King of the Khyber Rifles (1953)

*Spoiler/plot- King of the Khyber Rifles (1953). Takes place during the British Royal Raj era in India. Where a Half-cast born native Indian man becomes a British army officer and attempts to do his job in the ranks. He has many problems in and out of the British army.*Special Stars- Tyone Power, Terry Moore, Michael Rennie, Guy Rolfe, Frank Dekova.*Theme- The strict class system in 19th century Britian and also in it's armed forces makes challenges on everyone.*Trivia/location/goofs- External filming location: The 'Alabama Hills', outside Lone Pine Ca, off Hwy 395 below Mount Whitney area. Watch for the great character actor Frank DeKova playing another darkened ethnic par. He would later be seen in more films playing an American Indian.*Emotion- I recently saw this on my TV in a letter-boxed wide screen form. While I normally enjoy seeing the director's full frame and composition, this film suffered for me. I found the pace and plot to not served this film well with the lack of different closer angles and lenses to see the action and plot. I thought it ruined the film's story to a great measure. I know CimemaScope movies are supposed to show large scope and geographical beauty, but this bogged down the plot. And this seemed to pander to the CimemaScope gimmick too much to ruin the watchablility of the whole story. This period and historical film missed it for me. Thumbs DOWN.*Based On-British rule in Indian during Victorian times.-

I am not sure why so many Hollywood productions featured the Imperial British in a very favorable light--such as in "Gunga Din", "Lives of a Bengal Lancer", "The Four Feathers" and this film. You'd think, in light of our own Revolution, we'd be rooting for the natives!! It was THEIR land, after all. Regardless, the film is just one of a bazillion others in most regards--just not as interesting. The only major difference is that there's a subplot about Tyrone Power supposedly being a half-caste--part British and part Indian Muslim. But the writer really didn't do that much with it--just make Power a gung-ho Britain-loving officer. As a result, although it is a bit different, otherwise it's a very ordinary film. As for Power, he's rather limp and it's not among his better films.By the way, although this is a pretty fair film, it does have one of the dumber clichés in film and TV history. When Tyrone Power's character shows people a picture of his father in a locket, it's his exact image--as if fathers give birth to sons who look 100% like them!! I would have at least taken the picture with a fake nose or weird hairdo! Oh well, at least it wasn't an identical cousin! You know, it would have been great if the picture had been of Tyrone Power, Sr.---Tyrone's father who was a famous actor during the silent era.

