La princesse de Samarcande

At the onset, you must know that I am not saying this because I am Mr. Political Correctness. No, my gripe about having white actors playing everyone in this movie is simply that they look nothing like Mongols or Uzbekistanis! And, the last time I remember seeing an epic about this material, John Wayne himself starred as Genghis Khan ("The Conqueror")! Here, Marvin MIller plays Khan...and Ann Blyth plays an Uzbekistani princess! It's simply a matter of bad casting and believability...and having all these white Americans in every role does harm the overall film...and it can't help but do this. So, apart from this, is it a good movie?

The story begins with Sir Guy (David Farrar) arriving at the Uzbek capitol, Samarkand, to meet the Princess (Blyth). It seems Genghis Khan's horde are on their way and he offers his assistance. Now, if you think about it, an English knight could have offered no help against Khan...none...as Khan controlled the largest and most dominant army of all time. She rejects his offer...which isn't a bad thing. Soon emissaries of Khan arrive and you wonder with whom, if anyone, the princess will make an alliance.

Much of this movie makes the mistake of being talky instead of action-packed. This doesn't mean I'm a great fan of just action, but here it would have been appreciated. I'm guessing most people watching the movie don't care about the machinations and talk....so I'm probably not alone here. The worst part about all the talk was Sir Guy...who always was yelling or sounding like a man with a bad case of gout. But others manage to come off pretty badly due to the stilted dialog.

Overall, while the film looks expensive, it's dreadfully dull, badly written and a historical mess. Watch it if you want...but I think it's more an ordeal than fun to watch.

I was at first surprised not to see Maria Montez in this Universal Studios production, an adventure costume film usually starring Jon Hall and Maria Montez. But the cast, even without those two, is absolutely flawless, the photography excellent and the action sequences terrific, tense, no matter the lack of historical accuracy. It is a superb movie for movie buffs in search of old fashioned films of this period. Production design, settings, score, nothing to complain about. You can't get tired of this kind of production, which is pure magic and nostalgia, no matter the naive story nor the expected ending.

Where can we begin? This is the worst film of all time having anything to do with Genghis Khan. It is even worse than the Conqueror, the hilarious joke of a film trying to pawn off John Wayne as an Asian. It took a tremendous effort to be worse than that turkey, but this film achieves it. There will never be a film about the Mongols as bad as this in the history of cinema. My sides were splitting from the howls of laughter from the sublimely destitute dialogue. The conversation with the princess during a duel with a mongol was one of the silliest scenes I have ever seen on the big screen. It left me speechless; and that is a very hard thing to do.

The marauding Mongol hordes set their sights on the ancient city of Samarkand. The son of Genghis Khan (Harry Brandon) and Howard Petrie as "Tugluk" are despatched in the advance guard to wrest the city from the beautiful Princess - Ann Blyth. They don't reckon on a troop of passing Crusaders led by the gallant "Sir Guy of Devon" (David Farrar) and so a bit of a tussle ensues. It's a melodrama with sand and costumes; Blyth looks great - though she, and Farrar are as wooden as usual. The best character is that of the "Shaman" - an over-the-top George Macready - causing mischief as he whispers poison into the ears of the Khan. It's hampered by the sound stage setting - some of the fight scenes are a little too rigid, and the dialogue is pretty stilted, but it is still a decent enough watch.

It's a good story but a bad script. This material could have been used better. An English ambassador with crusaders arrive at Samarkand to assize the armies and threats of the Mongols under Djenghis Khan in 1220 and succeed blatantly in disturbing the peace at court and upsetting all plans of the ruling Queen (Ann Blyth) and the Mongols. The characters are made more as types than characters, the intrigues peter out into small fry business, and in the fights and battles everyone is killed except the right ones. The script gives a very casual and superficial impression, although the Queen's character (Ann Blyth) is fascinating enough but should have been made so much more of. David Farrar is not up to his ordinary standard here but feels rather degraded in such a Hollywood cliché character as this. James Macready on the other hand is just the type for his scheming shaman in his weezy voice, and Djenghis Khan himself (Marvin Miller) is also good and convincing. In brief, this is no more than a casual spectacular entertainment providing a good story with many possibilities but giving the actors, in spite of their excellence, very little chance of proving their worth by a poor shorthand manuscript.