Gary Cooper as the Italian explorer Marco Polo in a big-budget Hollywood fantasy adventure. Despite a host of natural obstacles, Polo and his sidekick Binguccio (Ernest Truex) arrive triumphantly in the sumptuous court of Kublai Khan (George Barbier). Soon they’re involved in political goings-on that threaten to undo the Khan and break up Polo’s romance with lovely Asian princess Kukachin (Gurie).
To battle the sinister Ahmed (Rathbone) and his usurpers, Polo enlists the aid of happy-go-lucky outlaw Kaidu (Hale) and his merry men. Their attack on the walled city is one of the great cinematic battle scenes of all time.
Two hundred yards of the Great Wall of China was recreated at Lake Malibu, Ca. for the film.
production details
USA | United Artists | 100 minutes | 1938
Director: Archie Mayo
Producer: Samuel Goldwyn
Editor: Fred Allen
Music: Hugo Friedhofer
Script: N. A. Pogson, Robert E. Sherwood
Production Designer: Richard Day
cast
Gary Cooper as Marco Polo
Sigrid Gurie as Princess Kukachin
Basil Rathbone as Ahmed
George Barbier as Kublai Khan
Binnie Barnes as Nazama
Ernest Truex as Binguccio
Alan Hale as Kaidu
H.B. Warner as Chen Tsu
Robert Greig as Chamberlain
Ferdinand Gottschalk as Persian Ambassador
Henry Kolker as Nicolo Polo
Lotus Liu as Visakha
Stanley Fields as Bayan
Harold Huber as Toctai
Lana Turner as Maid
Ward Bond as Mongol Guard (uncredited)
Richard Farnsworth as Mongol Warrior (uncredited)
Hale Hamilton as Maffeo Polo (uncredited)
Theodore von Eltz as Venetian Business Man (uncredited)