The Adventures of Marco Polo

1938

1h 44m

IMDb RATING

6.0/10

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Romance

Adventure

The Venetian traveler Marco Polo meets Kublai Khan and foils a plotter with fireworks in medieval China.

Directors

Archie Mayo

Writers

Robert E. Sherwood(screenplay by)

N.A. Pogson(story by)

Stars

Gary Cooper

Sigrid Gurie

Basil Rathbone

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Top cast

Marco Polo

Princess Kukachin

Ahmed

Kublai Khan

Nazama

Binguccio

Kaidu

Chen Tsu

Chamberlain

Persian Ambassador

Nicolo Polo

Visakha

Bayan

Toctai

Maid

Mongol Guard (uncredited)

Richard Farnsworth

Mongol Warrior (uncredited)

Hale Hamilton

Maffeo Polo (uncredited)

Directors

Archie Mayo

Writers

Robert E. Sherwood(screenplay by)

N.A. Pogson(story by)

All cast & crew

Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

There's a hole in this particular Polo! The Adventures of Marco Polo is directed by Archie Mayo and John Cromwell and written by Robert E. Sherwood and N.A. Pogson. It stars Gary Cooper, Alan Hale, Binnie Barnes, Basil Rathbone,Sigrid Gurie, George Barbier and Ernest Truex. Music is by Hugo Friedhofer and cinematography by Rudolph Maté and Archie Stout. Adventurer Marco Polo (Cooper) travels to China, where he finds the Emperor Kublai Khan (Barbier) and a wshole bunch of revolutionary intrigue. The legend of Marco Polo has proven to be spurious, so it's no surprise to find that a 1938 filmic production of the man is wholly fanciful. This is not a bad film, in fact it's a pleasant enough way to spend an hour and 40 minutes with. Problem is is that it's pitched more at gentle comedy then anything remotely dramatic. Cast are having fun performing in a costumer (Rathbone on villain duties owns the pic), but you have to cringe at some of the era foibles that sees various races playing the wrong race. The action is competently staged, particularly the final siege and battle, though the speeding up of some sequences is too daft. Likable cast make it worth staying with, but really they could have just made a character up and made this film as it is. 5/10

John Chard27 Mar, 2019