MOVIEmeter
SEE RANK
Up 5,515 this week

King of the Khyber Rifles (1953)

6.3
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 6.3/10 from 332 users  
Reviews: 19 user | 1 critic

A half-caste British officer in 19th-century India battles the prejudices of both his Army colleagues and the local populace while trying to help put down a rebellion led by a greedy local ruler.

Director:

Writers:

(screenplay), (screenplay), 2 more credits »
0Check in
0Share...

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 3060 titles created 8 months ago
 
a list of 315 titles created 1 month ago
 
a list of 4752 titles created 2 months ago
 
a list of 3894 titles created 5 months ago
 
a list of 39 titles created 18 Feb 2012
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: King of the Khyber Rifles (1953)

King of the Khyber Rifles (1953) on IMDb 6.3/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of King of the Khyber Rifles.
1 nomination. See more awards »
Edit

Cast

Cast overview:
...
Capt. Alan King
...
Susan Maitland
...
Brig. Gen. J. R. Maitland
John Justin ...
Lt. Geoffrey Heath
...
Karram Khan
Richard Wyler ...
Lt. Ben Baird (as Richard Stapley)
Murray Matheson ...
Maj. Ian MacAllister
...
Ali Nur (as Frank de Kova)
...
Lali
Sujata ...
Native Dancer
Edit

Storyline

Freshly arrived Sandhurst-trained Captain Alan King, better versed in Pashtun then any of the veterans and born locally as army brat, survives an attack on his escort to his Northwest Frontier province garrison near the Khyber pass because of Ahmed, a native Afridi deserter from the Muslim fanatic rebel Karram Khan's forces. As soon as his fellow officers learn his mother was a native Muslim which got his parents disowned even by their own families, he falls prey to stubborn prejudiced discrimination, Lieutenant Geoffrey Heath even moves out of their quarters, except from half-Irish Lt. Ben Baird. Brigadier general J. R. Maitland, whose policy is full equality among whites, learns King knew Kurrum Khan as a boy and charges him with training and commanding native cavalry, which comes along fine. The general's egalitarian daughter Susan Maitland takes a fancy to King, even falls in love but the general decides to send her safely home to England after a kidnapped attempt when King saved ... Written by KGF Vissers

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Plot Keywords:

general | muslim | india | battle | biracial | See more »

Taglines:

GREAT ADVENTURE OF INDIA! (original print ad - all caps)


Certificate:

Approved | See all certifications »
Edit

Details

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

22 December 1953 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Capitaine King  »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

(Western Electric Recording)

Color:

(Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was Twentieth Century-Fox's fourth CinemaScope production. See more »

Connections

Version of The Black Watch (1929) See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.

User Reviews

Not available on video!?! Pourquoi pas?
9 July 2003 | by (Portland, Oregon) – See all my reviews

Quite a few of those machine-tooled early CinemaScope productions from Twentieth Century Fox seem to be consigned to the dustbins of the memories of those of us who had the good fortune to see them in their full widescreen ratio with a magnetic stereophonic soundtrack during their initial release.

This one, directed with unusual energy by that Hollywood veteran, Henry King; lensed by that master of the color cameras, Leon Shamroy; and graced with a suitably sweeping score by Bernard Herrmann, looks like its lost in the archives where, let us hope, the master negative survives until the day that keepers of the Twentieth vaults come to their senses and favor us with a DVD release in the original (not reduced to anything less, please!) widescreen anamorphic format.

Terry Moore, who enjoyed a brief run as one of Fox's oft-used ingenues (and ladies of somewhat easier virtue, as in "Peyton Place") did seem a bit miscast, but Tyrone Power, Michael Rennie and well-chosen supporting players outshone her shortcomings. I recall that TIME magazine gave this quite a positive review and I remember that its use of mountainous California locations were quite convincing as a substitute for sending a company (or just a second unit) all the way to India's probably less hospitable subcontinent.


15 of 21 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
king of the khyber rifles autobenelux
Just saw a new print at the Egyptian Theater blanche-2
Talbot Mundy WyomingGrizFan
map davidboyd828-994-209471
Discuss King of the Khyber Rifles (1953) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?