Golden Age of Hollywood, huh? Sam Goldwyn production, Vasquez Rocks sitting in for China, a 40-ish looking Gary Cooper playing a 17 year old, some harmless, Caucasian boob masquerading as the Great Khan, good old Alan Hale for comic relief (what else could he provide?). Whew! This is hard to sit through. Thank goodness for Basil Rathbone as the scheming Saracen, Achmed. He's the only redeeming part of this stinker. The racial discrimination of Hollywood in the 30's is on full display here. The only Asians allowed are what they call in the biz "scenery". Not even Keye Luke in any part. What we have instead, is a bunch of white people pretending (and not very well) to be Chinese. Excruciating. At least the Charlie Chan movies gave speaking roles to Chinese actors. Oh, did I mention the history is ridiculously shoddy? People who decry the current state of the film industry should be forced to sit through this and wonder who had the gall to reduce one of the grandest pageants of all time to a backlot studio formula pic. The sets remind me of Flash Gordon, which was also about this time. Hell, they should have gotten Charles Middleton (Ming the Merciless) to play Kubilai Khan. He would have been a damn sight better than the guy here. What's really galling is that the 1982 mini-series, which featured some excellent, Chinese actors, fantabulous scenery shot around the world including China, and a marvelous score by Ennio Morricone, is not available on DVD and hasn't been seen for over 20 years. This mini-series borrowed much of the plot from the 1938 movie but, with the benefit of 45 years of technical and social advances, managed to tell a more complete and accurate story in a much more entertaining production. Yet, we have to be subjected to this claptrap every month or so on cable. Don't waste your time.
Review of The Adventures of Marco Polo
