Review: Genghis Khan
Omar Sharif plays the title Mongol chief who attempts to unite all the varying factions and regions of Asia, whilst also squaring off against Jamuga (Stephen Boyd- thankfully a bit better than he was in “Ben-Hur”), his sworn enemy and the man who once enslaved him. Francoise Dorleac plays Boyd’s intended wife whom Sharif snatches away from him, and eventually they come to love one another. Telly Savalas and Woody Strode play a couple of Genghis Khan’s followers (the former has much different views on the treatment of women than his leader), whilst James Mason is Kam Ling, Mandarin advisor to Chinese Emperor Robert Morley, both of whom seem to have some affection for Sharif. Eli Wallach has a small role as a shifty Persian Shah. Despite not being Mongolian, a perfectly cast Sharif (who is Egyptian) nearly saves this otherwise badly cast, occasionally embarrassingly trivial (read: borderline racist-as-hell) 1965 historical mini-epic from Henry Levin ( “The Flying Missile” , “Journey t