King of the Khyber Rifles (1953)

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:

Henry King

Writers:

Ivan Goff (screenplay), Ben Roberts (screenplay)

Stars:

Tyrone Power, Terry Moore, Michael Rennie

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview:
Tyrone Power	...	Capt. Alan King
Terry Moore	...	Susan Maitland
Michael Rennie	...	Brig. Gen. J. R. Maitland
John Justin	...	Lt. Geoffrey Heath
Guy Rolfe	...	Karram Khan
Richard Wyler	...	Lt. Ben Baird (as Richard Stapley)
Murray Matheson	...	Maj. Ian MacAllister
Frank DeKova	...	Ali Nur (as Frank de Kova)
Argentina Brunetti	...	Lali
Sujata Rubener	...	Native Dancer (as Sujata)

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 ...

---

Plot Keywords:

rifleman | general | muslim | india | battle | 

---

Taglines:

You See It Without Glasses in CinemaScope

---

Genres:

Adventure | Drama | History | Romance

---

Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 March 1954 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Capitaine King

Filming Locations:

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,190,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Average Shot Length (ASL) = 13.5 seconds

---

Goofs

Captain King's pocket watch contains photographic images of his parents (~12:00) which must predate their stated 1833 date of death. The earliest known photograph of a person by Daguerre is from 1838 and were all exposed onto metallic silver plates.

---

Quotes

Brig. Gen. J. R. Maitland: Marry? Captain King? Has he asked you?
Susan Maitland: He will... in time.

---

Connections

Referenced in Capital Visit (1955)

User Reviews

Adventure movie set in India with plenty of fights , emotion , thrills and breathtaking battles

Tyrone Power that in ¨Witness for prosecution¨ caused sensation here in his most exciting role . The story of a love that was greater than honor and race ; and a courage that stood alone against the fury of India's great rebellion . Set in India as the title indicates , half-legend , half-land ...alive and wondrous thanks to spectacular outdoors through the magic of sterophonic sound , big screen , and anamorphic lens . The great desert , thundering path of empire, the fanatic Afridi horsemen and the hordes of Kurran Khan ...the Bazaars of Peshawar and the Night of the Long Knives . And the crowning spectacle of the man who carved a saga of battle and love across the towering peaks of the Khiver Pass .

Adventure and thrilling movie set in India in the turbulent late 19th century . It is a rousing , moving , stirring tale , but rough-edged fare . Dealing with interesting issues , such as imperialism , colonialism and racism . One of Tyrone's later movies , a bit later on , he would die while shooting in Spain : Salomon and Queen Sabah directed by King Vidor , being replaced by Yul Brynner , but still within his tradition of making adventure movies which spanned around the world . Power plays with some sensitivity the captain isolated by his colleagues and by the girlfriend's father .Tyrone Power gives a good acting , as usual .Tyrone seems to be more serious than the Swashbucklers or pirate movies he played when his good looks and swordmanship were both at their peak and much competition with Errol Flynn in the adventure stakes , such as : Black Swan , The Zorro , Prince of Foxes , Captain from Castile and The Black Rose . These enjoyable films were all well played by Power who was nearly at his most agile and deft style , as he starred various ¨Sword and Swagger¨ films and was superstar of Hollywood swashbucklers . While his love interest , the very young Terry Moore is mediocre . There are strong but brief performances from Michael Rennie , Frank De Kova , John Justin , Richard Wyler and the villain Guy Rolfe who often performs baddie roles .This is the second version based on the novel , John Ford directed the first titled The Black Watch set in WWI , though this Henry King movie was set in 1857 , shooting in Lone Pine , California ,during three months.

It packs a colorful photography in Technicolor , with color de Luxe. Lavishly produced by Frank Rosenberg, and Universal International , being accompanied by brilliant and glimmer cinematography by Leon Shamroy . Thrilling as well as sensitive musical score by maestro Bernard Herrmann , Hitchcock's ordinary . The motion picture was well directed by Henry King. He was an expert on adventure genre , as Henry made Stanley and Livingstone , assisted uncredited in Son of Fury , directed the masterpiece : The black swan , and Prince of Foxes , the Biblical : David and Bathseba , The snows of Kilimanjaro and Untamed . As well as Lloyd's of London and In old Chicago .Rating : better than average . The flick will appeal to Tyrone Power fans .