The Conqueror (1956) - John Wayne's inauspicious turn as Genghis Khan

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The colorful poster for Dick Powell's The Conqueror

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The story of Genghis Khan's becoming the greatest war hero in the world gets told here as a pure, happy cock-and-bull story, or like a western removed to the East, complete with Pedro Armendariz (From Russia With Love (1963)), Lee Van Cleef (For a Few Dollars More (1965)), Susan Hayward (The Snows of Kilimajaro (1952)) and John Wayne (True Grit (1969)) in the title role.

Particularly Hayward and Wayne seem to compete in trying to be the most absurd in their roles; vampy, horribly mercurial Hayward wins. Although Wayne also does his part (in)justice with hammy lines such as, "I call that women's talk, my mother!" (Script by Oscar Millard (Angel Face (1952)).)
The Conqueror is very stiff throughout and amusingly theatrical, not unlike Yul Brynner's concurrent turn as Cossack war hero in J. Lee Thompson's Taras Bulba (1962).
Yet the film as such is also well-paced, lavishly produced (by Howard Hughes (Hell's Angels (1930)) in his penultimate film) and excitingly colorful, (in rich Technicolor.) It is directed by actor-director Dick Powell (The Hunters (1958)).
The Conqueror has become notorious as 'the film that killed John Wayne.' - Referring to the stomach and lung cancer that killed him in 1979: The movie was filmed near St. George, Utah, about 140 miles from a military site where nuclear tests may have affected the 200 some film crew with radiation, although the government had deemed it safe to be there. Reportedly, by 1981, 91 persons of the film's cast and crew had developed cancers, (leaving 46 dead at that time.) A lawsuit was never filed, and no-one was ever held accountable for the possible disaster.
- But it is said that Hughes felt bad about the film's production, and especially its shoot at the possibly hazardous site; so bad that he bought back all of its prints for 12 mil. $ and kept The Conqueror out of the public loop, (until Universal bought it from his estate in 1979, three years after his death.) Reportedly, Hughes saw the film - and the 1968 espionage thriller Ice Storm Zebra, - obsessively in his last years.

John Wayne ironically really wanted this one of his most inauspicious roles, as Dick Powell's The Conqueror

Titanic also in terms of real human tragedy, some might say. Here's the trailer for the film

Cost: 6 mil. $
Box office: 9-12 mil. $
= Flop
[The film made 4.5 mil. $ of its gross in the US, where it was the 11th biggest hit at the box office of 1956, which, however, wasn't enough to make it a success. The Conqueror became known as one of the worst films of the 50's (and, to some, of all time.) - But not to Film Excess, it isn't!]

What do you think of The Conqueror?
Please, share any trivia knowledge about it that you may have

Citizen Kane (1941) - The cold elephant on the shelf

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Marvelous artwork on an original poster for Orson Welles' Citizen Kane

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Build up as a mystery concerning the meaning of media mogul Charles Forster Kane's last word spoken, before leaving the world and his crumbling empire behind, the word "Rosebud."
Citizen Kane, hailed as the greatest film ever made time and time again, is a technically astute and innovative, especially with its deep focus shots and elaborate, wide-ranging plot structure, and its revelation in the end, which cements the sad end of Kane's existence, and works as an almost violent punch. The film also impresses as inspired by especially newspaper magnate Randolph Hearst's derailed life, much to his dissatisfaction and fury. - He tried to get the film shelved or destroyed and to wreck its writer-director-producer-star Orson Welles' (The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)) reputation. Hearst banned his papers from mentioning or advertising the film, and he even made theaters cancel screenings of Kane, worsening its revenue potential. His dirty tricks didn't work in the long run, as he is known as the film's main inspiration now (more than any of the other inspirations, which are also known and can be read about in Kane's enormous Wikipedia-page here).
Still I have always felt that Citizen Kane is a film which is hard to approach and essentially cold. The basic story is that striving for personal success above everything else is a road to misery. - And that makes for two very cold hours of imperial, gloomy movie magic here. The characters feel very alien to me, and the gloom of the film's premise never sinks in as forcefully as I believe it should. Perhaps I am too dazzled by the technical and narrative refinements of the film; it feels full of hard edges and slightly hostile to me.
Citizen Kane, a dreaded, great, albeit overrated, film.

Related review:

Orson Welles: Mr. Arkadin/Confidential Report (1955) or, The Mysterious Past of the Great Gregory Arkadin

Watch the original, over-long, super-indulgent trailer for the movie here

Cost: 0.8 mil. $
Box office: 1.5 mil. $ (US only)
= Flop, though some uncertainty
[For RKO Radio Pictures and Welles' Mercury Productions, who produced the film and gave Welles an unheard of level of freedom on it.]

