The Conqueror (1956 film)

The Conqueror is a 1956 American epic historical drama film, directed by Dick Powell and written by Oscar Millard. It stars John Wayne as the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan and co-stars Susan Hayward, Agnes Moorehead and Pedro Armendáriz. Produced by entrepreneur Howard Hughes, the film was principally shot near St. George, Utah.

Despite the stature of the cast and a respectable box office performance, the film was critically panned; it is often ranked as one of the worst films of the 1950s and also as one of the worst films ever made. Wayne, who was at the height of his career, had lobbied for the lead role after reading the script and was widely believed to have been grossly miscast. The Conqueror was listed in the 1978 book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time. In 1980, Wayne posthumously received a Golden Turkey Award (awarded to movies and performances considered the worst in history) in the "Worst Casting" category, for his performance as Genghis. In the years since release, the film garnered additional controversy for its filming downwind of a nuclear testing site, which sparked debate among historians and biologists over whether or not it caused multiple cases of cancer among the cast and crew.

Plot
Mongol chief Temujin (later to be known as Genghis Khan) falls for Bortai, the daughter of the Tatars' leader, and steals her away, precipitating war. Bortai spurns Temujin, and is taken back in a raid. Temujin is later captured. Bortai falls in love with him, and helps him escape. Temujin suspects he was betrayed by a fellow Mongol, and sets out to find the traitor and overcome the Tatars.

Cast

 * John Wayne as Temujin, later Genghis Khan
 * Susan Hayward as Bortai
 * Agnes Moorehead as Hunlun
 * Pedro Armendáriz as Jamuga
 * Thomas Gomez as Wang Khan
 * John Hoyt as Shaman
 * William Conrad as Kasar
 * Ted de Corsia as Kumlek
 * Leslie Bradley as Targutai
 * Lee Van Cleef as Chepei
 * Peter Mamakos as Bogurchi
 * Leo Gordon as Tatar Captain
 * Richard Loo as Captain of Wang's guard
 * Michael Wayne (uncredited) as Mongol guard
 * Patrick Wayne (uncredited)

The role of Genghis Khan was originally written for Marlon Brando, but Brando later backed out of the role.

Production
300 members of the Shivwits Band of Paiutes were cast as Tartar horsemen. The film had a troubled production; writer Oscar Millard stated that "The company had just missed being wiped out by a flash flood, and Duke [John] Wayne had been drunk for three days. Not that it made much difference; except when a bender bloated him, it was hard to tell. His performance drunk or sober was the way other actors tend to perform if drunk." According to his son Norman, Dick Powell accepted directing duties for the money.

Nuclear incident and cancer controversy
Of the 220 crew members, 91 (comprising 41% of the crew) developed cancer during their lifetime, while 46 (or 21%) died from it. When this was learned, many suspected that filming in Utah and surrounding locations, near nuclear test sites, was to blame. However, tobacco use was very common and likely to have been a key factor in accounting for these cancer deaths. Although the number of cases among the cast and crew is in line with the average for adults in the US at the time, the perception of a link between the film's location and subsequent illness remains, not least because many of those involved developed cancer at a younger age than average.

Some filming locations included parts of Utah, such as Snow Canyon, Pine Valley, Leeds, and Harrisburg. Exteriors were shot in the Escalante Desert near St. George, Utah, which is 137 miles (220 km) downwind of the United States government's Nevada National Security Site and received the brunt of nuclear fallout from testing active in this period. In 1953, eleven above-ground nuclear weapons tests occurred at the site as part of Operation Upshot–Knothole. The cast and crew spent many difficult weeks at the site, and producer Howard Hughes later shipped 60 tons of dirt back to Hollywood in order to match the Utah terrain and lend realism to studio reshoots. The filmmakers knew about the nuclear tests, but the federal government had assured residents that the tests posed no hazard to the public health. Over 100 nuclear bombs were detonated in the area from 1951 to 1962.

In 1962, Powell developed lymphoma and died in January 1963. Armendáriz committed suicide in June 1963 after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. Hayward died of brain cancer in 1975. Wayne developed lung cancer in 1964, and eventually died from stomach cancer in 1979. Several of Wayne's and Hayward's relatives visiting the set also had cancer scares. Wayne's son Michael developed skin cancer and Patrick had a benign tumor removed from his breast. Hayward's son, Tim Barker, had a benign tumor removed from his mouth. Moorehead was a nonsmoker, teetotaler and health fanatic, yet died of cancer in April 1974. Her mother Mary maintained that it was working on The Conqueror which ultimately killed Agnes.

