La Fabuleuse aventure de Marco Polo (1965)
Directed by Denys de La Patellière, Raoul Lévy

Film Review

In spite of its luxurious photography, enormous budget and all-star cast, this shameless super-production fails to live up to its monolithic aspirations.  From the start, the film is overly pre-occupied with impressing its spectators with extravagant sets and stunning panoramic views. Although these have some artistic merit, this is not enough to sustain the audience's attention and it is the film's lack of content and wooden characterisation which rob it of any true greatness.   The film's only saving grace is captivating performance from Antony Quinn as the wise emperor Kubklai Khan.

The story of the film itself is probably as fascinating as the adventures of the young Venetian hero it relates.  It was originally conceived by Raoul Lévy as the ultimate historical epic, with the title L'Échiquier de Dieu (God's Chessboard).  To direct the film, Lévy recruited Christian-Jaque, who already had several highly successful historic dramas under his belt, including Fanfan la Tulipe (1952) and La Tulipe noire (1964).  The original cast included Alain Delon, an actor much sought after for his good looks and popularity, and experienced character actors Michel Simon and Bernard Blier.

Almost from the start, the project seemed doomed.  The initial preparation for the film, which included tours of India, Afghanistan and Iran, ran up a budget of tens of millions of French francs. Lévy's vision was clearly too ambitious to realise, including a charge of two hundred elephants and a gigantic game of chess with full-size figures.  When the film ran into financial difficulties during the first month of filming, Christian-Jaque pulled out of the project, along with his lead actors.

Lévy's persevered in spite of these difficulties and managed to secure further funding for what was described as French cinema's equivalent of the Algeria situation (i.e. pouring money into a lost cause).   Denys de La Patellière was hired to direct the film, and the young German actor Horst Buchholz (famous for playing Chico in The Magnificent Seven (1960)) was cast in the role of Marco Polo.  With tighter budgetary constraints, the film was completed, but fell way short of Lévy's expectations.

Even with its international distribution, the film failed to recoup its staggering cost, which ran into hundreds of millions of French francs. The film was poorly received at the box office and was an enormous flop.  It is speculated that the film's failure may have contributed to Lévy's suicide in 1966.

Film Synopsis

In the 13th century, Marco Polo's dreams of adventure in distant lands look set to become reality when his father, a once great merchant now fallen on hard times, delivers a letter to Pope Gregory.  The missive comes direct from the court of the Chinese emperor Kublai Khan, who seeks a peaceful accord between the Orient and the Christian world.  Blessed with charm, compassion and tenacity, Marco is seen to be the ideal ambassador to undertake the long journey from Venice to the Far East and establish a mutually beneficial rapport with the mighty Khan.

The gruelling journey across many unfamiliar lands lasts three and a half years.  Along the way, Marco and his caravan encounter many hazards, including attacks from cut-throat bandits, before finally reaching their destination in Peking.  Polo's arrival coincides with a Mongol plot to usurp the emperor and replace him with his son Nazam, a fierce Mongol warrior who has no intention of making peace with other nations.  By exercising his cunning and courage, the young Marco succeeds in thwarting Nazam's evil ambitions, and in doing so he earns the gratitude and respect of a great emperor...