Genghis Khan

I stumbled across this obscure movie earlier today and it was a pretty decent film. Based on the life of Genghis Khan, it's a little bit too scampy on the script but the scenery and music are gorgeous, and you can't go wrong when Bob Simmons (the early James Bond films) is your stunt coordinator. Omar Sharif gave a good performance, but I kept getting distracted by Stephen Boyd every time he appeared onscreen (mainly because in this movie he looks A LOT like a young Timothy Dalton, which is not a problem for me since I'm a big Dalton fan). The only performance I had a problem with was James Mason's campy Chinese ambassador. All in all, not a bad way to spend a couple hours.

If Genghis Khan were made today a whole lot of Asian players would be in the various roles cast. Although not as ridiculous looking as Dragon Seed or even The Good Earth to today's audiences by 1965 when this film was made casting Occidental players in Oriental roles was not looked on favorably no matter how could they are. One who could get away with it was Yul Brynner who must have been contacted for the lead and he was from that part of the world. Nevertheless Omar Sharif is a credible Genghis Khan and Stephen Boyd unearths his Messala character playing Jamuga the life long sworn enemy of the boy Temujin who grows up to be Genghis Khan. Sharif realizes his dream of uniting all the Mongol tribes into one nation and then starting to conquer. By the time he was done his Mongols were advancing into Eastern Europe. I wonder why Boyd who was the villain was first billed before Sharif in the title role. I'm sure there's a story there. One who did look bad was James Mason playing a mandarin adviser to Chinese emperor Robert Morley. He really looked and sounded like a road company Fu Manchu. Genghis Khan is better than John Wayne's infamous and legendary The Conqueror, but that's not saying much.

I simply enjoyed the tale of Genghis Khan for its absorbing entertainment. I say "entertainment" because that's what movies are for. If I want a history lesson I'll turn to the encyclopedia for that. Omar Sharif in the lead role is excellent, and with some tender romance and family life added in for interest it gives value to what he stands for. Stephen Boyd here is at times the scruffy villain, but to me he can do no wrong and is just adding variety to his roles as an actor. James Mason, one of my fascinating favourites, with a multitude of roles in his career, is rather amusing in his portrayal of Kam Ling, attempting to be ever so diplomatic at all times, almost like a chess player surmising his opponent's next move. Intrigue at its best. Robert Morley as the Emperor is a fine example of dissolute excess, and shows us what imperialism can become - tedious and boring in the midst of riches so that his life is almost trivial in purpose. Morley always is a good supporting actor, in my opinion. Of course there are many battles to be fought and won in the course of this film, all history in the making, however accurate or inaccurate it may be. By the way, for those critics who disparage the lack of true facts regarding the order of events, I'm reminded of Jan Sibelius' comment on "critics" in general. He said more or less in these words, that "no one ever built a monument to a critic" so let's not take them too seriously. Enjoy the movie and pass the popcorn!

I stumbled across this obscure movie earlier today and it was a pretty decent film. Based on the life of Genghis Khan, it's a little bit too scampy on the script but the scenery and music are gorgeous, and you can't go wrong when Bob Simmons (the early James Bond films) is your stunt coordinator. Omar Sharif gave a good performance, but I kept getting distracted by Stephen Boyd every time he appeared onscreen (mainly because in this movie he looks A LOT like a young Timothy Dalton, which is not a problem for me since I'm a big Dalton fan). The only performance I had a problem with was James Mason's campy Chinese ambassador. All in all, not a bad way to spend a couple hours.

Having read Conn Iggulden's Wolf of the Plains trilogy I came to this movie to see more of the Genghis Khan legend. Whilst the novels are themselves loosely based on the history, this movie is way off track. It is difficult to see from this version how Temujin who later became Genghis Khan could have united warring Mongol tribes. It would have needed someone with immense strength of body and character, and Omar Shrarif's character just did not portray this. Robert Morley as the Chinese Emperor was amusing but nobody else had any credibility especially Temujin's wife, Bortei played unconvincingly by Francoise Dorleac as far too western. Considering Genghis Khan achieved the unification of a Mongol nation at the beginning of the 13th Century, the film set looked more like early 20th Century Wild West. Give this one a miss, if you are interested in the history go elsewhere, if it is a good action adventure set in the Mongol steppes then look elsewhere also.

It must have seemed a good idea at the time, Omar Sharif as the charismatic leader of the Mongol Horde, uniting the tribes and being generally heroic. But this really is unwatchable dross for the most part. The only good bits are the unintentionally funny ones, in which James Mason plays the chief courtier to Robert Morley's Chinese Emperor. They don't quite manage to be successful caricatures, however hard the script writer tried to make them so, but they do have the immense advantage of being horribly miscast.

This has about as much to do with the real Genghis Khan as the Hughes film"The Conquerer".If you want to know about the real historical figure,read Lamb's 1920s book.That aside,we have to appreciate the production values of the film.Sets,props,etc.,are all ok.None of these people,however,can scarcely be imagined as Central Asians.Greek Savalas and Alabaman Strode come closest.Wallach,as the Shah,makes an acceptable sly villain,and not an unbelievable Levantine.Everybody else is not only much too European,but much too Nordic,as well.(Sharif is only a minor exception to this generalisation.)And Morley,Mason,and Hordern all act as though they wandered in from a road company of "The Mikado".Watch this film for amusement,and perhaps free-wheeling historical fiction(aka Robert E. Howard),but don't take it too seriously.