I was originally going to award this film a much more generous rating, but it so outstayed its welcome I knocked a couple of stars off.

For one who professes such a love of classic cinema Martin Scorsese has form where it comes to not bothering to get his facts straight; the principal case for the prosecution being the shameless hagiography of 'The Aviator' which heroically portrays Howard Hughes as A Man with a Dream rather than the spoilt brat who squandered Daddy's money wrecking RKO.

It took a special sort of genius on the part of Hughes to blow the biggest budget in RKO's history to such little effect and wipe out several of Hollywood's finest talents - including John Wayne in a role originally intended for Marlon Brando - and a major studio in the process.

The idiosyncratic casting of the lead extends to the supporting cast by depicting Wayne, Pedro Armendariz and William Conrad as siblings and Agnes Moorehead as their mother (heaven knows what their father looked like), and Ted De Corsia as Susan Hayward's father.

An American historical adventure; A story set in the 12th century about the rise of a ferocious chieftain - the future Gengis Khan - who kidnaps the daughter of a ruthless rival - a Tartar - causing a continental conflict. Despite some impressive battle sequences with good stuntwork, this mostly-fiction-based-on-fact movie suffers from a dull and contrived narrative. The dialogue is heavy and sometimes too simplistic and delivered stilted, mainly due to less than inspired casting, especially from the lead, John Wayne, who is at best an elemental Mongolian would-be-emperor. The only fairly convincing performance is Pedro Armendariz willing to sacrifice himself for his jealous chief.

An American historical adventure; A story set in the 12th century about the rise of a ferocious Mongol chief - the future Genghis Khan - who kidnaps the daughter of a ruthless rival - a Tartar - causing a continental conflict. Despite some impressive battle sequences, and good stuntwork, this mostly-fiction-based-on-fact movie suffers from a dull and contrived narrative, heavy and occasionally childish dialogue and a rudimentary romance. It has less than inspired casting and stilted delivery of dialogue, especially attributed to its lead, John Wayne, who is at best an elemental Gengis Khan. The only fairly convincing performance is Pedro Armendariz, who is willing to sacrifice himself for his jealous chief.