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.
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.