The Conqueror is a truly awful film. It essentially embodies all that is bad about old historical films by overlaying a boring cliche-ridden plot with a thin veneer of poorly researched history pasted over the top. If you have seen one of these films, you have seen them all - although I will say that this is an especially awful one.
The Conqueror has some of the worst casting for the main characters I have ever seen. It is far form the only film of the era to employ an entirely white cast to portray characters who were not Caucasian, and as awful as that is from our contemporary perspective, it is made far worse by the main stars in The Conqueror's appalling performance and writing. Susan Hayward made essentially no effort to play the role of Borte (Genghis Khan's first wife and a medieval Mongolian tribal women), instead playing the generic two dimensional love-interest for John Wayne to win over with highly questionable behaviour. That being said, the viewer is treated to John Wayne ripping off her dress in one of their first encounters; which, if you can get over how abhorrent that would be in a modern context, is hilarious in a sort of cringey way.
In this film John Wayne essentially plays himself, making little effort to fit the prestigious role of Genghis Khan. Watching this film with no other information on the period, the viewer would come away thinking that Genghis Khan was a by-the-books Cowboy - complete with the accent. Wayne did not alter his performance from his usual Westerns persona at all. I would say that this is a strong contender for John Wayne's worst film - a category I consider to have some stiff competition.
A redeeming feature of the film is laughing at the truly appalling costumes. Other reviewers are right to describe them as looking like the cast-offs from a school play.
Do not watch this film expecting a realistic depiction of the period in any regard.
Review of The Conqueror
The Conqueror
(1956)
A good watch for those that enjoy terrible films. Awful historical film
14 June 2019