The Conqueror
The Conqueror woof! Conqueror of the Desert 1956
Wayne in pointed helmet and goatee is convincingly miscast as Genghis Khan in this woeful tale of the warlord's early life and involvement with the kidnapped daughter of a powerful enemy. Rife with stilted, unintentionally funny dialogue, Oriental western was very expensive to make (with backing by Howard Hughes), and is now listed in the “Fifty Worst Films of All Time.” No matter; it's surreal enough to enable viewer to approximate an outofbody experience. Even those on the set suffered; filming took place near a nuclear test site in Utah and many members of the cast and crew eventually developed cancer. 111m/C VHS, DVD . John Wayne, Susan Hayward, William Conrad, Agnes Moorehead, Lee Van Cleef, Pedro Armendariz Sr., Thomas Gomez, John Hoyt, Ted de Corsia, Leslie Bradley, Peter Mamakos; D: Dick Powell; W: Oscar Millard; C: Joseph LaShelle, William E. Snyder, Leo Tover, Harry Wild; M: Victor Young.