The Conqueror (1956)

User Rating:

2.7/10   

Director:

Dick Powell

Writer:

Oscar Millard (written by)

Release Date:

28 March 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Biography | History | Romance | War

Tagline:

Surpasses anything ever filmed before!

Plot:

Mongol chief Temujin battles against Tartar armies and for the love of the Tartar princess Bortai. Temujin becomes the emperor Genghis Khan.

Plot Keywords:

Tartar | Battle | Genghis Khan | Palace | Mongolian

Cast

John Wayne	...	Temujin, later Genghis Khan
Susan Hayward	...	Bortai
Pedro Armendáriz	...	Jamuga (as Pedro Armendariz)
Agnes Moorehead	...	Hunlun
Thomas Gomez	...	Wang Khan
John Hoyt	...	Shaman
William Conrad	...	Kasar
Ted de Corsia	...	Kumlek
Leslie Bradley	...	Targutai
Lee Van Cleef	...	Chepei
Peter Mamakos	...	Bogurchi
Leo Gordon	...	Tartar captain
Richard Loo	...	Captain of Wang's guard
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Fred Aldrich	...	Chieftain #2 (uncredited)
Phil Arnold	...	Honest John (uncredited)
Gregg Barton	...	Jalair (uncredited)
Lane Bradford	...	Chieftain #4 (uncredited)
Larry Chance	...	Tartar (uncredited)
Barrie Chase	...	Dancer in Wang's palace (uncredited)
John Daheim	...	Tartar guard sounding alarm (uncredited)
John George	...	Drummer boy (uncredited)
Jeanne Gerson	...	Bortai's slave woman (uncredited)
Fred Graham	...	Subuya, (Mongol warrior) (uncredited)
Michael Granger	...	Chieftain #1 (uncredited)
Robert Hinkle	...	Monk (uncredited)
David Hoffman	...	Potter (uncredited)
Paul Hoffman	...	Chieftain #3 (uncredited)
Charles Horvath	...	(uncredited)
Pat Lawler	...	Wang Khan's wife (uncredited)
Weaver Levy	...	Mongol (uncredited)
Jarma Lewis	...	Girl in bath (uncredited)
Sylvia Lewis	...	Solo dancer (uncredited)
Pat McMahon	...	Girl in bath (uncredited)
Torben Meyer	...	Scribe (uncredited)
Norman S. Powell	...	Mongol guard (uncredited)
Ray Spiker	...	Guard (uncredited)
George E. Stone	...	Sibilant Sam (uncredited)
Ken Terrell	...	Sorgan (Mongol warrior) (uncredited)
Patricia Tiernan	...	Wang Khan's wife (uncredited)
Carl Vernell	...	Merkit captain (uncredited)
Michael Wayne	...	Mongol guard (uncredited)
Patrick Wayne	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Dick Powell

Writing credits
Oscar Millard		(written by)

Produced by
Dick Powell	....	producer
Richard Sokolove	....	associate producer
Howard Hughes	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Victor Young

Cinematography by
Joseph LaShelle
William E. Snyder		(as William Snyder)
Leo Tover
Harry J. Wild

Film Editing by
Robert Ford
Kennie Marstella

Art Direction by
Carroll Clark
Albert S. D'Agostino

Set Decoration by
Al Orenbach
Darrell Silvera

Makeup Department
Mel Berns	....	makeup artist
Larry Germain	....	hair stylist
Web Overlander	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Edward Killy	....	assistant director
Cliff Lyons	....	second unit director

Sound Department
Walter Elliott	....	sound effects
Bernard Freericks	....	sound
Terry Kellum	....	sound

Special Effects by
Linwood G. Dunn	....	photographic effects (as Linwood Dunn)
Albert Simpson	....	photographic effects

Stunts
Roydon Clark	....	stunts (uncredited)
John Daheim	....	stunts (uncredited)
Henry A. Escalante	....	stunts (uncredited)
Bernie Gozier	....	stunts (uncredited)
Fred Graham	....	stunts (uncredited)
Charles Horvath	....	stunts (uncredited)
Cliff Lyons	....	stunts (uncredited)
Bob Morgan	....	stunts (uncredited)
Boyd 'Red' Morgan	....	stunts (uncredited)
Gil Perkins	....	stunts (uncredited)
Allen Pomeroy	....	stunts (uncredited)
Chuck Roberson	....	stunts (uncredited)
Barlow Simpson	....	stunts (uncredited)
Ray Spiker	....	stunts (uncredited)
Norm Taylor	....	stunt rigger (uncredited)
Ken Terrell	....	stunts (uncredited)
Bill White Jr.	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jack Williams	....	stunts (uncredited)
Henry Wills	....	stunts (uncredited)
Terry Wilson	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jack N. Young	....	stunts (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Yvonne Wood	....	costumes: men
Michael Woulfe	....	costumes: Miss Hayward

Editorial Department
Stuart Gilmore	....	editorial supervisor

Music Department
C. Bakaleinikoff	....	music supervisor
C. Bakaleinikoff	....	musical director
Sidney Cutner	....	orchestrator
Leo Shuken	....	orchestrator

Other crew
William J. Hole Jr.	....	script supervisor (as William Hole Jr.)
Howard Hughes	....	presenter
Robert Sidney	....	choreographer
Barlow Simpson	....	wrangler (uncredited)
Norm Taylor	....	wrangler (uncredited)

Production Companies

• RKO Radio Pictures

Distributors

• RKO Radio Pictures (1956) (USA) (theatrical)
• RKO Radio Pictures (1956) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• GoodTimes Home Video (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment  cranes and dollies
• Chivwit Indian Tribe  group cast members

Also Known As:

Conqueror of the Desert

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

West Germany:12 (nf) | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Escalante Desert, St. George, Utah, USA

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

One of the films included in "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (and how they got that way)" by Harry Medved and Randy Lowell.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Temujin throws a spear at a man in a stream, the wire guiding it is visible. The spear's trajectory is also wobbly.

Quotes:

Temujin: She is a woman - much woman. Should her perfidy be less than that of other women?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That (2005) (TV)

One of the all time unintentionally funny movies.

One of the all-time bad movies, an unintentional joke that actually stays funny for over two hours. John Wayne as Genghis Khan is one of the worst examples of miscasting in the history in Hollywood, but that's not what makes the movie so funny. What makes the movie funny is Wayne attempting to say the ridiculous purple prose of the script, the whole thing is written in this sort of pseudo-Shakesperian English, and John Wayne was always one of those rare actors who had serious trouble with anything like a grammatical sentence. Whenever things start to lag Wayne has to say something like "I ree-gret that Ah am without sufficient spittle to sa-lute you as you dee-serve" or the classic "Yore beautiful in yore wrath".

Also memorable for bad supporting performances by Agnes Moorehead and William Conrad, the sight of Wayne in Asiatic eye-makeup and Fu-Manchu moustace (the only biography of Khan I've read says he was white anyway), Susan Hayward doing a clumsy sword dance, a rape scene that would embarrass the tackiest Bodice-ripper, kitschy sets, and a Las Vegas revue act featuring a female dancer in a white leotard with a patch of fringe right *there*.