55 Days at Peking
The characters (L to R) are Maj. Matt Lewis (Charlton Heston), Baroness Natalie Ivanoff (Ava Gardner), and Sir Arthur Robertson (David Niven)
Directed by	Nicholas Ray
Produced by	Samuel Bronston
Written by	Philip Yordan Bernard Gordon Robert Hamer Ben Barzman
Starring	Charlton Heston Ava Gardner David Niven Flora Robson John Ireland Leo Genn Robert Helpmann Kurt Kasznar Paul Lukas
Music by	Dimitri Tiomkin
Cinematography	Jack Hildyard
Editing by	Robert Lawrence
Distributed by	Allied Artists Pictures Corporation
Release date(s)	29 May 1963
Running time	Runtime: 150 min
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	US $17,000,000
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

55 Days at Peking is a 1963 historical epic film made by Samuel Bronston Productions and released by Allied Artists. It was produced by Samuel Bronston and directed by Nicholas Ray, Andrew Marton (credited as the second unit director) and Guy Green (uncredited). The screenplay was by Philip Yordan, Bernard Gordon, Ben Barzman and Robert Hamer, the music score by Dimitri Tiomkin and the cinematography by Jack Hildyard. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (500x675, 95 KB) Summary DVD Cover Art Licensing This image is of a DVD cover, and the copyright for it is most likely owned by either the publisher of the DVD or the studio which produced the DVD in question. ... This article contains a trivia section. ... Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – February 17, 2001) was an Academy Award-nominated American screen actress who worked on film and television. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Nicholas Ray (born Raymond Nicholas Kienzle) (August 7, 1911–June 16, 1979) was an American film director. ... Samuel Bronston, (26 March 1908 - 12 January 1994) was a Romanian-born American film producer. ... Philip Yordan (April 1, 1914 - March 24, 2003) was a popular and talented screenwriter of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. ... Bernard Gordon (born 1918) in New Britain, Connecticut is an American writer and producer. ... Robert Hamer was a British film director and screenwriter, best known for his work at Ealing Studios in the 1940s, including the celebrated comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), with Dennis Price and Alec Guinness. ... This article contains a trivia section. ... Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – February 17, 2001) was an Academy Award-nominated American screen actress who worked on film and television. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Flora Robson (March 28, 1902 - July 7, 1984) was a British actress renowned as one of the great character players and one of Britains theatrical grandes dames. ... John Benjamin Ireland (January 30, 1914 - March 21, 1992) was an actor. ... Leo John Genn (August 9, 1905 – January 26, 1978) was an English actor on stage and in films. ... Sir Robert Murray Helpmann CBE (April 9, 1909 – September 28, 1986) was an Australian dancer, actor, director and choreographer, Born Robert Murray Helpman he added the extra n to avoid there being 13 letters in his name. ... Kurt Kasznar (13 August 1913 - 6 August 1979) was a film and television actor. ... Paul Lukas (May 26, 1887 - August 15, 1971) was a Hungarian actor. ... Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin (Russian: , Dmitrij Zinovevič Tëmkin, somtimes translated as Dmitri Tiomkin) (May 10, 1894 – November 11, 1979) was a film composer and conductor. ... Jack Hildyard (1908-1990) was a British cinematographer who worked on more than 80 films during his career. ... Robert Z. Lawrence, a former South African national, is the current Albert L. Williams Professor of International Trade and Investment at John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. ... Allied Artists Pictures Corporation This subsidiary of Monogram Pictures was founded in 1946. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... is the 149th day of the year (150th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... “Peking” redirects here. ... The year 1963 in film involved some significant events. ... The historical drama is a film genre in which stories are based more or less accurately upon historical events and famous persons. ... The epic film is a film genre typically featuring expensive production values and dramatic themes. ... Samuel Bronston Productions was an independent American film production company, founded by Samuel Bronston in 1943. ... Allied Artists Pictures Corporation This subsidiary of Monogram Pictures was founded in 1946. ... Samuel Bronston, (26 March 1908 - 12 January 1994) was a Romanian-born American film producer. ... Nicholas Ray (born Raymond Nicholas Kienzle) (August 7, 1911–June 16, 1979) was an American film director. ... The Second Unit Director is the leader of the second unit, which is the smaller of the two units used on almost every modern large-scale film production. ... Guy Green, 1992 Guy Green (November 15, 1913 – September 15, 2005) was a British director, screenwriter, and cinematographer. ... Sample from a screenplay, showing dialogue and action descriptions. ... Philip Yordan (April 1, 1914 - March 24, 2003) was a popular and talented screenwriter of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. ... Bernard Gordon (born 1918) in New Britain, Connecticut is an American writer and producer. ... Robert Hamer was a British film director and screenwriter, best known for his work at Ealing Studios in the 1940s, including the celebrated comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), with Dennis Price and Alec Guinness. ... Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin (Russian: , Dmitrij Zinovevič Tëmkin, somtimes translated as Dmitri Tiomkin) (May 10, 1894 – November 11, 1979) was a film composer and conductor. ... Jack Hildyard (1908-1990) was a British cinematographer who worked on more than 80 films during his career. ...

