55 Days at Peking (1963)
Diplomats, soldiers and other representatives of a dozen nations fend off the siege of the International Compound in Peking during the 1900 Boxer Rebellion. The disparate interests unite for survival despite competing factions, overwhelming odds, delayed relief and tacit support of the Boxers by the Empress of China and her generals.
- Nicholas Ray
- Guy Green
- Bernard Gordon
- Philip Yordan
Rating: 7/10 by 161 users
Alternative Title:
Fifty Five Days at Peking - US
Les 55 Jours de Pékin - FR
Country:
United States of America
Language:
English
Runtime: 02 hour 34 minutes
Budget: $17,000,000
Revenue: $10,000,000
Plot Keyword: epic, siege, beijing, china, 1900s, boxer rebellion
It is tempting just to look upon this as an imperialist (Western, not Chinese) costume drama with fireworks. I think, however, it does merit a little more credit than that. Samuel Bronston pulls together quite a cast as Hollywood (via Madrid and Valencia) gives us it's version of the failed/foiled Boxer rebellion that lead to the ultimate decline of the Dragon Throne. Charlton Heston and David Niven develop a decent enough chemistry as the story takes shape, and Ava Gardner, Flora Robson, Leo Genn and Paul Lukas ensure there is some strength and depth to the supporting cast, and therefore to the story of the siege of the diplomatic compound in Peking by Chinese rebels in 1900. The sets are testament to what could be done in a world before CGI (and I bet the budgets wouldn't be that much different, either) and the mass-participation scenes are colourful, noisy and look good. As ever with these kind of films, there is an inevitability around the outcome; however preposterous the odds - but this is still a commendable effort to enlighten us, a little, as to the attitude of the colonial powers to China at the turn of the 20th Century.
