The Conqueror (1956 film)

The Conqueror
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDick Powell
Written byOscar Millard
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyJoseph LaShelle
Edited byStuart Gilmore
Music byVictor Young
Production
company
Distributed byRKO Radio Pictures
Release dates
  • January 1956 (1956-01) (Premieres - worldwide)[1]
  • February 2, 1956 (1956-02-02) (Premiere-London)[1]
  • February 22, 1956 (1956-02-22) (Premiere-Los Angeles)
Running time
111 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$6 million[2]
Box office$9 million[3]

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.[4] 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.[5] The Conqueror was listed in the 1978 book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time.[6] 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.

  1. ^ a b The Conqueror at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  2. ^ Scheuer, Philip K. (November 21, 1955). "Drama: Indie Setups Announced by Cummings, Chandler; Hello, Barry Fitzgerald". Los Angeles Times. p. 41.
  3. ^ "The Conqueror". The Numbers. Archived from the original on January 31, 2011. Retrieved August 22, 2011.
  4. ^ Francaviglia, Richard V.; Rosenstone, Robert A. (2007). Lights, Camera, History: Portraying the Past in Film. Texas A&M University Press. p. 55. ISBN 978-1-58544-580-6.
  5. ^ Monush, Barry (2003). Screen World Presents the Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors: From the Silent Era to 1965. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 773. ISBN 1-55783-551-9.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference 50 worst was invoked but never defined (see the help page).