What do you think of Citizen Kane?
Can you relate to this review?

The Bat (1959) - Minor murder mystery with the great Vincent Price

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Ghoulish, sinister menace hangs heavy over this zealous poster for Wilbur Crane's The Bat

During a thunderstorm, a million dollars are stolen, and a masked murderer with a clawed glove ruthlessly hunts the money in an old mansion.

The Bat is written and directed by Wilbur Crane (The Love Liar (1916)). It is based on Mary Roberts Rinehart's (Dangerous Ways (1919)) novel The Circular Staircase (1908)), which was first adapted into the play The Bat (1920) and later two movies, The Bat (1926) and The Bat Whispers (1930).

For another entry into the hackneyed mansion-set murder-mystery sub-genre, The Bat is alright, and the cinematography by the prodigious Joseph F. Biroc (It's a Wonderful Life (1946)) is very good. Another plus is Vincent Price (The Fly (1958)), who adorns The Bat with the endless ambiguity of his sinister eyes and facial expressions in a sombre doctor part.
The Bat is drawn down mainly by a number of overly annoying female parts.

 

Related post:

 

Crane Wilbur: House of Wax (1953) - De Toth's colorful classic is a must for Price fans (writer)

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertain

[The Bat was released 9 August (USA) and runs 80 minutes. Shooting took place at Universal Studios in California. The film was shown on a double bill with the British The Mummy (1959). Details on its cost and box office are regrettably not available. Turner Classic Movies reports that the film, at the time, was "not a crowd pleaser." It has since fallen into public domain and can be seen and downloaded free and legally right here. Wilbur as a director only returned with uncredited work on House of Women (1962) but did write more screenplays following The Bat. Price returned in 4 TV-series prior to his theatrical return in House of Usher (1960); Agnes Moorehead (The Virginian (1970, TV-series)) returned in 3 TV-series prior to her theatrical return in Pollyanna (1960)). 5.5k+ IMDb users have given The Bat a 5.5/10 average rating.]

What do you think of The Bat?

All That Heaven Allows (1955) or, Not The Widow and Her Gardener!

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The glamorous stars are wrapped in a beautiful, painted embrace on this color-blasting, grand poster for Douglas Sirk's All That Heaven Allows

A good-looking widow, who has a laconic relationship with an older, respectable gentleman in the country club and 'cares for' the 'children', (who are obviously fully grown adults.) She falls in love with a younger gardener, who speaks so divinely about trees, but is not accepted by neither her children nor the surrounding suburban society.

All That Heaven Allows is written by Peggy Thompson (Whirlpool (1935)), based on the same-titled novel by Edna and Harry L. Lee, and directed by Douglas Sirk (April, April! (1935)). SPOILER After a concussion induced by a dramatic snowfall, the two controversial lovers, however, find each other again, while a deer sniffs around in the snow right outside the window (see images below.)
The style of this melodrama classic is absolutely artificial in all its Technicolor, laminated-feel, studio-created crispness, which is also the film's main attraction: It's simply freakish!
Sirk's modern message about a widow finding hot love again after her husband's demise is wrapped in a 1950s material conservatism so thick and obstinate that I sometimes get the creeps.
The romantic melodrama largely came about because the studio wanted to re-join the two attractive stars of Sirk's major success Magnificent Obsession (1954); Jane Wyman (The Kid from Kokomo (1939)) and Rock Hudson (Sea Devils (1953)).

Haven't we all been there, honestly? A romantic, private hour and BAM, a cute deer comes along to join us. It happens in Douglas Sirk's All That Heaven Allows

Witness the 50s-type 'passion' and 'ecstasy' right here in the trailer for All That Heaven Allows

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 3.1 mil. $ (North America only)
= Uncertainty but likely a big hit
[All That Heaven Allows premiered 25 August (London, UK) and runs 89 minutes. Sirk found the original screenplay "rather impossible". Wyman at age 38 played the 'older woman' mother to two younger actors both aged 24; the 'younger man' gardener Hudson was 30 at the time. Shooting took place in Universal's California lot around January 1955. The film was advertised in women's media and became a solid hit in North America. Its foreign gross numbers are regrettably not made public. If made on a similar budget to Sirk's Wyman/Hudson hit from the year before, Magnificent Obsession, which was reportedly made for 780k $, All That Heaven Allows would rank as a big or maybe even a huge hit theatrically. Sirk returned with uncredited direction in Never Say Goodbye (1956) and as credited director on Written on the Wind (1956). Wyman returned in Lucy Gallant (1955); Hudson in Never Say Goodbye. All That Heaven Allows is fresh at 90 % with a 7.69/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of All That Heaven Allows?