Fabuleuse aventure de Marco Polo, La (1965)

Directors:

Denys de La Patellière
Raoul Lévy

Writers:

Noël Howard (writer)
Raoul Lévy (writer)

Release Date:

1965 (Yugoslavia)

Genre:

Adventure | Biography

Tagline:

A story of endurance, savagery and heroism [Video Australia]

Plot:

Orson Welles plays the role of Akerman, a venetian savant, in this all star production of Marco Polo's adventures...

Plot Keywords:

Asia | Chinese | Emperor | Marco Polo | Italian

Cast

Horst Buchholz	...	Marco Polo
Anthony Quinn	...	Kublai Khan, Mongol Emperor of China
Akim Tamiroff	...	The Old Man of the Mountain
Elsa Martinelli	...	The Woman with the Whip
Robert Hossein	...	Prince Nayam, Mongol Rebel Leader
Grégoire Aslan	...	Achmed Abdullah
Omar Sharif	...	Sheik Alla Hou, 'The Desert Wind'
Orson Welles	...	Akerman, Marco's Tutor
Massimo Girotti	...	Nicolo, Marco's Father
Folco Lulli	...	Spinello, Venetian Merchant
Guido Alberti	...	Pope Gregory X
Lynne Sue Moon	...	Princess Gogatine (as Lee Sue Moon)
Bruno Cremer	...	Guillaume de Tripoli, a Knight Templar
Jacques Monod	...	Nicolo de Vicenza, a Knight Templar
Mica Orlovic	...	Matteo, Marco's Uncle

Also Known As:

Marco the Magnificent (UK) (USA)
Échiquier de Dieu, L' (France) (working title)
Kublai Khan (Australia) (video title)
Marco Polo the Magnificent (Australia) (poster title)
Marko Polo (Yugoslavia: Serbian title)
Meravigliose avventure di Marco Polo, Le (Italy)
Scacchiere di Dio, Lo (Italy)
The Adventures of Marco Polo (Australia) (subtitle)

Runtime:

Germany:110 min | USA:100 min | France:112 min

Country:

Italy | France | Yugoslavia | Afghanistan | Egypt

Language:

French | Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:11 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Yugoslavia

Company:

Avala Film

Trivia:

The film was started in 1962 by Christian-Jaque with Alain Delon, Dorothy Dandridge, Michel Simon and Bernard Blier. The filming was interrupted due to inadequate funding and was started again in 1963.

Marco Polo was not lucky on the screen...

Immediate background:once upon a time there was a veteran called Christian -Jaque He had big ambitions: a production which would have no cause to be jealous of Hollywood.The highlight was to be a giant chess game (hence the previous title :"God's chessboard!").Alain Delon was Marco.Endless problems of production led Christian-Jaque to call it a day.

Hence this movie ,much less ambitious in scope ,which was made by the odd job man of the French cinema ,Denys de la Patellière .Delon was replaced by his German equivalent ,Horst Buchholz -the younger generation saw as the doctor in "la vita è bella"- and a cast of thousand was gathered:Orson Welles and Akim Tamiroff,Kirk Douglas's ex-protégée Elsa Martinelli,Anthony Quinn,Omar Sharif,Gregoire Aslan ...is that all? On his way to China ,Marco will meet wicked people (Tamiroff's "Old man in the Mountains" ) attractive ones (Venice's women with whom he cuckolds all the husbands;the woman with the whip);traitors (the Mongolian prince),but,as history books tell ,and tell it so well,he will succeed and occident will make friends with orient.

Thanks to the cast,and to a far-fetched but entertaining story,it's watchable.More than the version featuring Rory Calhoun (1961).