55 Days at Peking - 4 1/2 stars out of 5 stars

Wonderful action epic from 1963 starring Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner and the cast of thousands as they say.Based on a real siege during the"Boxer rebellion"from 1899 to 1901 in which China attempted to force the occupying Imperialist powers out,its a stirring action film that takes great pains not to politicize  the time or pass judgement.Rather the film tells the classic old chestnut of love and loss set against the backdrop of war.What makes the film relevant today is the mere mention of historical events that seem long forgotten but shouldn't be.How many youngsters even know Beijing was once known as Peking or that the US had a presence there so many years ago?? Now at that larger than life actor Heston,and well sit back and enjoy.The only flaw is the old Hollywood prejudice against casting Asian's actors in leading roles.A film about China without Asian actors in key roles is laughable at times. The film runs 153 minutes but is not boring at all.Only the lack of asian actors costs 1/2 star.There was a minor story about a young Chinese orphan girl and they did cast Lynne Sue Moon.She was so good it just highlighted the silliness of not casting the major characters with asians.I could not find a trailer BUT again,the FULL MOVIE URL follows the picture and a IMDB summary below.

Diplomats, soldiers and other representatives of a dozen nations fend off the siege of the International Compound in Peking during the 1900 Boxer Rebellion. The disparate interests unite for survival despite competing factions, overwhelming odds, delayed relief and tacit support of the Boxers by the Empress of China and her generals. Written by Martin H. Booda <booda@datasync.com>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QViEiDjd7Ew