55 Days at Peking (1963)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Nicholas Ray

Writers:

Bernard Gordon (screenplay)
Robert Hamer (additional dialogue)

Release Date:

26 July 1963 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama | History | War

Tagline:

A handful of men and women held out against the frenzied hordes of bloodthirsty fanatics!

Plot:

Diplomats, soldiers and other representatives of a dozen nations fend off the siege of the International...

Plot Keywords:

1900s | Boxer Rebellion | China | Siege | British Empire

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Charlton Heston	...	Maj. Matt Lewis
Ava Gardner	...	Baroness Natalie Ivanoff
David Niven	...	Sir Arthur Robertson
Flora Robson	...	Dowager Empress Tzu-Hsi
John Ireland	...	Sgt. Harry
Harry Andrews	...	Father de Bearn
Leo Genn	...	Gen. Jung-Lu
Robert Helpmann	...	Prince Tuan
Kurt Kasznar	...	Baron Sergei Ivanoff
Philippe Leroy	...	Julliard
Paul Lukas	...	Dr. Steinfeldt
Elizabeth Sellars	...	Lady Sarah Robertson
Massimo Serato	...	Garibaldi
Jacques Sernas	...	Maj. Bobrinski
Jerome Thor	...	Capt. Andy Marshall

Also Known As:

Fifty Five Days at Peking (USA) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

154 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Norway:16 | Argentina:13 | Australia:G | Finland:K-16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:U | USA:Unrated | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Las Matas, Madrid, Spain

Company:

Samuel Bronston Productions

Trivia:

In China at the time working as a professional mining engineer, future President of the United States, Herbert Hoover and his wife were civilians under siege at the foreign legations' compound. The future first Lady, Louise "Lou" Henry Hoover, collected shrapnel from Boxer artillery that is on display at the Presidential Library in West Branch, IA. The Hoovers picked up Mandarin Chinese while in China and used it at the White House when they didn't want to be overheard.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The rifle used by the US Marines in the film is a .303 Lee Enfield British rifle. The US .30-40 Krag-Jorgensen rifle would have been correct.

Quotes:

Baroness Natalie Ivanoff: You know, I think I'll get you to take me to San Francisco with you.
Maj. Matt Lewis: Oh? Why to San Francisco?
Baroness Natalie Ivanoff: Well, isn't that the place where they found all the gold?
Maj. Matt Lewis: [laughs]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964)

Soundtrack:

So Little Time (The Peking Theme)

Good action story

Others have used a fine comb to go over the plot details so I needn't repeat it here. Quite simply, this is an action movie intended to entertain, not educate as some would prefer. One needn't look for drop-by-drop authenticity since purportedly they didn't use a speck of African soil when filming "Casablanca" either, although no one would ever guess it.

I was surprised to note Flora Robson as the Dowager Empress as I felt sure it must have been Gale Sondergaard, being her kind of role. There's a superb cast and well-moving script, some of the mannerisms were overdone but then that's what acting is about at times. It's good entertainment and deserves more than one viewing to absorb it entirely.