imperialism celebrates the endurance of a group of stubborn Westerners against the Chinese, who resented their intrusion and tried to force them out. The film is told from the perspective of the European diplomats trapped in Peking's foreign compound, who withstood 55 days of siege. Again like vintage films from Hollywood's Golden Age, coiffures and makeup are never mussed, clothing is never soiled, and death is always painless, bloodless, and peaceful. Nicholas Ray's direction of the action scenes is solid, although atmospheric scenes clutter the first third to extend the film's length and justify its importance. "55 Days at Peking" might have been a winner in the 1930's, but for contemporary viewers, politics have changed, and glorifying imperialism is no longer popular. The film is decent viewing for a peek at the past, an introduction to the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, and as an example of flamboyant, spectacular filmmaking of the early 1960's.

SnoopyStyle It's the summer of 1900 Peking. The Boxer Rellion explodes attacking foreigners and Christians. The Dowager Empress Tzu-Hsi tries to harness the Boxers against the foreigners as differing voices in court argue. China veteran Maj. Matt Lewis (Charlton Heston) leads his US forces into the city. He tries to buy a British missionary captive from the Boxers but he's already dead. Sir Arthur Robinson (David Niven) leads the British mission trying to keep the peace. Lewis becomes romantically involved with Russian Baroness Natalie Ivanoff (Ava Gardner). Prince Tuan orders the murder of the German minister by the Boxers witnessed by Lewis. The Dowager 'advises' the foreign legations to leave Peking within 24 hours.The politics is a bit simplified. Charlton Heston is impossibly gallant and uncomfortably stiff as the romantic lead. Ava Gardner has the unenviable task of batting googly eyes at him. David Niven does the stiff upper lip very well. He's the superior actor in this one. The main Chinese characters are all played by white actors. It's a missed opportunity but business as usual for Hollywood of that era. The extras are mostly Asians which is an effort considering the filming location is Spain. The sets are impressive. The battles are compelling big actions with lots of Chinese killed as well as the prerequisite foreigners. This is an old fashion war epic with as much racial sensitivity as can be expected.

Spikeopath 55 Days at Peking is directed by Nicholas Ray and Andrew Marton and collectively written by Philip Yordan, Bernard Gordon, Robert Hamer and Ben Barzman. It stars Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, David Niven and Flora Robson. Music is scored by Dimitri Tiomkin and cinematography is by Jack Hildyard.1900, Peking, China. The Boxer Rebellion. 13 of 18 provinces are under foreign rule and the Chinese have had enough. With Dowager Empress Tzu-Hsi secretly supporting the Boxer societies, the foreign powers come under attack and are forced to defend the legations' compound until reinforcements from the military arrive. The defence would last for 55 days.Lavish, full of pictorial scope, often stirring, yet it's saggy in the middle, too long, killed Nicholas Ray's career (and nearly himself since he collapsed on set) and apparently offensive to some with its imperialistic trumpeting. It has been called the magnificent failure, and in truth that's about as apt a tag line as you could get. For production value it's up with the best of them as producer Samuel Bronston oversees the building of the wonderful Peking sets (Veniero Colasanti & John Moore) at his Madrid base, and it is a joy to behold. Tiomkin's score pings around the locale with aural pleasure and when the action does come it considerably raises the pulses.Acting performances are mostly OK, especially when Niven and Heston share scenes as it's great to see a genuine screen presence playing off of classy elegance. Gardner, whilst not in any shape or form bad, gets one of those annoyingly dull romantic interest roles that a film of this type didn't need. It doesn't help that there is zero chemistry between Gardner and her "borderline" beau, Heston. It's no surprise to find that Heston thought Gardner was a pain during the shoot!As for the troubling thematics? Where the Chinese are portrayed as Christian slaughtering savages and the foreign imperialists as noble defenders of the right to take over China? Well the picture does come off as trying to excuse foreign imperialism in China, but it helps to note that this is merely a movie about one event in that part of history. With that in mind, anyone viewing it expecting anything other than the 55 day siege told from the legation's viewpoint is always going to be in for a let down! And right from the off we are shown and told with a tint of sarcasm that all these "foreign" countries want a piece of China as they raise their flags and trundle out their national anthems. The Peking Alamo? Well maybe? Best to go into it expecting your eyes and ears to be dazzled rather than your brain. 7/10

