By the time the intermission starts, this movie has totally run out of steam. Ponderous, dull and lacking any momentum, it could be held as marking the collapse of the overblown historical epics that were so popular in the early 60s, had Cy Endfield and David Lean not infused the genre with new life in Zulu, Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago. The difference? Largely vitality, intelligence and authenticity
Review of 55 Days at Peking
