55 Days at Peking

55 Days at Peking (1963) — watch online on iFILM. Director Nicholas Ray's vast historical drama is set during the Boxer Uprising, when foreign legations in Beijing were surrounded and besieged for nearly two months straight.

Troops and diplomats from a dozen rival nations suddenly shared one objective: survive. Major Lewis (Charlton Heston) takes charge of the joint defense; Britain's envoy Sir Arthur Robertson (David Niven) holds the diplomatic line under pressure; Russian Countess Natalie (Ava Gardner) moves through the chaos carrying a past she won't explain. Empress Dowager Cixi quietly backs the rebels, which means relief from outside is uncertain at best.

Shot in Spain on enormous sets built to evoke the Forbidden City, the film has a scale that 1963 could barely contain. Heston, coming off Ben-Hur, carries the whole weight again — this time without a chariot race to rescue the third act. For anyone drawn to real military history on screen, it's a neglected epic about a conflict most Western audiences have largely forgotten. Stream 55 Days at Peking (1963) online on iFILM.