The Adventures of Marco Polo

Gary Cooper had a most interesting relationship with Sam Goldwyn. He did seven films with Goldwyn and a cursory glance at the titles shows that Goldwyn was constantly giving him better and more suitable material for him. With The Adventures of Marco Polo he could hardly have done worse. How can I say it, Gary Cooper just does not suggest a renaissance Italian Man. Unless they all had that Montana drawl. Contrast his performance here with Tyrone Power in Prince of Foxes or in The Black Rose where he plays an Englishman in the China of Kublai Khan. Power in this part would have made it believable. But Darryl Zanuck wasn't giving Ty Power's services away. To complete the film, cowboy Cooper is given a Smiley Burnette like sidekick in Ernest Truex. The two of them as the history books tell us, go off to the court of Kublai Khan to negotiate a trade agreement for Venetian merchants, particularly the House of Polo. There the real history stops as Cooper gets involved in all kinds of palace intrigue. Here's some of where Sam Goldwyn's casting gets positively zany. George Barbier is Kublai Khan and Goldwyn must have seen Cecil B. DeMille's The Crusades where Barbier played King Sancho. Worked for C.B. it'll work for me. Sigrid Gurie was another Scandinavian import, another one trying to be another Greta Garbo. If Anna Sten didn't work, we'll make Sigrid a Scandinavian Mongol Princess. Best of all is Basil Rathbone as Ahmed, his Saracen adviser who plays the part just as if he was playing Guy of Gisborne. Rathbone carried it through however, he must have seen how all around him looked so he could hide in the crowd. H.B. Warner had the year before played the High Lama Chang in Lost Horizon. Here he's a clever fellow who shows Marco Polo this latest thing the Chinese have invented called gunpowder. Actually they'd had it for some time and the west had had it also, a fellow named Roger Bacon had written extensively and experimented even more extensively with the stuff a couple of centuries before. Never mind it took Gary Cooper to see its possibilities. Sam Goldwyn's sets were lavish and the battle scenes at the end very well staged. That it has nothing to do with any history is only a minor criticism, it does not succeed because of the unbelievable plot and incredible casting.

For its time it's a fair adventure played out on a sound stage, but Gary Cooper doesn't make a good Marco Polo.

entertaining bio-pic not historically accurate though

Its an amazing cast and the film looks good, but is showing its age. Gary Cooper playing Marco Polo is a huge stretch, actually the whole cast is a stretch with its suppose to be set in Venice then China but not even an accent other then American or British in the bunch. The plot basically revolves around Cooper being irrestible to all women, and thats pretty much it. Alan Hale does give a good performance and so does Basil Rathbone, but the story just does not cut it, very little adventure really. Look for Lana Turner in a very small role, one of her first.

showcases the versitility of gary cooper all star cast

5.5/10. Unusually innacurate historically, even for an old Hollywood film. The acting is fine, Gary Cooper is always worth a look. Over dramatic score, silly at times.