Marco the Magnificent (1965)

Young Marco Polo travels to China to help Kublai Khan fight against rebels, headed by his own son, with a new invention: gunpowder.

Directors:

Denys de La Patellière, Raoul Lévy

Writers:

Noël Howard, Raoul Lévy (as Raoul J. Lévy)

Stars:

Horst Buchholz, Anthony Quinn, Akim Tamiroff

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Horst Buchholz	...	Marco Polo
Anthony Quinn	...	Kublai Khan, Mongol Emperor of China
Akim Tamiroff	...	The Old Man of the Mountain
Elsa Martinelli	...	The Woman with the Whip
Robert Hossein	...	Prince Nayam, Mongol Rebel Leader
Grégoire Aslan	...	Achmed Abdullah
Omar Sharif	...	Sheik Alla Hou, 'The Desert Wind'
Orson Welles	...	Akerman, Marco's Tutor
Massimo Girotti	...	Nicolo, Marco's Father
Folco Lulli	...	Spinello, Venetian Merchant
Guido Alberti	...	Pope Gregory X
Lynne Sue Moon	...	Princess Gogatine (as Lee Sue Moon)
Bruno Cremer	...	Guillaume de Tripoli, a Knight Templar
Jacques Monod	...	Nicolo de Vicenza, a Knight Templar
Mica Orlovic	...	Matteo, Marco's Uncle

Storyline

During the 1200s, young Marco Polo, joins his father Niccolò and his uncle Matteo, who recently returned from China, and prepares to visit the Pope who summoned them. The Pope entrusts the Polo family with a trade mission to China and with a personal message of peace for China's Emperor Kublai Khan. Unknown to all of them is the fact that the peaceful Kublai Khan is facing a treasonous dissension among his Mongol war chieftains, led by his war-loving son. His son wants the throne for himself and desires to destroy all Chinese subjects, in favor of his Mongol ones. He also wants to invade Europe and avail himself of slaves, territory and spoils of war. In Venice, the Polos board a ship for the Holly Lands, presently occupied by the Crusaders. From there, they are to proceed by caravan, overland, to Samarkand and eventually reach Peking. However, the overland route passes through several kingdoms, caliphates and wild rugged regions inhabited by unwelcoming warlike tribes. The route also...

---

Plot Keywords:

shocksploitation | marco polo | kublai khan | travel | rebel | 

---

Taglines:

Marco made the best of two worlds!

---

Genres:

Adventure | Biography

---

Details

Country:

Italy France Afghanistan Egypt Yugoslavia

Language:

French Italian

Release Date:

1965 (Yugoslavia)

Also Known As:

Marco the Magnificent

Filming Locations:

Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslavia

Box Office

Budget:

$2,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Avala Film, Cine Custodia Film AG Zuerich, ITTAC

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was started in 1962 by Christian-Jaque with Alain Delon, Dorothy Dandridge, Michel Simon and Bernard Blier. The filming was interrupted due to inadequate funding and was started again in 1963.

---

Quotes

Achmed Abdullah: My gift cannot share your couch, my dear friend, but I know how much you love animals.
[he gestures towards a tiger]
Achmed Abdullah: . Does she please you?
The Old Man of the Mountain: Ohhh... a well-matched exchange, worthy of two old friends who trust each other.
Achmed Abdullah: It is difficult to fully trust a friend whose face one never sees. I would consider it a friendly act if you removed your golden mask.
The Old Man of the Mountain: It is a friendly act that I do not remove it. All who see my face - die!
Achmed Abdullah: But your assassins
[gesturing towards them]
Achmed Abdullah: all see your face.
The Old Man of the Mountain: And all ...
[...]

---

Connections

Featured in Cinema Komunisto (2010)

User Reviews

visually very appealing but ultimately disappointing

Cinematographer Armand Thirard (les Diaboliques, le Salaire de la peur) does a fabulous job with beautiful environmental shots, but unfortunately everything else in this movie is crap. This movie is terrible, but somehow visually reminiscent of Kwaidan (Kobayashi, 1964), which is one of the greatest fairy-tale films in the world, largely because of the sceneries and the lighting. 'Marco' could have been magnificent if there was another protagonist and another director. It is a pretentious and dumb movie with (2-minute performance) box-office attraction Orson Welles who wore a silly costume: don't bother to see it plz. Maybe nice for kids though as a supposed adventure movie. And to see Anthony Quinn in an unexpected role: I had to search the credits to find which part he played. I would be grateful if someone did a remake of these promising tales.