55 Days in Peking (1963) ( Fifty Five Days in Peking )

55 Days in Peking (1963) (Blu-Ray) (*)

$21.99

Alternate Title: Fifty Five Days in Peking
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Oscar Academy Awards
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
Danish ( Subtitles )
English ( Dolby Digital 5.1 )
Finnish ( Subtitles )
Norwegian ( Subtitles )
Swedish ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
Denmark ( Blu-Ray/Region A/B/C )

Running Time:
148 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.78:1)

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 1963 and produced in:
United States ( USA, Canada )

Directed By:
Nicholas Ray

Written By:
Bernard Gordon
Philip Yordan

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

Synopsis:

In the early years of the 20th century, Peking (now Beijing) is an open city with the Chinese and several European countries vie for control. The Boxers, who oppose Christianity and the western powers who still exercised complete sovereignty over their compounds and their citizens. The head of the US garrison is Maj. Matt Lewis, an experienced China hand who knows local conditions well. He meets an exiled Russian Baroness, Natalie Ivanoff with whom he falls in love. The political situation is tension-filled with the Boxers having the tacit approval of the Dowager Empress. When the Boxers attack the foreigners, Maj. Lewis, working with the senior officer from the British Embassy, Sir Arthur Robinson, tries to keep them at bay pending the arrival of a relief force.

Samuel Bronston produced this extravagant blockbuster, shot in Super Technirama 70. Nominally directed by Nicholas Ray (who makes a brief appearance as the U.S. ambassador), Ray was taken off the film and replaced by the more pliable directorial touches of Andrew Marton. Charlton Heston stars as Maj. Matt Lewis, the leader of an army of multinational soldiers who head to Peking during the infamous Boxer Rebellion of 1900. As the film unfolds, the foreign embassies in Peking are being held in a grip of terror as the Boxers set about massacring Christians in an anti-Christian nationalistic fever. Inside the besieged compound, the finicky British ambassador (David Niven) gathers the beleaguered ambassadors into a defensive formation. Included in the group of high-level dignitaries is a sultry Russian Baroness (Ava Gardner) who takes a shine to Lewis upon his arrival at the embassy compound with his group of soldiers. As Lewis and the group conserve food and water and try to save some hungry children, they await the arrival of expected reinforcements, but the tricky Chinese Empress Tzu Hsi (Flora Robson) is, in the meantime, plotting with the Boxers to break the siege at the compound with the aid of Chinese recruits.

Diplomats, soldiers and other representatives of a dozen nations fend off the siege of the International Compound in Peking during the 1900 Boxer Rebellion. The disparate interests unite for survival despite competing factions, overwhelming odds, delayed relief and tacit support of the Boxers by the Empress of China and her generals.

This product was added to our catalog on Monday 25 March, 2024.

Customers who bought this product also purchased

Young And The Damned (DVD)