The large cast was toplined by Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner and David Niven. In addition to directing, Nicholas Ray plays the minor role of the head of the American diplomatic mission in China. This film is also the first known appearance of future martial arts film star Yuen Siu Tien. This article contains a trivia section. ... Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – February 17, 2001) was an Academy Award-nominated American screen actress who worked on film and television. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Martial arts film is a film genre that originated in the Pacific Rim. ... Yuen Siu Tien in Drunken Master Yuen Siu Tien (Chinese: 袁小田) (1912 - 1979) (also known as Yuan Xiao Tian, Simon Yuen, Sam Seed or Ol Dirty) was a Kung Fu movie star in the 1970s. ...

Synopsis

55 Days at Peking is a dramatization of the Boxer Rebellion which took place in 1900 China. Fed up by foreign encroachment, the Dowager Empress Tzu-Hsi uses the Boxer secret societies to attack the foreigners within China, culminating in the siege of the foreign legations' compounds in Beijing. The film concentrates on the defense of the legations from the point of view of the foreign powers, and the title refers to the length of the defense by the colonial powers of the legations district of Peking (now Beijing). Combatants Eight-Nation Alliance (ordered by contribution): Empire of Japan Russian Empire British Empire France United States German Empire Kingdom of Italy Austro-Hungarian Empire Righteous Harmony Society Qing Dynasty (China) Commanders Edward Seymour Alfred Graf von Waldersee Ci Xi Strength 20,000 initially 49,000 total 50,000-100... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... “Peking” redirects here. ...

The foreign embassies in Peking are being held in a grip of terror as the Boxers set about massacring Christians in an anti-Christian nationalistic fever. Major Matt Lewis (Charlton Heston) heads an army of multinational soldiers making its way to Peking. Inside the besieged compound, the British ambassador (David Niven) gathers the beleaguered ambassadors into a defensive formation. Included in the group of high-level dignitaries is the sultry Russian Baroness Natalie Ivanoff (Ava Gardner) who begins a romantic liaison with Lewis. As Lewis and the group conserve food and water and try to save some hungry children, they await the arrival of expected reinforcements, but the wily Empress Tzu Hsi (Flora Robson) is, in the meantime, plotting with the Boxers to break the siege at the compound with the aid of Chinese troops.

Cast

• Charlton Heston - Maj. Matt Lewis
• Ava Gardner - Baroness Natalie Ivanoff
• David Niven - Sir Arthur Robinson
• Flora Robson - Dowager Empress Tsu Hzi
• John Ireland - Sergeant Harry
• Leo Genn - Gen. Jung-Lu
• Harry Andrews - Father de Bearn
• Robert Helpmann - Prince Tuan
• Juzo Itami - Col. Shiba
• Kurt Kasznar - Baron Sergei Ivanoff
• Philippe Leroy - Julliard
• Paul Lukas - Dr. Steinfeldt
• Lynne Sue Moon - Teresa
• Elizabeth Sellars - Lady Sarah Robertson
• Massimo Serato - Garibaldi
• Jacques Sernas - Maj. Bobrinski
• Jerome Thor - Lt. Andy Marshall
• Geoffrey Bayldon - Smythe
• Joseph Furst - Capt. Hanselman
• Walter Gotell - Capt. Hoffman
• Alfred Lynch - Gerald
• Alfredo Mayo - Spanish Minister
• Martin Miller - Hugo Bergmann
• Jose Nieto - Italian Minister
• Eric Pohlmann - Baron von Meck
• Aram Stephan - Gaumaire
• Robert Urquhart - Capt. Hanley
• R.S.M. Ronald Brittain - Sgt. Britten
• Felix Defauce - Dutch Minister
• Andre Eszterhazy - Austrian Minister
• Carlos Casaravilla - Japanese Minister
• Fernando Sancho - Belgian Minister
• Michael Chow - Chiang
• Mitchell Kowal - U.S. Marine
• John Moulder-Brown
• John A. Tinn
• Mervyn Johns - Clergyman
• Andy Ho
• George Wang - Boxer Chief
• Stephen Young
• Nicholas Ray - U.S. Minister (chief diplomatic representative)

