Customer Reviews

The Conqueror

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

Contrary to the critics in general and the reviewers here in
particular, The Conqueror is actually a pretty good film, if you're
a John Wayne fan, or just enjoy Hollywood spectaculars as they
were made back in the '50s. Wayne was not as miscast as one
might think. He certainly had the strength of character and screen
presence to play Temujin/Genghis Khan and he looked good in the
oriental mustache and the Mongol warrior garb. The dialog here is
no dumber than in any other Hollywood historical saga of that
time (or of this time, either, for that matter. Remember Russell
Crowe in Gladiator: "At my signal, unleash Hell!"?)

Movie lore has it that The Conqueror was filmed on location in
Utah either on or near an atomic test site, and that many of the cast
and crew later died from radiation-induced cancers. It may be
true, or it may be just mythology. There were no nuclear test sites
in Utah, but the shooting location could have been near the
Nevada test site. Director Powell and cast members Wayne,
Hayward, Moorehead, and John Hoyt did die from cancer, but of
different types and years apart. Many others died from other
causes. Pedro Armendariz committed suicide. Thomas Gomez
died from an auto accident. Lee Van Cleef died of a heart attack.
And some lived to a ripe old age. Leo Gordon, for instance,
passed away just last year, at the age of78, after a brief illness.
Gordon was a scriptwriter as well as an actor, and wrote two
classic Roger Corman movies: The Terror, and The Wasp
Woman.

The Conqueror also had the distinction of having a Playboy
Playmate, Pat Lawler (Miss August 1955) in a bit part. Ms.
Lawler appeared in the sci-fi comedy Invasion of the Saucer Men
in 1957, and that seems to be the extent of her film career..

To sum up: The Conqueror is not as bad as reported. It's not
nearly as bad as, say, Big Jim McLain, The Fighting
Kentuckian, or Jet Pilot. And it's not nearly as good as, say, The
Quiet Man, Sands of lwo Jima, or True Grit. It's in the middle.
like, say, Hatari, Circus World, or The Shootist.

This DVD edition offers just the movie, a scene index, and
subtitles. The image quality is good, but the sound varies a
bit--some of the dialog seems rather distant and tinny. But at this
price it's a bargain, so don't miss out!

This is the import edition of this film. It has some Chinese writing in the front, but I did have the option of playing it in English.

"The Conqueror" is probably the strangest mainstream film I can recall ever seeing. It is a grand production and there is NO reason to avoid seeing this film. Nevertheless, I do have some strong opinions about the film.

Today when actors take on projects that are out-of-character and don't go well, like DeNiro in "Rocky and Bullwinkle", we say they were experimenting in the role. On that basis, John Wayne's foray into experimentation definitely hit its peak when he starred as Genghis Khan in "The Conqueror". Of course, John Wayne is the quintessential "GOOD GUY" and "GENGHIS KHAN" played like a "Good Guy" is like "Santa Claus" playing a serial killer. Yucky at the very least, impossible to do well is more like it.

John Wayne, or let's suspend disbelief now by just referring to him henceforth as Genghis. Okay, Genghis definitely came to work on this film and no one could say in their right mind that he didn't give his all in this try-to-be epic during this, his prime of acting power mid-1950s. Genghis was trying to be like the real Genghis, but he looked and sounded like John Wayne. Yes, the trapping of being too popular, too good-natured and too well-known definitely affected Genghis in both the making of and the audiences' reception of "The Conqueror".

I was okay with everything right up until he slapped Susan Hayward several times [wife of Genghis according to Genghis] and ordered that several of his "loyal" men who were drunk on guard duty be hanged. Whether this type of violence was fitting seemed not to matter as I forgot we were watching Genghis at work and just saw John Wayne acting very unbelievably. That's it. That's what is wrong with the movie. It is VERY HARD TO BELIEVE!

