Edited Down...

The 125-minute cut (24 fps U.S.A.) represents the full-release, but the script featured several scenes that were shot and then left on the cutting room floor. Irving Allen and his German parter, CCC Films, hoped for a road show format which required 135-40 minutes, minimum. But Columbia felt the film was too long and the content didn't merit a roadshow pattern. They dumped the film straight into neighborhood theaters, six months after its first press-screenings (Dec. 1964) showed little enthusiasm. The German distributor went ahead with a 70mm release of this 125 minute cut (120 minutes running at 25 fps) without the hoped for intermission. The prologue footage of Yesugei being drawn-and-quartered was cut to a minimum. The opening 60's TV-style titles were the result of trimming or deleting some tracking-shots of Temujin's defeated tribe being led away by the Merkits, together with establishing shots of the Merkit camp, the boy being fitted for the chang-collar, introductions of Shan, Sengel, and Katke, and a scene where Temujin is whipped by Jamuga for an infraction. So about 8-10 minutes of footage (including all George Savalas' scenes with scripted-dialogue) left the front of the picture and became an MOS montage with Radic's music carrying all. It is quite effective as a minute-and-a-half digest, married to the head-credits. Jumaga's brutal rape of Bortai was heavily trimmed for censorship, and the sadistic branding of her shoulder was totally deleted. A scene passing through the brickwork gate of the Great Wall was never filmed due to costs. Another scene, which came right after the montage of Asian conquests, and just before the Shah's tent meeting with Jamuga, was also cut for time. It showed Genghis Khan, now dressed in the best of furs, showing off his sons and heirs to his cheering troops. I think the final whittling still leaves the film a bit plodding. At 140 minutes, it would have been very bloated.