55 Days at Peking

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Blu B It's a deep cut Heston Classic. It's an entertaining epic film about the Boxer Rebellion which I'm not sure most people would even know about despite it's historical significance. Editing isn't bad and the pacing is good for such a long runtime. If there is one big problem here, it's that this tries being event driven as much as character driven. The event driven stuff is better, has more action, and makes better use of the production value. The character driven stuff especially the romance between Gardner & Heston isn't bad thanks to the good acting overall here. But it's slow, not as compelling, and feels unneeded. It eats up probably 25-30% of the runtime also. If you take it out not much is lost and if anything it heps make it move faster. Pretty much all the attempts here at character drama just isn't really needed. If anything it should've focused more on the event driven aspects and shown things from the Chinese side to better explain the conflict. Overall someone should still be able to get the idea what's happening even though this doesn't do the best job in the world explaining what happened here. The premise is pretty simliar to something like 13 Hours which did a better job so it still functions as a war film in general. The production value is really strong here. The mini city set design, tons of extras, and scope this has is really well done. The battle scenes are all good too. I wish it would keep things going though instead of interjecting the slow romance and drama stuff that kind of feels unneeded. But thankfully the acting is good overall so it helps and the execution in general elevates those moments. It's worth sitting through them to get back to the war stuff. Overall anyone who is interested in a film about the Rebellion (though not a perfect retelling of events), the director, war films, historical epics, or any actors in this should check this out. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 10/10/25 Full Review Chris R It is definitely a creature of its own time. That is, it's a Hollywood spectacle of excess and melodrama. While it's a great popcorn chomper, there are bits you wish were better. The casting of European actors as Chinese is, of course, problematic, not to mention the gray facepaint on the Boxer acrobats. Sheesh! It would also have been nice to hear The Dowager Empress CiXi refer to her own people as Yihetuans rather than Boxers (to Europeans, martial arts looked like Chinese boxing.) Her final line "The Dynasty is finished!" is nonsense - you have 2 empresses and a "Last Emperor" to go. It would have been nice to have a musical score that sounded even vaguely Chinese -- what the hell are the Boxers singing while bringing up the siege tower? Then there's the unexplained disappearance of some supporting characters. David Niven gets all--but-forgotten in the final act, while Ava Gardner finishes solo. I'd have traded some of the earlier scenes with duplicate dialogue (there's a lot of that) for a few moments of the trio at the end. All that said, it's a big, loud movie in the old school tradition! Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 09/20/25 Full Review nick s If you don't mind a Hollywood reinvention of history that's way off the mark then this isn't too bad. The sets and action are colourful and energetic. It does suffer from slow pacing and a meandering story line. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 09/17/25 Full Review Noah P A great watch, does run on a bit long. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 04/18/24 Full Review Benoit B Great practical effects and cinematography, however the movie moved pretty slowly. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 12/25/23 Full Review Shay C Classic setting. Really enjoyed this movie. It does run too long, though. Still great to watch. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 11/25/23 Full Review Read all reviews

55 Days at Peking

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