This summer Harrison Ford donned the signature fedora and got out the whip for a final outing as Indiana Jones. Critics haven’t been kind, and some have suggested Indy appears as leathery and aged as that whip he carries. Moreover, at 80 years of age, Ford moves only slightly better than President Joe Biden. In fact, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” has also been compared unfavorably to the numerous knock-offs that came out after the success of the original “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Of course, we should also remember that Indy’s persona was also “liberally borrowed” from the 1954 film “Secret of the Incas” staring Charlton Heston — who wore a fedora, brown leather jacket, and tan pants. There is even a tomb room scene in the Heston film, which has remained buried away in the studio’s vault much like a certain Ark!
Moreover, not all of those copycat films that followed “Raiders of the Lost Ark” are actually all that bad.
One of those Indiana Jones clones came out 40 years ago and is still an enjoyable action romp. It is notable in that it starred the actor who was originally cast in the Indiana Jones role — namely Tom Selleck. Due to scheduling conflicts with his hit TV series “Magnum PI,” Selleck was forced to bow out of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” but was later reportedly offered the lead in the similarly themed “High Road to China.”
Part of the reason why it holds up is that it wasn’t just an attempt to cash in the success of “Raiders.” The film, about a World War I ace pilot who is hired by an American heiress to find her lost father, was actually based on a novel that predated Indiana Jones’ first big screen outing by several years.
Less of a Serial
Though it is easy to see why “High Road to China” is often cited as a mere Indiana Jones clone, it has less of a 1930s movie serial feel. It also draws in many of the iconic elements of the American frontier myth, including the hero who struggles to fit into modern society but is well suited to the savage land, where he saves the day — albeit in this case set on the other side of the world.
The basic plot involves Eve Tozer (Bess Armstrong), a society heiress and flapper who is living in 1920s Istanbul. When she finds out that she could risk losing her inheritance unless her father can be found, Tozer hires the boozy and gruff ace pilot Patrick O’Malley (Selleck). Tozer, also an accomplished pilot, travels with O’Malley — first to Afghanistan and then to Nepal, before eventually making it to China. There they find the elderly and eccentric Bradley Tozer (Wilford Brimley), who is helping defend a small village and fend off a local Chinese warlord. The senior Tozer is thus part of the frontier myth as well.
“High Road to China” is a by-the-numbers adventure film, and while it doesn’t have the same level of cinematic grandeur as “Raiders,” it is still fairly entertaining.
What is also notable is that it was entirely filmed in Yugoslavia, and was originally to star Roger Moore and Jacqueline Bisset under the direction of John Huston. However, Huston dropped out as did Bisset. While Bo Derek’s name was suggested for the role of Eve Tozer, she reportedly didn’t want to be directed by anyone other than her husband Blake Edwards — who would have been entirely wrong for the project! Moore subsequently moved on, and the end result changed the British characters to Americans, yet it is never fully explained why they’re living in Istanbul, but as a light adventure romp, it is a minor nitpick.
High Road to China’s Weapons Arsenal
Set in the early 1920s, “High Road to China” features a diverse arsenal of appropriate First World War firearms. A couple of villainous henchmen are seen armed with a German Lugar 1908 Parabellum and a Mauser C96 “Broomhandle.” Both weapons were carried by Turkish officers in the war and likely would have been commonplace in Istanbul at the time.
Armstrong’s Tozer and Selleck’s O’Malley are each seen with distinctive large-frame revolvers not that dissimilar from what a certain globetrotting archeologist preferred. Tozer opts for a Smith & Wesson Model M&P revolver with a 6-six-inch barrel, chambered in .38 Special.
Later both Tozer and O’Malley use a Colt Model 1878 Double Action revolver, originally carried by Tozer’s father. It would seem to be the sort of sidearm that an aging adventurer might carry over more modern weapons (his dislike of the modern world and all), despite the fact it suffered from light strikes on the hardened primers of military ammunition, which made it unreliable.
This also marked just one of a handful of appearances of the Model 1878 in film — although it was carried by Kurt Russell’s Wyatt Earp in “Tombstone” and by Charles Bronson as Wild Bill Hickok in “The White Buffalo.” In other words: if it was good enough for Earp and Hickok, why not an American mercenary in China?
The Wrong Mauser Rifles
Though the film sees the characters fly to China, in reality, it was actually Yugoslavia — a fact that is made all too clear by the appearance of M24 Serbian Mausers that are used by both the defending Chinese villagers and the warlord’s forces. Though it is possible that some of the Chinese troops might have access to German-made Mauser rifles, it certainly could not have been the M24, which despite the model number didn’t enter production until 1927 and couldn’t have been exported to China!
These were likely all that was available at a time when film productions largely didn’t focus on such details. Moreover, the rifles are similar in appearance to the Chinese Model 1907 – but given the remoteness of this minor conflict, the more correct choice would have been the Hanyang 88, a Chinese-made bolt-action rifle based on the German Gewehr 88. That contract rifle was used by the Qing Dynasty’s military and more than a million were produced. Of course, a few 19th-century muskets employed by the villagers would have helped matters, but that’s another nitpick.
Period Appropriate Machine Guns
The armorers for “High Road to China” did include a few World War I machine guns that were appropriate for the era. O’Malley’s bi-planes are fitted with the aerial variant of the Lewis Gun — notable that it doesn’t have the more familiar cooling jacket. Only one of these is seen fired, suggesting the other was likely a static prop.
In addition, a German mercenary pilot, hired to stop O’Malley and Tozer, is seen with a pair of MG08 machine guns mounted on his aircraft. It is noteworthy that these are the water-cooled infantry models rather than the special aerial variant. It is also unclear how these could have been used with the aircraft’s interrupter gear, which was necessary to ensure that the rounds fired wouldn’t strike the propeller.
In the film’s climax, the Chinese warlord’s forces are also armed with at least one MG08/15, the “mobile” version of the MG08. That is another interesting choice, as a number of the MG08 machine guns with heavy mounts were exported to China and subsequently saw service in the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, yet, the MG08/15 was introduced until 1915. It isn’t beyond impossible that a few could have made it to China after the end of the war, but the issue would have been of ammunition.
Though the MG08/15 was chambered for the same 7.92×57mm (8mm Mauser) cartridge as the M24 rifles — and likely used the same blanks in the production — the Chinese Mausers were chambered for the 6.8×57mm cartridge, while the Hanyang 88 used the Patrone 88 round.
Of course, the biggest issue at the end of “High Road to China” is how Tozer and O’Malley ever got back home. Maybe that’s why there wasn’t a sequel!
