clanciai Based on Talbot Mundy's best and most famous novel, which unfortunately I was an expert on, this film was a total disappointment, in spite of its great assets of mainly stupendous mountain scenery and Bernard Herrmann's music. But the mountain scenery was nothing at all about the famous Khyber pass but all shot in California, and above all, the splendid story of Talbot Mundy's secret agent thriller of jihadism and the cutting of heads even 160 years ago by taliban rebels and with a dancing queen of beauty at the centre of intrigue, also involving some archaeology and reminiscenses of Alexander the Great's famous visit to Afghanistan, was reduced to a cheap and petty pulp fiction of the commonest of Hollywood clichés. The acting is not very good either. The only one making a strong impression by his stage presence and acting is Guy Rolfe as the villain, the rebel king, while supporting parts, such as John Justin and Michael Rennie, also make a good job, while Terry Moore is a complete disaster. However could Tyrone Power fall in love with such a nuisance of a bobby-soxer? It's as far from credible as anything could be. Tyrone Power is himself, and that's enough for him - with such a face he never even needed to act.A great pity for a great story to be so poorly handled and reduced to mere superficial entertainment. Talbot Mundy was a theosophist and mystic who wrote many books, and this one could have been made into as great a Kipling epic as "The Man who Wanted to be King".

weezeralfalfa In an era when Hollywood was trying to compete with TV by offering lavish exotic spectaculars, filmed in widescreen Cinemascope, with stereophonic sound, this film comes across as one of the dullest ones, with minimal historical relevancy, to boot. The High Sierras in the background provide spectacular mountain scenery, perhaps reminiscent of that in the relevant Afghanistan-present Pakistan border region. Otherwise, there is little to recommend in the film. Tyrone Power, as the supposed half -caste hero Alan King, sleepwalks his way through his role, and looks as half-cast as did Esther Williams as a supposed half-caste Polynesian. Guy Rolfe, as the fictional Afghan rebel chieftain nemesis, Karran Khan, with ambitions to conquer all of India, as a would-be latter day Akbar the Great, had zero charisma, despite his defiant posturing.Terry Moore, much criticized as the choice for the love interest of King, came across as an OK spirited ingénue, bored with life within the frontier garrison, taking to forbidden horse and carriage rides in the surrounding stark countryside, as one means of relieving her boredom. She's immediately smitten by the handsome King, upon his arrival at the garrison, and wastes no time letting King know, practically throwing herself at him. Unlike most of the officers in the garrison, she has no qualms about King being of half caste parentage, and looks forward to a marriage with him, against her father's approval. Unlike Power's comedic tempestuous relationships with Betty Grable, in "Yank in the RAF", or with Maureen O'Hara, in "The Black Swan", all is sweetness, if a tad dull, in their courtship. In their tense last meeting, King agrees with her father that marriage with him wouldn't likely work out socially, and that it is wise to send her back to England, for safety. However, in the last scene, when the victorious Khyber Rifles are parading by, she reappears as a spectator, providing no clue about the current status of her relationship with King, nor whether she still is about to leave for England.This story supposedly takes place in 1857: the year of the Indian Rebellion and frequent mutiny or unrest of native troopers(sepoys) in the Indian Army. Toward the end, news of the rebellion in some other parts of India is received at the garrison, and it's predicted that the people in the surrounding area will soon be in rebellion, probably led by Karram Khan, unless he is first killed. However, historically , the neighboring Punjab, along with the Northwest Frontier Territories, where this garrison is located, was one of the least affected by this rebellion. The concern by the sepoys that the paper cartridges for the newly arrived Enfield rifles reportedly are greased with pig and beef fat is historically correct. In the film, despite assurances by King that this is untrue, the sepoys refuse to use the Enfields when faced with storming the Khan's stronghold at Khyber Pass. Instead, they choose to rely on their short traditional Afghan daggers, against the muskets of the Khan's troops. This whole sequence of storming the Khan's stronghold, along with the prior solitary visit of King, claiming to be deserter from the British army, looks quite implausible. It's highly unlikely that the Khyber Rifles could sneak up in broad daylight on KK's stronghold without being seen by at least one sentry! Also, they were at a distinct disadvantage in fighting with only their daggers, against muskets plus daggers. Yet, they won. King's obligatory grapple with KK is brief and shot under dark interior conditions. Anticlimactically, KK is killed during the grapple, not by King, but by a sepoy who has a special reason for revenge.Incidentally, the historic Khyber Rifles, composed of Afghans, plus a British commander, as shown, didn't begin until the 1880s, several decades after this story supposedly takes place! The screenplay could have, instead, included the important political consequences of the ultimate defeat of the '57 rebellion: the dissolution of the East India Company and last vestiges of the former Moghal empire, and their replacement with the British Raj government.Several previous films had dealt with essentially the same subject. I would recommend John Ford's "Wee Willie Winkie" as being a more interesting version. Instead of a climactic fight to the finish, little Shirley Temple charms the rebellious Khan into giving up his plundering tradition, thus saving many lives.

