55 Days at Peking (1963)

                    “55 Days at Peking” is an epic set in the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 China.  It was based on the book by Noel Gerson.  It was directed by Nicholas Ray (“Flying Leathernecks”) until he suffered a heart attack.  Guy Green and Andrew Martin finished it uncredited.  It was filmed in Spain where a huge set was constructed.  3,000 extras were employed, including 1,500 Chinese, many of whom were brought in from all over Europe.  The production was problematical and involved numerous rewrites by four different screenwriters.  Some of the problems revolved around Ava Gardner.  She was very difficult to work with:  showing up late, bemoaning the script, and drinking.  At one point, she walked off the set, shutting down production, because someone took a picture of her.   Charlton Heston did not have a pleasant experience and claimed later that Gardner’s character was killed off to get her off the set.   The movie was nominated for two Academy Awards, both to Dmitri Tiomkin for Best Original Song (“So Little Time”) and Best Original Musical Score.  The movie was a box office bomb and has been criticized for historical inaccuracies and the use of Occidentals in Chinese roles, like Flora Robson as the Empress.

                    The movie begins in the foreign compound with all the foreign nations raising their flags and playing their anthems, at the same time.  One old Chinaman says:  “What is that terrible noise?”  His friend:  “Different nations all saying ‘we want China’”.  Many Chinese are upset with the presence of all these European powers and the Dowager Empress (Robson) decides to encourage a rebellion by the Boxers.  Maj. Matt Lewis (Heston) is the head of the military detachment.  When the compound is besieged, he forms an alliance with a British diplomat named Robinson (David Niven).  He begins a romance with a Russian Baroness (Gardner) who has a checkered past.   The clock starts ticking on the 55 days until the cavalry will arrive in the form of a multinational relief force.  During this time, Lewis and his soldiers will have to hold off horde attacks similar to those of “Zulu” and many Westerns. There are plenty of fireworks, literally and figuratively.  In one scene, Lewis and action hero / diplomat Robinson sneak through the sewer system to blow up an ammunition depot.  This all builds to a rousing storming of the fort/castle/compound by Indians/knights/Boxers.  And then Lewis rides off into the sunset with a little orphaned girl he befriended.  And that’s the story of the Boxer Rebellion.

                    When CinemaScope debuted in the 1950’s, historical epics became popular to take advantage of the bigness and as a way to compete with the small screen TV.  Samuel Bronston became a major producer of big budget spectacles.  He built a huge studio in Spain to facilitate his epics which included “King of Kings”,  “El Cid”, and “The Fall of the Roman Empire”.   His success ran out with “55 Days at Peking”.  His chaotic producing style contributed to the problems, but there were many problems as I have already outlined.  All things considered, the finished product is entertaining in a pompous sort of way.  And boy does that Technicolor look vibrant.  The plot is stodgy and the movie is too long, but there are some good set pieces that will sate the tactically ignorant.  There are despicable villains in the Empress and her abetting Prince Tuan.  Plus you get the savage horde to hiss at.  (Don’t dwell on the fact that, like the Indians and the Zulus, they were fighting against foreign oppression.)  Which reminds me to point out that Heston’s role is similar to Gen. Gordon in “Khartoum”.  Who’s going to root against Moses?  In this case, Lewis is not mentally challenged and is more of a straight arrow hero.  It’s a shame he was not celibate because the romance with the Baroness is bizarre.  It can best be explained by knowing the back-story of Gardner’s participation in the movie.  Knowing Heston did not want to act with her will clear up some head-scratching plot developments.  Ironically, Heston also had a fraught relationship with Sophia Loren in “El Cid”.  Maybe he needed to look in the mirror, more.

GRADE  =  C

HISTORICAL ACCURACY:  As far as historical accuracy, the movie is as good as could be expected and since you are unlikely to read up on it, it will give you a rudimentary knowledge of the siege of the Peking Legation Quarter during the Boxer Rebellion.  The Boxers were Chinese peasants who were mobilized in a rebellion against Christianity and foreigners.  The insurrection was brought on by years of provocation including Europeans forcing the importation of opium which resulted in an addicted country, several ass-kickings in wars, the pushing of Christianity, and unequal, forced trade treaties.  The movie does a good job portraying the Qing government’s dilemma of who to side with.  The Empress Dowager Tzu-His was torn between the anti-foreign Prince Duan (Tuan in the movie) and the anti-Boxer Gen. Rong Lu (Jong-Lu) and eventually decided to support the Boxers.  The movie implies Rong-Lu was the voice of reason and if you look at the bet that the Empress lost, you could argue that.  However, in some ways she had little choice to side with the Boxers.  Granted, they were already killing Chinese civilians in the countryside, but the siege of the foreign quarter began, not with the killing of the German minister, but with the execution of a young Boxer by order of the German minister.  The enraged Boxers began their assault soon after.  The Empress actually tipped in favor of Prince Duan after European warships shelled some Chinese forts.  The fighting was more consistent and less spectacular than depicted in the movie.  Basically it involved probings of the walls by Boxer forces.  Both sides built barricades and the small European military contigent was hard pressed repelling the attacks.  Lewis is based on Lt. John Myers, who led the Marines, but did not have command over all the foreign troops.  His greatest exploit was leading a multi-national assault on a Boxer barricade that had advanced perilously close.  Victory here was the turning point in the siege, but Myers was wounded and hospitalized for the rest of the siege, which had several more weeks to run.  Niven’s character was based on Claude MacDonald, who was more of a military man than the effete Robertson and did participate in the defense.  Obviously, Myers and MacDonald did not do a sewer system raid on an ammo dump. As far as the conclusion, the relief expedition did arrive in the nick of time, but not in the middle of a final assault.