Genghis Khan (1965 film)
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Genghis Khan | |
---|---|
Henry Levin | |
Screenplay by | Beverley Cross Clarke Reynolds |
Story by | Berkely Mather |
Produced by | Irving Allen |
Starring | Omar Sharif James Mason Stephen Boyd Eli Wallach Françoise Dorléac Telly Savalas |
Cinematography | Geoffrey Unsworth |
Edited by | Geoffrey Foot |
Music by | Dušan Radić |
Production companies | Irving Allen Productions Central Cinema Company Film (CCC) Avala Film |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 120 minutes |
Countries | United Kingdom West Germany Yugoslavia United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $4.5 million[1] |
Box office | $2.25 million (US & Canada rentals) 2.6 million tickets (France & West Germany) |
Genghis Khan is a 1965
A
Plot
The young Temujin sees his father tortured and killed by a rival tribe led by Jamuga. Held prisoner, he is yoked into a large wooden wheel around his neck and tormented by the tribal children. He meets the young Bortai after an act of kindness to her, but is punished by Jamuga. Temujin then escapes and hides in the hills, followed by holy man Geen and mute warrior Sengal, who pledge their allegiance to the man vowing to unite all the Mongol tribes. Temujin liberates Salkits prisoners from group of Merkits, who they then slaughter and rob. The newly freed men join Temujin and unite with Temujin's Yesugai tribe.
Raids along caravan routes gradually increase the size of his army, and then Temujin decides to capture and take as his wife the young Bortai. He does so, but then she is recaptured by Jamuga (having found the camp by following Bortai's brothers Subotai, Jebai and Kassar defecting from Jamuga's tribe), who rapes her before Temujin can steal her back. Temujin raises the resulting child as his own, naming him Jochi. Temujin's army heads east in order to escape Jamuga.
A stranded Chinese ambassador is helped out by Temujin, who accompanies the diplomat into Song China, where he meets the Emperor of China. Despite being well fed, given elegant clothing and getting to experience luxuries such as bathing, wine and the arts, Temujin, Geen and Bortai's brothers all agree that it is a prison. After the Mongols successfully defeat Manchurians led by Jamuga holding the city of Hopeh, Jamuga is taken prisoner; the Temujin is proclaimed "Genghis Khan, the Prince of Conquerors" by the Emperor. Temujin's Mongol army stays in Beijing for a long period, training, learning, and growing complacent. Although Jamuga was captured, he refuses to let them join Temujin's united Mongol tribes.
Temujin expresses to the Emperor about his desire to take the Mongol tribes back to their homelands, but the Emperor refuses, revealing only to his ambassador Kam Ling that he is worried that the Mongols will return to China as conquerors and so must keep them inside China. The Emperor wants to assassinate Genghis Khan using Jamuga, because Jamuga is a Mongol and therefore would leave the Chinese people blameless. The Ambassador, explains secretly to Temujin and his group that the emperor should fear the Mongols staying in China. He then suggests the emperor is a subtle man and there is another solution, in that his people stay and Temujin goes on a very long journey alone, implying the emperor wishes to assassinate Temujin. When Temujin inquires who were to stab him in the back, the Ambassador reveals that only a Merkit would be the assassin, which Temujin deduces is Jamuga. He orders Subodai and one of his brothers to bring him to his residence, but when they release Jamuga, he knocks them down and escapes. Finally, feeling trapped, the Mongols break out of their "captivity" by tricking the Emperor to personally light the final fireworks display at the end of a festival. The resulting explosion blows up a gate in the city wall, killing the Emperor of China in the process. The Mongols break out, taking the Emperor's daughter and his Ambassador with them and begin their conquest of Asia.
Temujin instructs Bortei's brothers Jebi, Subotai and Kassar to conquer China, Russia and India respectively. After laying waste to everything from
A voiceover speaks of Genghis Khan's reputation and successors in expanding his empire - his grandson Babur founded the Mughal Dynasty of India and Kublai Khan became an Emperor of China.
Cast
- Omar Sharif as Temujin, later Genghis Khan
- Jamuga
- James Mason as Kam Ling, the Chinese Ambassador
- Shah of Khwarezm
- Bortei
- Telly Savalas as Shan
- Robert Morley as Emperor of China
- Michael Hordern as Geen
- Yvonne Mitchell as Katke
- Woody Strode as Sengal
- Kenneth Cope as Subotai
- Roger Croucher as Kassar
- Don Borisenko as Jebai
- Patrick Holt as Kuchiuk
- Susanne Hsiao as Chin Yu
- George Savalas as Toktoa
- Gustavo Rojo as Altan
Production
The film was shot over 125 days.[1]
Allen and Euan Lloyd (who worked in publicity) wanted to make a follow-up called Clive of India based on a script by Terence Young but it was never made.[1]
Box office
In the United States and Canada, the film earned $2.25 million in
In Europe, the film sold 1.724 million tickets in West Germany[3] and 879,532 tickets in France,[4] for a combined 2,603,532 tickets sold in West Germany and France.
See also
- List of Asian historical drama films
References
- ^ a b c Scheuer, P. K. (1965, Jan 05). "Pat O'Brien takes new lease on life" Los Angeles Times
- ^ Anticipated rentals accruing distributors in North America. See "Top Grossers of 1965", Variety, 5 January 1966 p 36
- ^ "Die erfolgreichsten Filme in Deutschland 1965" [The Most Successful Films in Germany in 1965]. Inside Kino (in German). 1965. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
- ^ "Gengis Khan (1965)". JP's Box-Office (in French). Retrieved 11 November 2021.
External links
- Genghis Khan at IMDb
- Genghis Khan at AllMovie
- Genghis Khan at the TCM Movie Database
- Genghis Khan at the American Film Institute Catalog