This article contains a trivia section. ... Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – February 17, 2001) was an Academy Award-nominated American screen actress who worked on film and television. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Flora Robson (March 28, 1902 - July 7, 1984) was a British actress renowned as one of the great character players and one of Britains theatrical grandes dames. ... Empress Dowager Cixi (Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Tzu-Hsi Tai-hou) (November 29, 1835 – November 15, 1908), popularly known in China as the West Empress Dowager (Chinese: 西太后), was from the Manchu Yehe Nara Clan. ... John Benjamin Ireland (January 30, 1914 - March 21, 1992) was an actor. ... Leo John Genn (August 9, 1905 – January 26, 1978) was an English actor on stage and in films. ... Harry Andrews (November 10, 1911 - March 6, 1989) was a British actor. ... Sir Robert Murray Helpmann CBE (April 9, 1909 – September 28, 1986) was an Australian dancer, actor, director and choreographer, Born Robert Murray Helpman he added the extra n to avoid there being 13 letters in his name. ... Juzo Itami (伊丹十三 Itami Jūzō) (15 May 1933 - 20 December 1997) was an actor and a popular modern Japanese film director. ... Shiba Gorō ) (21 June 1860-13 December 1945) was a Japanese samurai and later general in the Imperial Japanese Army. ... Kurt Kasznar (13 August 1913 - 6 August 1979) was a film and television actor. ... Paul Lukas (May 26, 1887 - August 15, 1971) was a Hungarian actor. ... 83. ... Massimo Serato, born Giuseppe Segato, (31 May 1916-22 December 1989) was an Italian film actor with a career spanning over 40 years. ... Jacques Sernas, sometimes billed as Jack Sernas, born 30 July 1925, in Kaunas, Lithuania is a Lithuanian-born French actor with an international film career, first as a leading man and later as a character actor, perhaps best-known for his role as Paris in Helen of Troy. ... Geoffrey Bayldon Geoffrey Bayldon (born January 7, 1924 in Leeds, Yorkshire) is a British actor. ... Walter Gotell (March 15, 1924 - May 5, 1997) was a German actor, known for his role as General Gogol, head of the KGB, in the Bond films. ... Alfred Cornelius Lynch (26 January 1931–December 16, 2003) was a gay British actor on stage, film and television. ... Eric Pohlmann (July 18, 1913 in Vienna—July 25, 1979 Bavaria, Germany), was an Austrian actor and voice actor, perhaps most famous to James Bond fans for his audio portryal of Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond films. ... Urquhart outside his headquarters during Operation Market Garden. ... Ronald Brittain MBE (September 12, 1899- January 9, 1981) was well known during his lifetime as an archetypal Regimental Sergeant Major (R.S.M.) and as having the loudest voice in the British army. ... Nicholas Ray (born Raymond Nicholas Kienzle) (August 7, 1911–June 16, 1979) was an American film director. ...

Academy Award nominations

The film received two Academy Award nominations for Dimitri Tiomkin (Best Song and Original Music Score). Although he never won an Oscar for any of his movie performances, the comedian Bob Hope received two honorary Oscars for his contributions to cinema. ... Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin (Russian: , Dmitrij Zinovevič Tëmkin, somtimes translated as Dmitri Tiomkin) (May 10, 1894 – November 11, 1979) was a film composer and conductor. ... The Academy Award for Best Song is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; nominations are made by Academy members who are songwriters and composers. ... The Academy Award for Original Music Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer. ...

Technical details

55 Days at Peking was filmed in Technicolor and Technirama, which involved the horizontal use of 35-millimeter film, resulting in 70-millimeter printed film format. The aspect ratio was 2.20:1, with the image viewed at 2.35:1 on 35-millimeter prints. DVD release came on February 28, 2001, nearly thirty-eight years after the film's premiere Logo celebrating Technicolors 90th Anniversary Technicolor is the trademark for a series of color film processes pioneered by Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation (a subsidiary of Technicolor, Inc. ... Technirama is a screen process that was used by some film production houses as an alternative to CinemaScope. ... February 28 is the 59th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ...

Film notes

Original Poster

• The film maintains a certain curiosity value for cinephiles due to its credited director Nicholas Ray. Best known for his 1955 movie Rebel Without a Cause, starring James Dean, Ray was a tortured individual at the time of the production of 55 Days at Peking, somewhat akin to the Dean persona he helped to create for Rebel. Paid a very high salary by producer Samuel Bronston to direct 55 Days, Ray had an inkling that taking on the project, a massive epic, would mean the end of him and that he would never direct another film again. The premonition proved correct when Ray collapsed on the set, half-way through the shooting. Unable to resume working (the film was finished by Andrew Marton and Guy Green), he never received another directorial assignment. In the final months of his life, he collaborated with Wim Wenders, on the 1979 feature Lightning Over Water aka Nick's Film/Nick's Movie, which recorded his last moments.