jpdoherty Fox's KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES (1953) is quite a reasonably good colourful adventure set in India in 1857. A remake of John Ford's "The Black Watch" (1929) it was based on the novel by Talbot Mundy from which derived a fairly decent screenplay by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts. Tyrone Power was the star and once again he was reunited with his favourite director and friend Henry King in Frank Rosenberg's elaborate production. This was the studio's fourth picture filmed in the then new stunning process of Cinemascope and Stereophonic sound! The new format lending itself beautifully to the Lone Pine Californian locations which doubled perfectly for India's Northwest Frontier. And veteran expert Cinematographer Leon Shamroy seemed right at home with his creative use of the widescreen camera.Tyrone Power was Fox's top leading man in the forties but by the time the studio embarked on their wonderful Cinemascope productions in 1953 his star was beginning to wane. The actor was also tired of the usual adventure fare he was frequently thrust into by studio head Darryl Zanuck and longed to do other things in film for other companies. He wanted to break his contract (he amusingly referred to the studio as Penitentiary Fox) and turned down the lead in Fox's ambitious first scope movie "The Robe" resulting in Zanuck suspending him. But not for long! His friend and mentor Henry King came into the fray when he wanted Power to star in his first stab at Cinemascope - KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES and would settle for no one else. So Power and Zanuck kissed and made up and the star took up the assignment."India - 1857 - the one hundredth year of British rule" reads the post credits caption on the screen at the opening of the picture. Captain Alan King and his troop are escorting some supply wagons to the Peshawar district garrison not far from the infamous Khyber Pass where rebel Kerram Khan and his army of insurgents are holed up and are preparing for "The night of the long knives" the time when India will rise up against British rule. This is the film's basic premise and depicts one man's efforts to thwart an inevitable uprising. But along the way he will fall in love with the Colonel's daughter (the totally resistible Terry Moore) and be pilloried for being the half-caste boyhood friend of the rebel leader (Guy Rolfe) who he must confront and endeavour to kill.KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES is a good adventure yarn and looks great on the wide canvas of the Cinemascope screen (a desert rescue sequence is particularly effective). Performances are generally good too. Power, though somewhat subdued, is fine as the troubled Captain King and Michael Rennie gives his usual smooth turn as the authoritative commanding officer. Charismatic British actor Guy Rolfe is superb as Karram Khan. Rolfe an actor with loads of screen presence never followed this up with anything worthwhile and became just another working actor mostly on television. He died back in England in 2003 at the age of 91. Now, the part of the leading lady is the picture's major fault! Terry Moore is completely miscast! To begin with she simply doesn't suit Tyrone Power at all! She's too young for him! Plus she's supposed to be an English girl raised and schooled in England but instead she just looks and sounds like an American High School student who discovers she has a crush on her history professor. Her casting here is almost identical to that of four years earlier when the equally resistible Wanda Hendricks was Power's leading lady in "Prince Of Foxes". What on earth was wrong with Ty? He seemed to have problems selecting an appropriate leading lady! HUH!However a huge plus for the movie is the remarkable music by Bernard Herrmann! A rollicking eastern tinged Main Title with bravura brass fanfares and augmented timpani opens the score. There is some eerie music for the Hammer Of God scene and a ravishing love theme for the picture's softer moments which the composer fashions into a beautiful waltz for the Queen's Birthday Ball sequence. Alongside "Beneath The 12 Mile Reef" (1953) KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES is Herrmann's best adventure score!If you can overlook the presence of Terry Moore (think Susan Hayward or Jean Peters) KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES is an engaging 100 minutes of entertainment. But why is this movie not on DVD? As far as I know it isn't even on Video tape! What is wrong with Fox Home Entertainment? They seem to have forgotten Ty Power in "Untamed" (1955) as well! In fact they seem to have totally forgotten what remains in their back catalogue! Where's "Seven Cities of Gold" (1955 / with a riveting performance from Michael Rennie), "Violent Saturday" (1955) and "Rio Conchos" (1964)? Who knows?? Anyone??

MARIO GAUCI Having been familiar with Talbot Mundy's original source novel via a "Classics Illustrated" comic-book version I had read in the early 1980s (my father still owns a very nice collection of these dating back to his own childhood), it had always seemed strange to me how scarce 20th Century Fox's film version – shot in the prestigious Cinemascope ratio and starring popular movie star Tyrone Power – really was. Over the years, I only recall 2 screenings in my neck of the woods (on Italian and Cable TV) but it was never released on VHS; I suppose that it does get shown on the "Fox Movie Channel" once in a while but there is still no legitimate DVD in sight – despite many lesser Power movies having already made it onto the digital format! Recently, I did come across a copy of that local Cable TV screening of the mid-1990s which, being typically pan-and-scanned, soft-looking and occasionally hazy, betrayed its origins as a VHS-to-DVD transfer! Although I am grateful for the opportunity to finally see it (since I generally lap these exotic adventures up), I have to say that I was surprisingly underwhelmed by the end results. Everybody involved seems to be working below-par somehow: at 39, Power is still handsome enough as the half-caste Captain hero but his romance with the annoying heroine Terry Moore (who was 15 years his junior!) comes off as decidedly unconvincing. The cast is rounded up by a stiff upper-lipped Michael Rennie (as Moore's father and Power's superior), John Justin (playing a foppish, racist Lieutenant and Power's romantic rival) and Guy Rolfe (whose zesty portrayal of villainous Karram Khan – Power's old childhood friend and subsequent mortal enemy – enlivens the film's latter stages). The crew members fare little better, alas: Henry King may have been nominated for a DGA but you would hardly guess it from watching the film; composer Bernard Herrmann does get to slip in a few worthwhile musical passages but the overall score is not up to his usual high standards; Leon Shamroy's Widescreen color cinematography was doubtless spectacular on the big screen but, hampered by the compromised video version I watched, it still was not enough to elevate the film for me. For the record, around the same time I acquired KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES, John Ford's obscure, earlier film version of the story entitled THE BLACK WATCH (1929), with Victor McLaglen and Myrna Loy, also came my way but, having a ton of the director's movies in my vast collection still unwatched, I will leave that viewing for when I eventually tackle the lot!