Gary Cooper plays the role of Marco , a venetian adventurer , in this all star production of Marco Polo's adventures . Young Marco travels to China to help Kublai Khan fight against rebels, headed by his own assistant , with a new invention : gunpowder . Entertaining motion picture about oriental and medieval feats in superb Black and White cinematography and luxurious scenarios . High budget Hollywood production deals with Marco Polo travels from Venice to Pekin , where he falls in love with the Emperor's daughter . Marco (sympathetic as well laconic Gary Cooper) becomes the first traveler to record his visit to the Eastern court of the Emperor Kublai Khan . Once there he possesses his protection to merchandise between China and Europe but he prefers to seek out for more adventures . There Marco falls for gorgeous Princess Kukachin (Sigrid Gurie) . Kublai (Barbier) is a kindly fellow , but his villain aide Ahmed (Basil Rathbone replaced originally cast John Carradine as the evil of a piece) wants to get rid of Kublai Khan so he can be emperor, and to get rid of Marco Polo so he can marry the princess . But Ahmed sends Marco Polo to the West to fight barbarians led by a Tartar chief called Kaidu (Alan Hale Jr), but he goes back just in time to save the day . The Italian explorer rescues the daughter of the Mongol leader Kublai Khan , and meets a hermit (the prestigious silent actor H.B. Warner) who has invented gunpowder . During his adventures Polo is imprisoned and will suffer numerous dangers , adventures and risks ; besides he'll quickly discover many Chinese invents as coal , ¡ spaghetti! and gunpowder , among others .
It's a spectacular adventure and plenty of emotions , action , romance and evocative musical score from Alfred Newman and Hugo Friedhofer . The picture blends far eastern adventures and medieval scenario . This is one of the most bemusing oriental adventure movies ever made and extremely well produced , lush production design and shot in awesome black and white photography from Archie Stout and Rudolph Mate . This juvenile romp is utterly amusing and entertaining though inexactly based on facts . Don't expect historic accuracy from this typical Hollywood product full of adventures , a love story and lots of action . The notorious producer Samuel Goldwyn were more concerned with offering moving and enjoyable amusement than factual information . However , the picture has some actual events such as the attempt conquest Japan by means a fleet that was sunk by strong winds ,thunders and gale . This marked the screen debut of Samuel Goldwyn's protégé Sigrid Gurie, whom he publicly labeled "the Norwegian Garbo , even though she was born in Brooklyn . In fact , by the time the film was released , it had been discovered Sigrid was born from the rather less exotic place of New York . Look out for Lana Turner in her sixth movie making a short appearance , almost extra , as a slave girl , later she recalled in a Gary Cooper biography that her "fancy black oriental wig" had been glued around her face with spirit gum, while she felt extremely uncomfortable in her costumes .
The motion picture was middlingly directed by Archie Mayo who replaced John Cromwell after a few days due to "differences of opinion on story treatment," according to a press release. The film's producer Goldwyn then attempted to rope in William Wyler for the job , but Wyler wanted nothing to do with it, so Goldwyn persuaded John Ford to take over for a few days until he could find a permanent replacement for Cromwell. Archie Mayo was eventually brought in to finish the picture. The film was received poorly at the box-office, becoming the biggest flop up to that time for both Gary Cooper and Samuel Goldwyn; it was estimated that the picture lost close to $700,000 . The flick will appeal to far eastern saga fanciful and Gary Cooper enthusiasts.
Other pictures based on this legendary character are the followings : ¨Marco Polo (1962)¨ by Hugo Fregonese and Piero Pierotti with Rory Calhoun , Yoko Tani and Robert Hundar ; "Marco the Magnificent" by Raoul Levy with Horst Buchhold, Anthony Quinn , Elsa Martinelli ; ¨Marco¨ (1973) by Seymour Robbie with Desi Aznar Jr , Zero Mostel ; the best results to be ¨Marco Polo¨ TV (1982) by Giuliano Montalvo with Ken Marshall , David Warner , F Murray Abraham , Leonard Nimoy ; ¨The Incredible Adventures of Marco Polo on His Journeys to the Ends of the Earth¨ (1998) with Don Diamant , Jack Palance and Oliver Reed ; and ¨Marco Polo¨ (2007) by Kevin Connor with Ian Somerhalder , BD Wong and Brian Dennehy .