It's not the stilted, ridiculous dialogue. Even the best historical films have some of that, recall "Ben Hur". It's not the American actors like William Conrad and Agnes Moorehead passing for Asians along with the Duke [I mean Genghis]. It's not that Susan Hayward's make-up and appearance was much too modern, or that the brief, seductive dance by former Playboy Bunny Sylvia Lewis at the palace of Wang Khan [Thomas Gomez] was a bit too much, especially for 1956. It's not that Susan Hayward's father, a tribal leader, was drunk for the entire film and seemed far too crude to have Susan Hayward in her most polished state as his daughter or to lead a tribe. It's not the complete lack of regard for human life that permeates the entire film and the underlying cruelty and treachery that is implicitly and often all too explicity welded into every scene.

No, it is not any one of the aforementioned issues, but all of them together that is just too much for any film to overcome. Having said that, this movie is worth watching as it is a big and rather bizarre sprawling spectacle very much in the Howard Hughes [more is better] style of filmmaking. There is no cutting corners on this film.

THE DVD: Whereas the film was lavishly produced, this "IMPORTED" DVD is a "single-layer" transfer and has no features, but it does play surprisingly well for an "IMPORTED" product and this widescreen 2.35:1 looks much better than the video did. Though it claims to be in "Dolby Surround" I could not hear that, but the sound was satisfactory. It is in English only, but English or Spanish subtitles are available if needed.

Somehow this spartan, imported-edition DVD sells for over $30 and the only other available DVD [Goodtimes] also starts at about $30 which makes this a questionable purchase. Many city libraries do have this dubious classic available for circulation. I would recommend checking it out.

Though I put off seeing this film for almost 50 years, I wish I had seen it sooner as it was definitely worth seeing. I am sure to see it again before another 50 years elapses. I did manage to see the film twice now, but both available DVDs completely lacked features.

One must admit that Wayne is slightly miscast as the implacable Genghis Khan, but the story is not that bad. The plot is much better than the Genghis Khan movie starring Omar Sharif. This superiority probably owes to the fact that the Sharif story doesn't even attempt historical accuracy while "The Conqueror" seems to be loosely based on the Harold Lamb book "Genghis Khan: Emperor of All Men."

"The Conqueror" is a must for all fans of bad movies! It is quite simply the pot of gold at the end of a bad movie lover's rainbow. This is one extremely, unintentionally funny movie. What is there not to like here? There's red haired Susan Hayward as a Tartar princess, "authentic" Mongolian dance numbers, silly battle scenes with lots and lots of horses falling down, Agnes Moorhead's impression of a talking prune, and, of couse, John Wayne, THE DUKE, as Genghis Khan! The dialogue is a scream, "Yor beeeautiful in yer wrath!" Now imagine the Duke saying that with a fu manchu moustache and a me-Tarzan-you-Jane accent and you get an inkling of the awfulness of "The Conqueror."

John Wayne is my all-time favorite actor, yet even I burst out laughing at his ridiculous performance in this movie. Even funnier is the knowledge that this was one of the movies eccentric millionare Howard Hughes watched compulsively over and over again during his self-imposed hermitage. "The Conqueror" is one of the weirdest, funniest movies ever to come out of Hollywood!

I know alot of people will disagree with the idea of John Wayne as a the great Mongolian conqueror, but if one remembers this film was in the 1950's America, it fits. It is the ultimate idea of placing America's great hero in a the role of any hero for any culture. If you want to see a realistic rendition of history pass this title over. However,if you want to see a great action hero play one the greatest action heros of all time this is for you.

This movie suffers from a lot of criticism, because it seems to have been cast for the star power of the actors than to try to make it's appearance accurate to the story it's based on. On it's own it's not a bad story, although it's hard to take John Wayne as either a bad guy or an asian. But this was the 1950's, I'm not sure that there were enough asian-descended actors available to cast it with an accurate look, and I'm sure even if there was the production company would have been afraid it wouldn't have done well cast that way. In the end, it's still here making them some money or you wouldn't be able to buy a DVD of it.

Pretty much you'll either hate it or be okay with it, so if in doubt try and rent it somewhere before buying. Don't look for accuracy, just for the entertainment value.

Curiously, this is a mistake Hollywood has yet to learn from, even movies as recent as the bomb Dukes Of Hazzard film suffer from the same terrible miscasting based on star power instead of trying to make a film that remains accurate to the original story.

