1963 - 55 DAYS AT PEKING - another super sized production from Samuel Bronston

Producer Samuel Bronston who never thought modest in his film productions decided to dramatize the 1900 Chinese Boxer rebellion.  To accomplish this task he literally built the city of Beijing in Spain.  This is a massive production involving huge sets and employed the famous "cast of thousands."

Nicholas Ray was hired to direct and either had a nervous breakdown or a heart attack dealing with the extreme demands of Ava Gardner and the overwhelming technical details of the production.  2nd unit director Andrew Marton coordinated the battle and destruction scenes and another director Guy Green who had worked as a cinematographer for David Lean finished up the film.

I will admit this is not a great film, the soap opera love story plot between Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner really slows down the film and is not remotely interesting.  However the amazing sets and action pieces are really something to see with the vast cast of extras deployed in the battle scenes.  Where did they dig up all those Chinese extras in Spain?

You can dust off the old cliche "they don't make them like this anymore,"  but the reality is they don't. This mindless film is fun to watch (especially on a large screen televison), with it's 70mm photography and old school star powered cast which included Heston, Gardner and David Niven.  It's a very enjoyable time killer. A fascinating example of excess in the film business.

150 minutes, written by Philip Yordan and Bernard Gordon.

1961 - KING OF KINGS, good film on the Prince of Peace with a couple of battle scenes thrown in.

For a traditional big early 1960's epic,  King of Kings is pretty good.  I would certainly take it over the corny old The Ten Commandments any day.  

The film was directed by Nicholas Ray and produced by the master producer of the epic film Samuel Bronston.  Miklos Rosza did the "holy holy: music score for the film and Ray Bradbury of all people apparently wrote the narration which was read by Orson Welles.

The casting is pretty good avoiding the who's who's of Hollywood stars the problem that really killed The Greatest Story Ever Told.   Jeffrey Hunter (the first captain of the Enterprise)  was cast as Jesus.  Robert Ryan is an excellent John the Baptist.

The film has some impressive imagery, the 70 mm camera is used boldly for some powerful closeups.  The Sermon on the Mount, is clearly a high point in the film with thousands of extras deployed.  Jesus preaches his philosophy to the crowd and one can't help wondering how his message of "blessed are the peacemakers" got so twisted the last 2000 years.  

Far from a perfect film, there is something about the story of Jesus that seems to descend into a series of platitudes after a while, years of Sunday school teaching have definitely taken their toll on his theology. 

Two battle scenes between the Roman army and the Jews seem inserted into the film just because you have to have battle scenes in these religious epics I guess.

Overall a good film, epic in scope and good to look.

168 minutes, written by Philip Yordan and Ray Bradbury (uncredited).

1958 - WIND ACROSS THE EVERGLADES, interesting film about conservation in the Everglades

The writer/producer Budd Schulberg is responsible for this story about the Audubon Society's battle with exotic bird poachers in the Florida Everglades.  Nicholas Ray directed most of it, but was canned by Schulberg towards the end of the shoot and barred from the editing room. 

Christopher Plummer is the marshal for the Audubon Society and Burt Ives is the leader of the poachers.  These are a couple of very strong actors playing against each other.  They have some good scenes together including a memorable drinking contest during a hurricane which is probably a little over the top.

The film has a good sense of location, with some excellent photography of the Everglades and the wildlife. The film also has an unusual supporting cast along with Ives and Plummer.  Peter Falk is one of the poachers, Gypsy Rose Lee the madam of the local whore house.  Emmet Kelly the famous clown is also in it along with the author MacKinley Kantor. 

An honest attempt to discuss  ecological issues vs rights of the individual,  the film kind of loses it way towards the end, but still stays very interesting overall.

93 minutes.