55 Days at Peking

Album Description

1963 blockbuster directed by Nicholas Ray & starring Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, & David Niven. An unforgettable tale of unparalleled fury, brought to life with the passion, romance & violence of a historic time! Asian NTSC/Region 0 DVD. Five scene selections. Garry's Trading. 2003.

Customer Reviews:

A neglected part of history.......2006-02-12

Reviewers should quit nit-picking political correctness (see reviews of the VHS version). The motion picture is about an actual event, i.e., the defense of the foreign quarter (the embassies and such) during the Boxer Rebellion in China. Sure, there is literary license, and some events are shown differently than they actually occurred, but isn't that true of most motion pictures about historical events ("Braveheart," for example, drastically warped some points of history creating impossible relationships).

This film is spectacular, and has its moments, but all is not fun and games. The young son of the British ambassador is killed by a Chinese sniper, the German ambassador is killed (OK, so in reality he was shot, but allow the producer a little latitude), the countess is killed, and an American marine is killed leaving an orphan daughter.

Keep in mind when watching the motion picture that it was produced to make money. Dry historical accounts generally are not successful in that regard. The film may depart a little from actual history, but maybe not that much. The Boxers were an anti-foreign movement in China, and they did murder missionaries who were trying to spread western religions in China. If they would have left it at that, they might have survived, but attacking embassies was a diplomatic no-no. The western powers (Germany, Japan, Russia, England, the United States, etc.) used that as an excuse for armed intervention and demanding concessions.

Keep in mind that foreign traders were making money selling opium to Chinese, and you can understand some of the animosity. It would be like Columbian drug cartels using force of arms to demand their right to sell cocaine in the U.S. But putting the political correctness aside, it is a very good film about an event that happened. You might also watch "Khartoum" about the battle between Muslim religious fanatics and British colonialism.

Colonists are never popular, and we are still experiencing the ill effects of James I of England planting protestant colonies of Scots in Ulster.

Average customer rating:

Hard to find clasic movie DVDs.
Fine Movie, Disappointing DVD
Epic cast for an Epic story
Stupid Eurocentric crap
Still Superb

55 Days at Peking
Starring: Harry Andrews , Geoffrey Bayldon , Joseph Fürst , Ava Gardner , and Leo Genn
Director: Green, Guy , and Marton, Andrew
Manufacturer: Buena Vista
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

ASIN: B000055ZFV
Release Date: 2001-02-28

Customer Reviews:

Hard to find clasic movie DVDs........2005-09-06

The movie is a copy the disc looks different than a newly purchased one. Theese clasics should come in the A & B selection. Disc should be standard on one side and widescreed on the other. I would like to see moore titles soon. I will be looking for them.

Fine Movie, Disappointing DVD.......2005-06-17

I won't comment on the movie except to say that I do like it and would agree with the other favorable comments here. I've seen it more than a few times and it always is an enjoyable experience. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the DVD release. The audio is adequate though it is only stereo. I didn't notice any particular problems with it. The video, on the other hand, is decidely inferior. It looks like it was transferred from a medium quality video tape. I have seen better looking presentations on broadcast TV. I had a tape recorded off the air that looked as good as this DVD. But the tape is gone and the DVD will at least last. The best thing that can be said about the DVD's video is that it is widescreen, but it is not anamorphic. Very disappointing. I hope some company will do a decent release of this in the not to distant future.

Epic cast for an Epic story.......2005-04-09

A full rich movie full clasic characters. Good intertainment.
I remember seeing this movie in the theater and seeing it again was a thrill. I think the quality of the movie and the music score still holds well today. Noble characters, in a hopeless situation, doing heroc acts. The cast is top notch, the music rich and exciting. This should be in your library.

Stupid Eurocentric crap.......2005-04-05

Here's the setup: The foreign imperialists from Europe, America and Russia are the GOOD guys. The Boxers who are trying to defend their nation, their empress and their way of life from the onslaught of expanionists are the BAD guys. Barely anything about this movie is correct. History actually proved that the foreign forces actually suffered huge losses in close quarter combat with the Boxers, but you would never see a western film maker with the balls to acknowledge that, and so the Boxers are treated as just as savage and sloppy as Native Americans where depicted in films of this era.

Still Superb.......2005-03-29

A great story, a great cast, great acting. Whats more the cavalry shows up in the nick of time and the 'good guys' win!

Buy it, or see it. If you can.

Average customer rating:

Good film, bad deal

55 Days at Peking [Region 2]

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

ASIN: B00004VYHD

Customer Reviews:

Good film, bad deal.......2007-05-12

I had this film on VHS and wanted the digital version. Too bad, I did not get it. The Amazon supplier sent a European version that did not work in my DVD player. I called him and found out that customer care was not among his strengths. Not a good experience, but if you can get 55 Days at Peking in NTSC format, it's a great, old war film.

DVD:

DVD

DVD