calvinnme There were a few British Empire action films, often set in India, turned out by the Hollywood studios during the '50s, nostalgic throwbacks to the cycle of similar epics churned out by the studios in the late '30s. None of the '50s efforts are particularly noteworthy and certainly none of them in league with the likes of Gunga Din, Charge of the Light Brigade, Lives of a Bengal Lancer or, from Britain, Korda's great The Four Feathers.King of the Khyber Rifles was a 20th Century Fox CinemaScope effort, directed by Henry King, with only superficial similarities to either the novel by Talbot Mundy or the earlier film version (John Ford's The Black Watch of 1929).Tyrone Power, in his last completed costume film, plays a half caste officer on the Indian frontier who must deal with prejudice among his brother officers (one of whom is very polite but moves out of their shared living quarters when he discovers Power's mother was Muslim). But he is also actively pursued by the headstrong daughter (Terry Moore) of his commanding officer (Michael Rennie). This is a disappointing production, never springing to life either dramatically or as an action adventure. In fact, under King's pedestrian, largely meandering direction, there is very little in the way of action to be found in this film.Power, who was openly tired of being cast by Fox in costume epics, is noticeably subdued in this film. Moore seems very impulsively American as the daughter of the British general, while Rennie gives a nicely dignified portrayal as her father who is broad minded when it comes to non whites serving in the military but not so much as to want to have one in the family.The one flamboyant performance in the film is that of Guy Rolfe, as Power's former boyhood friend, Karram Khan, who now leads the hill people against the British usurpers of their land. Rolfe's character is ruthless, though he does shows signs of a personal code of honour.Bernard Herrmann contributes a truly rousing epic musical score to the production, much better than the film deserves. Typical of a film of squandered opportunities, however, Herrmann's great effort is only heard under the film's opening titles. What a waste.For whatever reason King of the Khyber Rifles has never been released on DVD in North America, one of the few Power films in which this is the case. A letter boxed version can be found on You Tube. If nothing else, click on it for the first two minutes to hear Herrmann's great score.

MartinHafer I am not sure why so many Hollywood productions featured the Imperial British in a very favorable light--such as in "Gunga Din", "Lives of a Bengal Lancer", "The Four Feathers" and this film. You'd think, in light of our own Revolution, we'd be rooting for the natives!! It was THEIR land, after all. Regardless, the film is just one of a bazillion others in most regards--just not as interesting. The only major difference is that there's a subplot about Tyrone Power supposedly being a half-caste--part British and part Indian Muslim. But the writer really didn't do that much with it--just make Power a gung-ho Britain-loving officer. As a result, although it is a bit different, otherwise it's a very ordinary film. As for Power, he's rather limp and it's not among his better films.By the way, although this is a pretty fair film, it does have one of the dumber clichés in film and TV history. When Tyrone Power's character shows people a picture of his father in a locket, it's his exact image--as if fathers give birth to sons who look 100% like them!! I would have at least taken the picture with a fake nose or weird hairdo! Oh well, at least it wasn't an identical cousin! You know, it would have been great if the picture had been of Tyrone Power, Sr.---Tyrone's father who was a famous actor during the silent era.

