King of the Khyber Rifles showing and talk on anti-imperialist adventure writer

[Allen W Thrasher]

Friday, July 25 (7:00 pm) at Library of Congress
King of the Khyber Rifles (20th Century-Fox, 1953) Dir Henry King. Wrt Ivan Goff, Ben Roberts, Harry Kleiner. With Tyrone Power, Terry Moore, Michael Rennie, Guy Rolfe, John Justin, Frank Lackteen. (100 min, Technicolor, CinemaScope, 35mm)

Talbot Mundy's name is synonymous with fantastic adventure in the mysterious east. When Fox brought his most famous novel to the screen a second time, it was transformed into a widescreen Tyrone Power vehicle infused with a social consciousness story set against the Sepoy rebellion of 1857. Yet the film also resembled plans for a film Mundy had hoped to script in the 1930's which ran into prohibitive British censorship. King of the Khyber Rifles inaugurated a cycle of colonial adventure films with a revisionist interpretation of the imperialist ethic that Hollywood had celebrated in earlier decades. This screening will feature a special introduction by MBRS Library staffer Brian Taves (PhD, University of Southern California), author of a new book on Mundy. 


RESERVATIONS may be made by phone, beginning one week before any given show. Call (202) 707-5677 during business hours (Monday-Friday, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm). Reserved seats must be claimed at least 10 minutes before showtime, after which standbys will be admitted to unclaimed seats. All programs are free, but seating is limited to 64 seats. The Mary Pickford Theater is located on the third floor of the Library of Congress Madison building, 101 Independence Ave., N.E., Washington, DC, diagonally across from the Capitol South Metro stop.