The Golden Horde
                       
Director: George Sherman
Year:  1951
Rating: 6.0
This "historical" costume film is as dumb as a Trump supporter but it is reasonably entertaining and looks fabulous. Shot in 1951 when the movie industry was losing out to that newfangled invention called the TV set and so to compete they were putting spectacles on the big screen shot in various wide screen formats and filmed in gorgeous Technicolor. The colors, the sets and the costumes are stunning. But then of course there is the movie.



I put quotes around the word historical because two minutes of research makes you realize that none of this is true other than a character and a city. It is the 1200's and Genghis Khan and his rapacious murdering hordes are crossing Asia taking everything in their path. Next up is the legendary city of Samarkand - now part of Uzbekistan - that had been inhabited for hundreds of years before Khan made an appearance. He has already destroyed Samarkand's army on the battlefield but not occupied and burnt the city. Not to mention raping the women. He sends his son and one of his allies ahead to pacify the city. Even though it has been foretold that any one who tries to destroy Samarkand will in turn be destroyed.



The only one left to resist is the Princess (an adorable Ann Blyth, most famous as the daughter in Mildred Pierce) and a few of her comely maidens. By using her seductive power and an array of eye-slamming outfits out of the pages of Vogue she attempts to pit the son of Khan against the leader of the other group and bring about a Civil War. Hey boys come up and see me sometime. This is beginning to work when out of the West comes a group of heroic Crusaders led by stiff as cardboard left in the sun, David Farrar. He and his ten men have come to deliver a message to Khan - don't mess with the West. Instead, he sees the Princess looking all coy with her blazing blue eyes and like a bull in a china shop bulldozes in and upsets her plans - but he has his own - kill everyone.



This film comes in at a mysteriously low 73 minutes but that running time leaves no time for dillydallying or much romance - just plot and action. And the fight choreography is very good for a film of this period with lots of swordfighting, arrow killing, horseback shenanigans.



Now in fact I was sad to learn that Genghis Khan did destroy Samarkand and conscripted 60.000 men to join his army. And before Khan there been various other conquerors of Samarkand over the years - they were sort of the Baltimore Orioles of their time. So much for "Those who try and destroy Samarkand will in turn be destroyed". Of course, back in 1951 there was no Internet and audiences probably thought this film was based on real history.