King of the Kyber Rifles is directed by Henry King and adapted to screenplay by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts from a story written by Harry Kleiner. It stars Tyrone Power, Terry Moore, Michael Rennie, John Justin and Guy Rolfe. Music is scored by Bernard Herrmann and cinematography by Leon Shamroy.
A remake of John Ford's The Black Watch (1929), and loosely based on Talbot Munday's novel of the same name, film finds Power as Captain Alan King, who whilst stationed in India 1857 finds himself looked down upon because of his half caste blood. Things are further stirred when King turns the eye of the General's (Rennie) daughter (Moore). The Garrison needs to sort itself out because Indian rebels are on the war path.
One of the early 20th Century Fox productions in Technicolor and CinemaScope, King of the Kyber Rifles, filmed out of Lone Pine in the Alabama Hills, is gorgeous to look at, has top draw high energy action (though there isn't as much as you would like), and the cast turn in performances that are full of stiff upper lip and stout of heart splendour. A handsome production for sure, across the board (Shamroy and Herrmann deliver the goods once again), but story often drags and passages of talk come off as trite, forcing us to hanker for the next wide location shot or perky action sequence. There's a very disjointed feel to the narrative structure, we have to fill in some gaps ourselves, it's almost as if the makers were wondering which way to lean as regards the best selling point. To make an intelligent movie with the odd bit of action filmed in Scope? Or just an out and out Errol Flynn action type movie to stir the blood whilst forgoing any emotional depth?
They don't achieve either, and thus we are left with a good looking failure. Shame, Power and King were often a great pairing, and with the tools available on the production, this should have been a cracker. 6/10
A remake of John Ford's The Black Watch (1929), and loosely based on Talbot Munday's novel of the same name, film finds Power as Captain Alan King, who whilst stationed in India 1857 finds himself looked down upon because of his half caste blood. Things are further stirred when King turns the eye of the General's (Rennie) daughter (Moore). The Garrison needs to sort itself out because Indian rebels are on the war path.
One of the early 20th Century Fox productions in Technicolor and CinemaScope, King of the Kyber Rifles, filmed out of Lone Pine in the Alabama Hills, is gorgeous to look at, has top draw high energy action (though there isn't as much as you would like), and the cast turn in performances that are full of stiff upper lip and stout of heart splendour. A handsome production for sure, across the board (Shamroy and Herrmann deliver the goods once again), but story often drags and passages of talk come off as trite, forcing us to hanker for the next wide location shot or perky action sequence. There's a very disjointed feel to the narrative structure, we have to fill in some gaps ourselves, it's almost as if the makers were wondering which way to lean as regards the best selling point. To make an intelligent movie with the odd bit of action filmed in Scope? Or just an out and out Errol Flynn action type movie to stir the blood whilst forgoing any emotional depth?
They don't achieve either, and thus we are left with a good looking failure. Shame, Power and King were often a great pairing, and with the tools available on the production, this should have been a cracker. 6/10