jpdoherty Fox's KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES (1953) is quite a reasonably good colourful adventure set in India in 1857. A remake of John Ford's "The Black Watch" (1929) it was based on the novel by Talbot Mundy from which derived a fairly decent screenplay by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts. Tyrone Power was the star and once again he was reunited with his favourite director and friend Henry King in Frank Rosenberg's elaborate production. This was the studio's fourth picture filmed in the then new stunning process of Cinemascope and Stereophonic sound! The new format lending itself beautifully to the Lone Pine Californian locations which doubled perfectly for India's Northwest Frontier. And veteran expert Cinematographer Leon Shamroy seemed right at home with his creative use of the widescreen camera.Tyrone Power was Fox's top leading man in the forties but by the time the studio embarked on their wonderful Cinemascope productions in 1953 his star was beginning to wane. The actor was also tired of the usual adventure fare he was frequently thrust into by studio head Darryl Zanuck and longed to do other things in film for other companies. He wanted to break his contract (he amusingly referred to the studio as Penitentiary Fox) and turned down the lead in Fox's ambitious first scope movie "The Robe" resulting in Zanuck suspending him. But not for long! His friend and mentor Henry King came into the fray when he wanted Power to star in his first stab at Cinemascope - KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES and would settle for no one else. So Power and Zanuck kissed and made up and the star took up the assignment."India - 1857 - the one hundredth year of British rule" reads the post credits caption on the screen at the opening of the picture. Captain Alan King and his troop are escorting some supply wagons to the Peshawar district garrison not far from the infamous Khyber Pass where rebel Kerram Khan and his army of insurgents are holed up and are preparing for "The night of the long knives" the time when India will rise up against British rule. This is the film's basic premise and depicts one man's efforts to thwart an inevitable uprising. But along the way he will fall in love with the Colonel's daughter (the totally resistible Terry Moore) and be pilloried for being the half-caste boyhood friend of the rebel leader (Guy Rolfe) who he must confront and endeavour to kill.KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES is a good adventure yarn and looks great on the wide canvas of the Cinemascope screen (a desert rescue sequence is particularly effective). Performances are generally good too. Power, though somewhat subdued, is fine as the troubled Captain King and Michael Rennie gives his usual smooth turn as the authoritative commanding officer. Charismatic British actor Guy Rolfe is superb as Karram Khan. Rolfe an actor with loads of screen presence never followed this up with anything worthwhile and became just another working actor mostly on television. He died back in England in 2003 at the age of 91. Now, the part of the leading lady is the picture's major fault! Terry Moore is completely miscast! To begin with she simply doesn't suit Tyrone Power at all! She's too young for him! Plus she's supposed to be an English girl raised and schooled in England but instead she just looks and sounds like an American High School student who discovers she has a crush on her history professor. Her casting here is almost identical to that of four years earlier when the equally resistible Wanda Hendricks was Power's leading lady in "Prince Of Foxes". What on earth was wrong with Ty? He seemed to have problems selecting an appropriate leading lady! HUH!However a huge plus for the movie is the remarkable music by Bernard Herrmann! A rollicking eastern tinged Main Title with bravura brass fanfares and augmented timpani opens the score. There is some eerie music for the Hammer Of God scene and a ravishing love theme for the picture's softer moments which the composer fashions into a beautiful waltz for the Queen's Birthday Ball sequence. Alongside "Beneath The 12 Mile Reef" (1953) KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES is Herrmann's best adventure score!If you can overlook the presence of Terry Moore (think Susan Hayward or Jean Peters) KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES is an engaging 100 minutes of entertainment. But why is this movie not on DVD? As far as I know it isn't even on Video tape! What is wrong with Fox Home Entertainment? They seem to have forgotten Ty Power in "Untamed" (1955) as well! In fact they seem to have totally forgotten what remains in their back catalogue! Where's "Seven Cities of Gold" (1955 / with a riveting performance from Michael Rennie), "Violent Saturday" (1955) and "Rio Conchos" (1964)? Who knows?? Anyone??

Greg Couture Quite a few of those machine-tooled early CinemaScope productions from Twentieth Century Fox seem to be consigned to the dustbins of the memories of those of us who had the good fortune to see them in their full widescreen ratio with a magnetic stereophonic soundtrack during their initial release.This one, directed with unusual energy by that Hollywood veteran, Henry King; lensed by that master of the color cameras, Leon Shamroy; and graced with a suitably sweeping score by Bernard Herrmann, looks like its lost in the archives where, let us hope, the master negative survives until the day that keepers of the Twentieth vaults come to their senses and favor us with a DVD release in the original (not reduced to anything less, please!) widescreen anamorphic format.Terry Moore, who enjoyed a brief run as one of Fox's oft-used ingenues (and ladies of somewhat easier virtue, as in "Peyton Place") did seem a bit miscast, but Tyrone Power, Michael Rennie and well-chosen supporting players outshone her shortcomings. I recall that TIME magazine gave this quite a positive review and I remember that its use of mountainous California locations were quite convincing as a substitute for sending a company (or just a second unit) all the way to India's probably less hospitable subcontinent.