Posts from Gorch in thread „The Conqueror (1956)“

Glad to hear that you are at least enjoying watching this and I'm enjoying your "reviews". I may watch it again just to have a few more beers.

We deal in lead, friend.

Since I'm responsible for forcing this on the group, I'll go ahead.
On the plus side. The minor characters, especially Lee Van Cleef and William Conrad, are energetic. The horsemanship is spectacular. The battle scenes are exciting and the stunts (I saw Cliff Lyons' name in the credits) look bone breaking.

On the debit side. The script is awful, with lines that no actor could speak sincerely. Susan Hayward appears to be heavily sedated, probably to keep from giggling. She looks like she's sleepwalking even in her big seductive dance scene. There is another big dance number that is choreographed worse than a high school half time that stops everything dead. It's a great time to get some beer - you'll need it.
The sets are cheesy and less believable than the ones in "Road to Morocco". The costumes look like Mom's homemade Halloween attempts with rolls of aluminum foil. The process shots and inserts don't match and the music score is uninspired.
We all know Duke was miscast. He looks fierce enough, especially on horseback waving a sword, and grunts and growls convincingly, but he's just not a Mongol.

If you treat the movie like a comic book, say "Prince Valiant", it's not so bad and a miscast Duke is better than no Duke.

We deal in lead, friend.

I've seen this one a few times and own it on DVD, so I'll probably watch it again.
The production values are better than say, the Steve Reeves and Victor Mature sword and sandal flicks. Granted, it's not She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, but I'd prefer to see this one again instead of Circus World.

We deal in lead, friend.