55 Days At Peking (1963)
In 1900 China, an American major (Charlton Heston) tries to
protect Westerners from the violence of Chinese nationalists in
Peking during the infamous Boxer Rebellion.
As the film unfolds, 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.
Inside the
besieged compound, the finicky British ambassador (David Niven)
gathers the beleaguered ambassadors into a defensive formation.
Included in the group of high-level dignitaries is a sultry
Russian Baroness (Ava Gardner) who takes a shine to Lewis upon his
arrival at the embassy compound with his group of soldiers.
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 tricky Chinese 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 recruits
Nominally directed by Nicholas Ray (who makes a brief
appearance as the US ambassador), Ray was taken off the film and
replaced by Andrew Marton.
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