Genghis Khan (1965 film): Difference between revisions

Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan
	Theatrical poster by Frank McCarthy.
Directed by	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	April 15, 1965 (Germany); June 23, 1965 (United States); August 30, 1965 (United Kingdom);
Running time	120 minutes
Countries	United Kingdom; West Germany; Yugoslavia; United States
Language	English
Budget	$4.5 million
Box office	$2.25 million ; (US & Canada rentals) ; 2.6 million tickets ; (France & West Germany)

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Genghis Khan is a 1965 biographical adventure film directed by Henry Levin and starring Omar Sharif, depicting a fictionalized account of the life and conquests of the Mongol emperor Genghis Khan. Distributed in the United Kingdom and the United States in 1965 by Columbia Pictures, the film also features James Mason, Stephen Boyd, Eli Wallach, Françoise Dorléac and Telly Savalas.

A 70 mm version was released by CCC Film in West Germany. It was filmed in Yugoslavia with Technicolor and Panavision.

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 Peking 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 there is another way to return to his homelands, by going alone and leaving his people behind in China. When Temujin inquires if anyone 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 Manchuria to Moscow, the Mongol army prepares to face the Shah of Khwarezm. The escaped Jamuga flees to Khwarezm, where he convinces the Shah to ally his forces with Jamuga's Merkits. The Mongol Army faces the Shah's Army and the Merkits on a battlefield. Temujin sends the ambassador Kam Ling as an envoy to ask Jamuga one last time to ally with him, Jamuga responds by killing Kam Ling and dragging his body back to the Mongols, implying that they will never ally themselves with Genghis Khan. The Mongols, with the help of cannons from China, engage in battle with the Shah's army. The Shah orders a retreat and Jamuga responds by killing him. Jamuga orders the Merkits to stay and fight. They are easily defeated, but Jamuga challenges Temujin to a Mongol duel. Temujin and Jamuga fight one last battle and kills him, although he is gravely wounded. Temujin addresses the Merkits, who all bow down and join the Mongol peoples. Temujin announces that he has accomplished his dream of uniting the Mongol peoples. Temujin succumbs to his wounds soon after following a loving good-bye to Bortai and her two remaining brothers.

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
Stephen Boyd as Jamuga
James Mason as Kam Ling, the Chinese Ambassador
Eli Wallach as Shah of Khwarezm
Françoise Dorléac as 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 [de] 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 distributor rentals.^[2]

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.

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
Template:Amg movie
Genghis Khan at the TCM Movie Database
Genghis Khan at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films

[henry-1] Scheuer, P. K. (1965, Jan 05). "Pat O'Brien takes new lease on life" Los Angeles Times

[2] Anticipated rentals accruing distributors in North America. See "Top Grossers of 1965", Variety, 5 January 1966 p 36

[3] "Die erfolgreichsten Filme in Deutschland 1965" [The Most Successful Films in Germany in 1965]. Inside Kino (in German). 1965. Retrieved 4 February 2019.

[4] "Gengis Khan (1965)". JP's Box-Office (in French). Retrieved 11 November 2021.

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@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 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 dynasty|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". Temujin's Mongol army stays in [[Beijing|Peking]] for a long period, training, learning, and growing complacent.
+A stranded Chinese ambassador is helped out by Temujin, who accompanies the diplomat into [[Song dynasty|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|Peking]] 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 there is another way to return to his homelands, by going alone and leaving his people behind in China. When Temujin inquires if anyone 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.
-The imprisoned Jamuga escapes at one point. Finally, feeling trapped, the Mongols break out of their "captivity", killing the Emperor of China in the process, and begin their conquest of Asia.
-After laying waste to everything from [[Manchuria]] to [[Moscow]], the Mongol army finally battles the [[Shah of Khwarezm]], defeating him and capturing Jamuga one last time. Temujin and Jamuga fight one last battle, and, although victorious, Temujin succumbs to his wounds soon after, following a loving good-bye to Bortai. A voiceover speaks of Genghis Khan's reputation and successors in expanding his empire.
+Temujin instructs Bortei's brothers Jebi, Subotai and Kassar to conquer China, Russia and India respectively. After laying waste to everything from [[Manchuria]] to [[Moscow]], the Mongol army prepares to face the [[Shah of Khwarezm]]. The escaped Jamuga flees to Khwarezm, where he convinces the Shah to ally his forces with Jamuga's Merkits. The Mongol Army faces the Shah's Army and the Merkits on a battlefield. Temujin sends the ambassador Kam Ling as an envoy to ask Jamuga one last time to ally with him, Jamuga responds by killing Kam Ling and dragging his body back to the Mongols, implying that they will never ally themselves with Genghis Khan. The Mongols, with the help of cannons from China, engage in battle with the Shah's army. The Shah orders a retreat and Jamuga responds by killing him. Jamuga orders the Merkits to stay and fight. They are easily defeated, but Jamuga challenges Temujin to a Mongol duel. Temujin and Jamuga fight one last battle and kills him, although he is gravely wounded. Temujin addresses the Merkits, who all bow down and join the Mongol peoples. Temujin announces that he has accomplished his dream of uniting the Mongol peoples. Temujin succumbs to his wounds soon after following a loving good-bye to Bortai and her two remaining brothers.
+A voiceover speaks of Genghis Khan's reputation and successors in expanding his empire - [[Babur|his grandson Babur]] founded the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal Dynasty of India]] and [[Kublai Khan]] became an [[Yuan dynasty|Emperor of China]].
 ==Cast==
 * [[Omar Sharif]] as Temujin, later [[Genghis Khan]]
 * [[Stephen Boyd]] as [[Jamuga]]
-* [[James Mason]] as Kam Ling
+* [[James Mason]] as Kam Ling, the Chinese Ambassador
 * [[Eli Wallach]] as [[Shah of Khwarezm]]
 * [[Françoise Dorléac]] as [[Bortei]]