Robert J. Maxwell Man, do they blow things up in this movie. If it stands, it gets blown up. Cannon shells tear up the ground and explode in the moat around the enclave of the non-Chinese powers. A ten-story tower with three platforms launches rockets into the compound. A rocket tower goes berserk and starts shooting rockets and shells in all directions. An arsenal erupts into a shattering volcano of fire, sparks, and smoke.A half dozen different countries, along with their military units, are located in the compound near Beijing -- American Marines led by Charlton Heston, a British contingent led by David Niven, and Russians, Italians, French, German, and Japanese soldiers and sailors. Not many all together, perhaps 500, against the might of the savage warriors known as Boxers. The Empress of the Jade Empire alone knows their number.In the opening scene, the half dozen or so different nations are playing their national anthems and running up the flags in the square. Two Chinese guys in rags are trying to protect their ears from the dissonance. What a horrible noise, one remarks, what does it all mean? "It means they want China," replies the other.Well, in brief, the Boxers attack, the occupying powers repel the attacks for fifty-five days, until they are finally spent, out of ammunition, and half dead. Then the cavalry arrives in the form of military contingents from each power. At the end, they are playing their national anthems again and creating a howl of dissonance. "Well," says Heston, "for fifty-five days we managed to play the same tune."The Empress, Flora Robson, ordered them out with a warning near the beginning, yet they chose to stay. But why? Maybe this scene gives us a hint. At a legation ball, a Boxer hands Heston a sword and asks him to try striking an incredibly limber Boxer acrobat. Instead, Heston whirls around and puts the point of the sword against a surprised Boxer assistant. Heston backs him up against a table, then sweeps his feet out from under him and he tumbles to the floor with a crash of plates and crockery. "I think you've made your point, Major," says Niven. Oh, yes? What exactly WAS the point? If that scene doesn't answer the question of why they hung around when they were clearly persona non grata, maybe this exchange does. Heston and Niven are discussing one of the enlisted Marines. Heston: "He's a good man when he knows what he's fighting for." Niven: "Yes. It's different when you're facing a wall or a hill. But how do you explain to a man that he's fighting for a principle?" Okay. They're all fighting for a principle. So what is the principle? It can't be the usual "democracy and freedom" because this is China in 1900, external powers already occupy most of China's provinces, and the only principles anyone is interested in are territory and opium. What else does China have to offer? The entire country lives in grinding poverty and cooks sparse meals on gas stoves that use pig farts for fuel. But the movie doesn't ask why unwanted guests stick around. So it's simply a story of good Europeans against evil Chinese.They must have spent enough money on this production to feed the population of China for ten years. There seem to be thousands of extras running around screaming amid the explosions. Dong Kingman did the paintings behind the credits and he's always just fine, at least for middle-brows like myself. Dmitri Tiompkins' score has its usual flatulent trombones and cow bells. He tries to develop a "Chinese" theme too but it's not nearly as successful as the Attic mood he established in "The Guns of Navarone." At times, it sounds a little Biblical. I half expected Yul Brynner to clap his hands and order, "Bring on the Hebrew dancing girls." The part of the Marine major is well within Charlton Heston's range and he does well with it. He's less impressive when he's strutting around swinging both arms in the same direction and jutting his iron jaw out, than when he's engaged in some thoughtful conversation and is in conflict about something.The rest of the cast hit their marks and say what they have to say, except that Helpmann as Prince Tuan should be sent back to some high school play in Short Hills, New Jersey. He's terrible. Ava Gardner is no longer a spring chicken but still beautiful, without having to wear a mask of Hollywood makeup. Alas, her part sucks. Every movie about people trapped in a limited space and faced with a common goal must have some dilatory moron who skulks and bitches about everything. Here, it's Kurt Kasnar as a Russian Baron. He's always angry. And on top of that he's trying to blackmail Ava Gardner into becoming his mistress. It's 1963 so the Russians could still be underhanded. A bright spot is Lynne Sue Moon as the eleven-year-old orphan of a Marine officer, whom Heston decides to adopt despite his martial distaste for love and affection. The kid has a Brit accent and is beautiful. About the only truly touching moment in the film is when Heston rides back for her, reaches down, says, "Here, take my hand," hoists her up behind his saddle, and rides off with her at the head of the departing detail.The message of the movie, of course, is that we can win if we all pull together towards our superordinate goal. But I'll tell you what I got out of it. We should stay out of China. Not just because of their one billion warriors, but because I wouldn't tangle with Dame Flora Robson. She's been an imperious Queen Elizabeth I twice -- including Errol Flynn's "The Sea Hawk." She's indomitable. If she told me to get out, I'd get out pronto.Tremble and obey.