King of the Khyber Rifles (film)

King of the Khyber Rifles
Directed by Henry King
Produced by Frank P. Rosenberg
Written by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts (screenplay)
Harry Kleiner (story)
Based on King of the Khyber Rifles
1916 novel
by Talbot Mundy
Starring Tyrone Power
Terry Moore
Music by Bernard Herrmann
Cinematography Leon Shamroy
Edited by Barbara McLean
Distributed by Twentieth Century Fox
Release dates
  • December 22, 1953 (1953-12-22)
Running time
 100 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $2,190,000[1]
Box office $2.6 million (US rentals)[2]

King of the Khyber Rifles is a 1953 adventure film directed by Henry King and starring Tyrone Power and Terry Moore. The film shares its title but little else with the novel King of the Khyber Rifles (1916) by Talbot Mundy. This novel was also the basis for John Ford's The Black Watch (1929). The Khyber Pass scenes were shot in Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California. Released by 20th Century Fox, the film was one of the first shot in Technicolor CinemaScope.

Plot synopsis

Freshly arrived Sandhurst-trained Captain Alan King (Tyrone Power), survives an attack on his escort to his North-West Frontier Province garrison near the Khyber Pass because of Ahmed, a native Afridi deserter from the Muslim fanatic rebel Karram Khan's (Guy Rolfe) forces. King was born locally and speaks Pashto. As soon as his fellow officers learn his mother was a native Muslim (which got his parents disowned even by their own families), he falls prey to stubborn prejudiced discrimination. Lieutenant Geoffrey Heath (John Justin) even moves out of their quarters. Brigadier General J. R. Maitland (Michael Rennie), whose policy is full equality among whites, learns King knew Karrum Khan as a boy and charges him with training and commanding native cavalry. The general's daughter, Susan Maitland (Terry Moore), takes a fancy to King, even falls in love, but the general decides to send her home to England after a kidnap attempt which was foiled by King. King volunteers to engage Karram Khan, the only man who can bring the normally divided local tribes together in revolt, pretending to have deserted.

Cast

References

  1. ↑ Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p248
  2. ↑ 'The Top Box-Office Hits of 1954', Variety Weekly, January 5, 1955


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