Hoyt died of lung cancer in 1991. Van Cleef died from a heart attack in 1989, but his secondary cause of death was listed as throat cancer. Some point to other factors such as the wide use of tobacco for the cancer deaths. Wayne's heavy-smoking habit was blamed for his cancer by Wayne and his wife Pilar Pallete. In a 2001 interview with Larry King, Powell's widow June Allyson stated that the cause of death was lung cancer due to his chain smoking. Hayward's cancer began as a lung tumor identified in March 1972 that later metastasized.

Reportedly, Hughes felt guilty about his decisions regarding production, particularly over the decision to film at a hazardous site. He bought every print for $12 million and kept it out of circulation for many years until Universal Pictures purchased the film from his estate in 1979. The Conqueror, along with Ice Station Zebra, is said to be one of the films Hughes watched endlessly during his last years.

Dr. Robert Pendleton, then a professor of biology at the University of Utah, is reported to have stated in 1980, "With these numbers, this case could qualify as an epidemic. The connection between fallout radiation and cancer in individual cases has been practically impossible to prove conclusively. But in a group this size you'd expect only 30-some cancers to develop. With 91 cancer cases, I think the tie-in to their exposure on the set of The Conqueror would hold up in a court of law." Several cast and crew members, as well as relatives of those who died, considered suing the government for negligence, claiming it knew more about the hazards in the area than it let on.

Since the primary cast and crew numbered about 220, and a considerable number of cancer cases would be expected, controversy exists as to whether the actual results are attributable to radiation at the nearby nuclear weapons test site. Statistically, the odds of developing cancer for men in the U.S. population are 43% and the odds of dying of cancer are 23% – very near what was found in this film crew. This statistic does not include the Native American Paiute extras in the film.

Release
The Conqueror had premieres around the world in January 1956 in Caracas, Hong Kong, Manila, Mexico City, Paris, (23) Sao Paulo and Washington, D.C. (24). It had its UK premiere at the Odeon Marble Arch in London on February 2, 1956 where it grossed $11,000 in its first 6 days. Its premiere in Berlin led to a riot as young fans from East Berlin, which was part of East Germany but was not yet separated from West Berlin by the Berlin Wall, stormed past the DDR Border Troops to see John Wayne. The film had its Los Angeles premiere on February 22 and opened in many other US cities that week, including Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia and San Francisco and finished second at the US box office for the week, including a gross of $71,000 in LA and setting many opening day records.

The film was the eleventh-highest-grossing film at the box office in the United States and Canada during 1956, earning theatrical rentals of $4.5 million, but was a financial failure.

Universal purchased the film rights in 1979, and the studio released the film on DVD as part of its Vault Series on June 12, 2012.

Reception
The critical reception was negative:


 * A. H. Weiler of The New York Times called the film "an Oriental 'Western'" with a script that "should get a few unintentional laughs." Weiler wrote that John Wayne gave an "elementary" portrayal of Genghis while "constantly being unhorsed by such lines as, 'you are beautiful in your wrath.'"
 * Variety called the film "a fanciful, colorful tale suggestive of the vivid period with a derring-do dash that pays off", adding, "The marquee value of the John Wayne-Susan Hayward teaming more than offsets any incongruity of the casting."
 * Edwin Schallert of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film had "a storming quality about it over-all. Which unfortunately make some of the love scenes seem all but laughable." He added, "Powell deserves much credit for maneuvering the fierce and sensational battle scenes, which are a big highlight when Mongols and Tartars clash."
 * Harrison's Reports wrote that general audiences "should be more than satisfied" by the "thrilling battle scenes" and "strong romance", but the story "does not come through the screen with any appreciable dramatic force, and the acting is no more than acceptable."
 * John McCarten of The New Yorker called the film "pure Hollywood moonshine ... You never saw so many horses fall down in your life. Still, even though their tumbling is far superior to the antics of the actors, it presently becomes tiresome."
 * Time magazine wrote that Wayne "portrays the great conqueror as a sort of cross between a square-shootin' sheriff and a Mongolian idiot. The idea is good for a couple of snickers, but after that it never Waynes but it bores."
 * The Monthly Film Bulletin called it "a rambling and rather ordinary Western-type spectacle ... the weakly contrived narrative is singularly lacking in dramatic tension, and it is difficult to see this Temujin, for all his high-flown cries to heaven to support his destiny, as a potential world-beater or as even an amiable bandit. He is merely John Wayne struggling with an unfortunate piece of casting and with such embarrassingly silly lines as 'I feel this Tartar woman is for me.'"
 * The Philadelphia Inquirer predicted success for the film: "should be a three bell ringer among the popcorn set....the film is aptly titled and after 111 minutes of gore and intrigue, Wayne sets himself up as Genghis Khan, with Susan Hayward beside him. Screen playwright Oscar Millard and producer-director Dick Powell have done competent work."

The film is listed in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book The Official Razzie Movie Guide as one of the 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made.

Comic book adaptation

 * Dell Four Color #690 (April 1956)