The Conqueror (1956)

John Wayne as Mongolian conqueror Genghis Khan!
Red-headed Susan Hayward as Tartar princess Bortai!
Most of the State of Utah beyond Salt Lake City as the Gobi Desert!
Native Americans from a near-by reservation as Mongolian warriors!
900 horses, 500 oxen, 200 goats and sheep, 12 snakes, 4 pumas, 2 camels, 1 black leopard, 1 dancing bear, and a partridge in a pear tree!
Directed by Dick Powell!

How could it possibly fail!!???

Produced by legendary eccentric Howard Hughes, who owned RKO Pictures at the time, 'The Conqueror' was Hughes' final film, and the most expensive ($6 million) to date.

Wayne loved the script the moment he saw it, and Hughes could see no-one else playing the part. Fitted with slanty eyes and a drooping 'Charlie Chan' moustache, Wayne executed his performance with his trademark western drawl and bowlegged saunter. He had, in fact, released a statement to the media:

"The Conqueror is a Western in some ways. The way the screenplay reads, it is a cowboy picture and that is how I am going to play Genghis Khan. I see him as a gunfighter."

Grunting most of his lines and playing the love scenes with his beloved Bortai (Hayward), Wayne resorted to a 'me Tarzan you Jane' method of acting. Most of the time, he wore an Eskimo shirt and baggy pants. At times, he wore a metal bowl with a spike stuck in the top as a helmet. An Arabian sheet attached to the back of the bowl... er... helmet flowed to his shoulders and told Wayne which way to put it on. His warrior's necklace looked more like a Mexican bandito ammunition belt.

I won't bore you with plot except to say that, at the end, our conquering hero and his conquered sweetheart ride off into the sunset together. (Gee... I sure missed hearing Roy Rogers and Dale Evans singing 'Happy Trails'!)

On an interesting note, John Wayne himself originally conceived the idea that The Conquerer should receive it's world premier in Moscow. (Moscow!!???) After all, that's where the story originally took place, wasn't it? What a boost to American/USSR relations! Fortunately, the Russian Embassy in Washington demanded a preview screening after which the Russian diplomat gave it a firm 'Nyet!' The film was banned in Russia. Too bad... The Soviets could have used a good laugh.

Surprisingly, The Conqueror actually turned a tidy profit for RKO and Howard Hughes fell in love with his masterpiece. Every night, he gave private screenings at his home, and often sat alone to watch it in solitude.

As he grew more eccentric, he grew more protective and eventually payed out over $12 million to buy every print in existance, refusing to allow it to be shown anywhere else. For seventeen years, no-one else in the world was allowed to see The Conqueror, including his own personal projectionist. It wasn't until 1974 that Paramount studios managed to secure the rights to re-issue it and the world was once again privileged to watch John Wayne as Genghis Khan.