• According to the writer and critic Stephen Teo, the opening scene of 55 Days at Peking, showing various Western powers causing a din in the Peking marketplace by playing their respective national anthems, was "quoted" by the Hong Kong director Tsui Hark in his 1991 film Once Upon a Time in China^[1]

• The film was shot in the vicinity of Madrid, and most of the Chinese residents of Spain, and some from other parts of Europe were hired as extras.

• The film gives little background of the humiliating military defeats suffered during the Opium Wars, Sino-French War and Sino-Japanese war or the effect of the Taiping Rebellion in weakening the Qing Dynasty. However, situations in which the various colonial powers exerted influence over China (great source of outrage that drove many Chinese to violence) are alluded to in the scene in which Sir Arthur Robinson and Major Lewis visit the Empress after the assassination of the German minister.
  • Dowager Empress - "....the boxer bandits will be dealt with, but the anger of the Chinese people cannot be quieted so easily. The Germans have seized Kiaochow, the Russians have seized Port Arthur, the French have obtained concessions in Yunnan, Kwan See and Kwantang. In all, 13 of the 18 provinces of China are under foreign control. Foreign warships occupy our harbours, foreign armies occupy our forts, foreign merchants administer our banks, foreign gods disturb the spirit of our ancestors. Is it surprising that our people are around?"
  • Sir Arthur Robinson - "Your Majesty if you permit me to observe, the violence of the Boxers will not redress the grievences of China"
  • Dowager Empress - "China is a prostrate cow, the powers are not content milking her, but must also butcher her."
  • Sir Arthur Robinson - "If China is a cow your majesty, she is indeed a marvelous animal. She gives meat as well as milk...."

Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Nicholas Ray (born Raymond Nicholas Kienzle) (August 7, 1911–June 16, 1979) was an American film director. ... Natalie Wood and James Dean in a screenshot from Rebel Without a Cause. ... For the film, see James Dean (film). ... The Hon. ... Ernst Wilhelm (Wim) Wenders (born August 14, 1945) is a German film director, photographer, and producer. ... Tsui Hark (Chinese: 徐克; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Hsü Ko) (born Tsui Man-kong (徐文光) on February 15, 1950) is a New Wave film director in Hong Kong who is also a highly influential producer, often likened to Steven Spielberg for a similar galvanizing effect on his countrys cinematic scene. ... Once Upon a Time in China Region 4 DVD cover Once Upon a Time in China (武狀元黃飛鴻) is Hong Kong auteur Tsui Hark (徐克)s series of six movies about the famous kung fu master and Chinese hero Wong Fei Hung or (Huang Fei Hong) (黃飛鴻) (played by Jet Li (李連杰) in parts 1... This article is about the Spanish capital. ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... Combat at Guangzhou during the Second Opium War The Opium Wars (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), or the Anglo-Chinese Wars were two wars fought around the middle of the 19th century (1839-1842 and 1858-1860 respectively)[1] that were the climax of a long dispute between China and... Combatants France Qing Dynasty Black Flag Army Annam Strength 15,000 to 20,000 soldiers (including Spanish and Filipino volunteers) 25,000 to 35,000 soldiers (from the provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang and Yunnan) Casualties 2,100 killed or wounded 10,000 killed or wounded The 1884 Battle... Combatants Qing Empire (China) Empire of Japan Commanders Li Hongzhang Yamagata Aritomo Strength 630,000 men Beiyang Army Beiyang Fleet 240,000 men Imperial Japanese Army Imperial Japanese Navy Casualties 35,000 dead or wounded 13,823 dead, 3,973 wounded The First Sino-Japanese War (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese... Combatants Qing Empire United Kingdom France (United Kingdom and France join the war later) Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Commanders Xianfeng Emperor Tongzhi Emperor Empress Dowager Cixi Charles George Gordon Frederick Townsend Ward Hong Xiuquan Yang Xiuqing Xiao Chaogui Feng Yunshan Wei Changhui Shi Dakai Li Xiucheng Strength 2,000,000-5... Flag (1890-1912) Anthem Gong Jinou (1911) Territory of Qing China in 1892 Capital Shengjing (1636-1644) Beijing (1644-1912) Language(s) Chinese Manchu Mongolian Government Monarchy Emperor  - 1636-1643 Huang Taiji  - 1908-1912 Xuantong Emperor Prime Minister  - 1911 Yikuang  - 1911-1912 Yuan Shikai History  - Establishment of the Late...

Notes

1. ^ see Teo's essay "Tsui Hark: National Style and Polemic" in Yau, Esther C. M. (ed.). At Full Speed: Hong Kong Cinema in a Borderless World, page 158. Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press.