Hollywood clearly didn't know what to do with all their contract stars by this time. Oscar rewarded any last gasps of the old days in the late fifties. The quality of this film is sub-par on all counts, even the overrated credits. Only whites in all colors of body makeup were cast (no black characters at all), and the cultural sensitivity made Borat look like Ghandi.
shareIMO, it's somewhat unfair to judge a 1956 movie set in the late 1800's by today's political correctness. A little "cultural sensitivity" to the time the movie was made and its setting might make it more acceptable.
shareI had heard so much about it and when I finally saw it, I enjoyed it in the beginning but very quickly, it became boring and absurd. I did have the advantage of reading the book in secondary school but any sane American in the 50's should know people didn't use ostrich for transportation in Hong Kong.
shareAmazing. To me, the film succeeds as great escapist entertainment. It probably won because Hollywood was in such competition with TV at that time, and they wanted to showcase films that couldn't be done on TV (and yet, they somehow saw fit to rightly honor MARTY the previous year...)
I can't imagine nitpicking the film apart. Keep in mind, this film was very much an independent film. Todd had to beg, borrow and steal to get it produced, and some of the guest stars worked for gifts in lieu of a salary (Sinatra, for instance).
But in many ways, yes, this film is a kind of end of an era of real big screen epic filmmaking. BEN-HUR would bring the 1950s to a close (to me, it represents the last real "studio" film).
Cultural sensitivity. Give me a break.
Check out whats happening in Iraq sometime or an episode of 24.
Some people should be banned from writing.
Can't wait to see your reaction when you learn that Jules Verne was wrong in his story about traveling to the centre of the Earth. Were you outraged watching Back to the Future?
It's escapist fantasy not an effin documentary. What is it with you PC people...do you turn off parts of your brains when being entertained...the parts that tell you that it's just people pretending?
And before you start, this movie did NOT make Martin Luther King's job any harder, so to hell with this nonsense that fantasy movies have dire real world consequences if they deviate from how YOU think things should be depicted.
it's somewhat unfair to judge a 1956 movie set in the late 1800's by today's political correctness.
Tombstone to studio system
Hollywood clearly didn't know what to do with all their contract stars by this time
Oscar rewarded any last gasps of the old days in the late fifties.
Only whites in all colors of body makeup were cast (no black characters at all)
Agree with most of your points, but I think the OP meant Gandhi the person, not the film about him.
http://leslie-special.info In appreciation of The Great Race.
I enjoyed this movie including the credits.
Hitler! C'mon, I'll buy you a glass of lemonade.