I'd love to see the audio track from this used to make an anime-styled version and see how people take it. Would it work better with the same actors voices, but drawn to appear more accurately?

Possibly the worst movie ever made? John Wayne must have been desperate for something when he took this part! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE John Wayne, but really, this movie is the pits. He wasn't cut out to be a Mongol. It's interesting to watch just to see how bad a movie can get! It's so extremely dumb!

This is not the worst movie I've ever seen, but, close to it without a doubt. I wish I knew a bit more of the history behind it's making as in what sort of delirium the casting director was suffering from when he cast The Duke as Genghis Khan? I adore John Wayne and will watch anything that he's in because he's, well, The Duke! I think that's the opinion that the producers of this movie must have hoped the viewing public of 1953 would share. It didn't work, it still doesn't but it's a must see for the true John Wayne fan.

This review is for the "GoodTimes" Edition.

The Conqueror" is probably the strangest mainstream film I can recall ever seeing. It is a grand production and there is NO reason to avoid seeing this film. Nevertheless, I do have some strong opinions about the film.

Today when actors take on projects that are out-of-character and don't go well, like DeNiro in "Rocky and Bullwinkle", we say they were experimenting in the role. On that basis, John Wayne's foray into experimentation definitely hit its peak when he starred as Genghis Khan in "The Conqueror". Of course, John Wayne is the quintessential "GOOD GUY" and "GENGHIS KHAN" played like a "Good Guy" is like "Santa Claus" playing a serial killer. Yucky at the very least, impossible to do well is more like it.

John Wayne, or let's suspend disbelief now by just referring to him henceforth as Genghis. Okay, Genghis definitely came to work on this film and no one could say in their right mind that he didn't give his all in this try-to-be epic during this, his prime of acting power mid-1950s. Genghis was trying to be like the real Genghis, but he looked and sounded like John Wayne. Yes, the trapping of being too popular, too good-natured and too well-known definitely affected Genghis in both the making of and the audiences' reception of "The Conqueror".

I was okay with everything right up until he slapped Susan Hayward several times [wife of Genghis according to Genghis] and ordered that several of his "loyal" men who were drunk on guard duty be hanged. Whether this type of violence was fitting seemed not to matter as I forgot we were watching Genghis at work and just saw John Wayne acting very unbelievably. That's it. That's what is wrong with the movie. It is VERY HARD TO BELIEVE!

It's not the stilted, ridiculous dialogue. Even the best historical films have some of that, recall "Ben Hur". It's not the American actors like William Conrad and Agnes Moorehead passing for Asians along with the Duke [I mean Genghis]. It's not that Susan Hayward's make-up and appearance was much too modern, or that the brief, seductive dance by former Playboy Bunny Sylvia Lewis at the palace of Wang Khan [Thomas Gomez] was a bit too much, especially for 1956. It's not that Susan Hayward's father, a tribal leader, was drunk for the entire film and seemed far too crude to have Susan Hayward in her most polished state as his daughter or to lead a tribe. It's not the complete lack of regard for human life that permeates the entire film and the underlying cruelty and treachery that is implicitly and often all too explicity welded into every scene.

No, it is not any one of the aforementioned issues, but all of them together that is just too much for any film to overcome. Having said that, this movie is worth watching as it is a big and rather bizarre sprawling spectacle very much in the Howard Hughes [more is better] style of filmmaking. There is no cutting corners on this film.

THE DVD: Whereas the film was lavishly produced, this "GOOD-TIMES" DVD is a "single-layer" transfer and has no features, but it does play surprisingly well for a "Goodtimes" product and this widescreen 2.35:1 looks much better than the video did. Though it claims to be in "Dolby Surround" I could not hear that, but the sound was satisfactory. It is in English only, but English or Spanish subtitles are available if needed.

Somehow this spartan edition DVD sells for over $30., and the only other available DVD starts at about $50. which makes this a questionable purchase. Many city libraries do have this eclectic classic available for circulation.

Once you stop laughing at the idea of the "Duke" playing Genghis Khan with that same western drawl, consider this: almost everyone who worked on this film died of cancer because the movie was made on location in the desert where there had been testing of the a-bomb.