Fox's KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES (1953) is quite a reasonably good colourful adventure set in India in 1857. A remake of John Ford's "The Black Watch" (1929) it was based on the novel by Talbot Mundy from which derived a fairly decent screenplay by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts. Tyrone Power was the star and once again he was reunited with his favourite director and friend Henry King in Frank Rosenberg's elaborate production. This was the studio's fourth picture filmed in the then new stunning process of Cinemascope and Stereophonic sound! The new format lending itself beautifully to the Lone Pine Californian locations which doubled perfectly for India's Northwest Frontier. And veteran expert Cinematographer Leon Shamroy seemed right at home with his creative use of the widescreen camera.Tyrone Power was Fox's top leading man in the forties but by the time the studio embarked on their wonderful Cinemascope productions in 1953 his star was beginning to wane. The actor was also tired of the usual adventure fare he was frequently thrust into by studio head Darryl Zanuck and longed to do other things in film for other companies. He wanted to break his contract (he amusingly referred to the studio as Penitentiary Fox) and turned down the lead in Fox's ambitious first scope movie "The Robe" resulting in Zanuck suspending him. But not for long! His friend and mentor Henry King came into the fray when he wanted Power to star in his first stab at Cinemascope - KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES and would settle for no one else. So Power and Zanuck kissed and made up and the star took up the assignment."India - 1857 - the one hundredth year of British rule" reads the post credits caption on the screen at the opening of the picture. Captain Alan King and his troop are escorting some supply wagons to the Peshawar district garrison not far from the infamous Khyber Pass where rebel Kerram Khan and his army of insurgents are holed up and are preparing for "The night of the long knives" the time when India will rise up against British rule. This is the film's basic premise and depicts one man's efforts to thwart an inevitable uprising. But along the way he will fall in love with the Colonel's daughter (the totally resistible Terry Moore) and be pilloried for being the half-caste boyhood friend of the rebel leader (Guy Rolfe) who he must confront and endeavour to kill.KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES is a good adventure yarn and looks great on the wide canvas of the Cinemascope screen (a desert rescue sequence is particularly effective). Performances are generally good too. Power, though somewhat subdued, is fine as the troubled Captain King and Michael Rennie gives his usual smooth turn as the authoritative commanding officer. Charismatic British actor Guy Rolfe is superb as Karram Khan. Rolfe an actor with loads of screen presence never followed this up with anything worthwhile and became just another working actor mostly on television. He died back in England in 2003 at the age of 91. Now, the part of the leading lady is the picture's major fault! Terry Moore is completely miscast! To begin with she simply doesn't suit Tyrone Power at all! She's too young for him! Plus she's supposed to be an English girl raised and schooled in England but instead she just looks and sounds like an American High School student who discovers she has a crush on her history professor. Her casting here is almost identical to that of four years earlier when the equally resistible Wanda Hendricks was Power's leading lady in "Prince Of Foxes". What on earth was wrong with Ty? He seemed to have problems selecting an appropriate leading lady! HUH!However a huge plus for the movie is the remarkable music by Bernard Herrmann! A rollicking eastern tinged Main Title with bravura brass fanfares and augmented timpani opens the score. There is some eerie music for the Hammer Of God scene and a ravishing love theme for the picture's softer moments which the composer fashions into a beautiful waltz for the Queen's Birthday Ball sequence. Alongside "Beneath The 12 Mile Reef" (1953) KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES is Herrmann's best adventure score!If you can overlook the presence of Terry Moore (think Susan Hayward or Jean Peters) KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES is an engaging 100 minutes of entertainment. But why is this movie not on DVD? As far as I know it isn't even on Video tape! What is wrong with Fox Home Entertainment? They seem to have forgotten Ty Power in "Untamed" (1955) as well! In fact they seem to have totally forgotten what remains in their back catalogue! Where's "Seven Cities of Gold" (1955 / with a riveting performance from Michael Rennie), "Violent Saturday" (1955) and "Rio Conchos" (1964)? Who knows?? Anyone??

King of the Khyber Rifles is getting its second film adaption in this 1953 remake of Black Watch. Our version stars 20th Century Fox mainstay Tyrone Power who was coming to an end of his long term studio contract. This was also the ninth of eleven films Power did with director Henry King and they rate right up there with John Wayne-John Ford and Martin Scorsese-Robert DeNiro as a successful director/actor team. King directed Power's breakthrough film role in Lloyds of London and his collaborations with Power is some of the best work for either men.I wouldn't rate King of the Khyber Rifles as one of the best for either man. Yet it's entertaining enough and full of enough action to satisfy those who crave it in their films.Power plays a British Army captain of mixed racial parentage and religious background as his mother was Moslem. He encounters a lot of hostility from both sides, similar to what Ava Gardner faced in Bhowani Junction. It turns out that the leader of the local rebels is his former childhood play mate and son of the Moslem cleric who took young Power in when he was orphaned. Guy Rolfe is the rebel chief and he's a cunning and vicious foe of the British occupation. Rolfe also did a superb job in Ivanhoe as King John and these two roles are probably his career parts. Rolfe's the best one in the film.It might have been a bit better had someone other than Terry Moore played the daughter of the English colonel. Another reviewer says she comes off like a débutante and she really does. Michael Rennie as her father is a stalwart defender of the Empire.King of the Khyber Rifles is decent enough entertainment, but it wasn't in any contention for any awards in 1953.