55 Days at Peking (1963)

Director:

Nicholas Ray

Writers:

Bernard Gordon (screenplay)
Robert Hamer (additional dialogue)

Release Date:

26 July 1963 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama | History | War

Tagline:

A handful of men and women held out against the frenzied hordes of bloodthirsty fanatics!

Plot:

Diplomats, soldiers and other representatives of a dozen nations fend off the siege of the International...

Plot Keywords:

1900s | Boxer Rebellion | China | Siege | British Empire

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Charlton Heston	...	Maj. Matt Lewis
Ava Gardner	...	Baroness Natalie Ivanoff
David Niven	...	Sir Arthur Robertson
Flora Robson	...	Dowager Empress Tzu-Hsi
John Ireland	...	Sgt. Harry
Harry Andrews	...	Father de Bearn
Leo Genn	...	Gen. Jung-Lu
Robert Helpmann	...	Prince Tuan
Kurt Kasznar	...	Baron Sergei Ivanoff
Philippe Leroy	...	Julliard
Paul Lukas	...	Dr. Steinfeldt
Elizabeth Sellars	...	Lady Sarah Robertson
Massimo Serato	...	Garibaldi
Jacques Sernas	...	Maj. Bobrinski
Jerome Thor	...	Capt. Andy Marshall

Also Known As:

Fifty Five Days at Peking (USA) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

154 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Norway:16 | Argentina:13 | Australia:G | Finland:K-16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:U | USA:Unrated | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Las Matas, Madrid, Spain

Company:

Samuel Bronston Productions

Trivia:

In China at the time working as a professional mining engineer, future President of the United States, Herbert Hoover and his wife were civilians under siege at the foreign legations' compound. The future first Lady, Louise "Lou" Henry Hoover, collected shrapnel from Boxer artillery that is on display at the Presidential Library in West Branch, IA. The Hoovers picked up Mandarin Chinese while in China and used it at the White House when they didn't want to be overheard.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The rifle used by the US Marines in the film is a .303 Lee Enfield British rifle. The US .30-40 Krag-Jorgensen rifle would have been correct.

Quotes:

German Ambassador: You have to admire Sir Arthur; he always manages to give the impression that God must be an Englishman.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Chalk (2006/I)

Soundtrack:

So Little Time (The Peking Theme)

Not A Racist Film

Watching this film in a PC era like today you may find allegations of racism being made against it , but you have to remember that 55 DAYS AT PEKING was made in 1963 . The war in the Pacific had ended less than 20 years earlier and the horrors of the Burma railway and the Bataan death march were still fresh in the memory . Likewise the UN had fought a dirty and bloody war against North Korea and Communist China ten years earlier and 1963 was a year when America started committing ground troops to South Vietnam , so this was an era where many people were worried about " the yellow peril " . One thing you can't really accuse the film of being is geo-nationalist , a coalition featuring diverse nations like Germany , Russia , Italy and France fighting alongside Britain and America ! You can tell this was made a long time ago and if it was made today the Americans would have saved the day single handed while portraying everyone else as total cowards . At least the makers of 55 DAYS AT PEKING had the decency of showing a factual historical event without having to totally rewrite history . I do hope present day Hollywood producers will take note .

My only problem with this film is that the main story is held up with a romantic subplot featuring Charlton Heston who's not exactly romantic material , but this is soon forgiven when the battle scenes arrive and what battle scenes they are . Watching these scenes today I was struck as to how they were achieved by a combination of stuntmen and stuffed dummies . That's what I hate about modern day blockbusters that rely on cartoonish CGI figures running around . It's a lot more fun seeing a couple of man sized dolls falling a couple of hundred feet with dubbed screams on the soundtrack , Hollywood doesn't seem to do this type of action sequence anymore which is a great pity