Shadowing Practice: The Conqueror (1956) - The Objectively Worst Film Ever Made - Learn English Speaking with Video
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When people talk about the worst movies ever made, there are a number of titles commonly thrown around.
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Plan 9 from Outer Space, The Room, Star Wars The Last Jedi, and Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker,
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and Star Wars The Phantom Menace, and damn, were any of these movies ever good?
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I hate them!
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But as bad as these movies are, there is one that is objectively worse.
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A movie whose very production could almost be said to be cursed.
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After all, its creation resulted in dozens of deaths and drove its creator to madness like some kind of Lovecraftian grimoire.
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The Conqueror is a 1956 epic historical film about the life of Genghis Khan.
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It stars John Wayne in the title role of Temujin.
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Yeah, that's right, John Wayne the cowboy as a Mongolian warlord.
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But horrible miscasting is only the tip of this iceberg.
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Beyond the bland dialogue and cardboard performances of the cast, the movie also had one of the most unfortunate productions of any movie ever made,
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and the effect it had on its mysterious producer is a story worth telling, unlike this film.
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So let's take a look back at what I consider to be the objectively worst film ever made.
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This is The Kong World.
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The movie opens with the Merkit chief Targatai crossing the lands of the Mongols to bring home his new wife.
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The Mongol chief Temujin confronts him and is instantly attracted to the wife, a Tartar woman named Bortai.
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Temujin decides to steal her for himself
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and organizes a raid against the Merkits despite his men's warning that the Merkits will seek revenge.
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Temujin and his men ambush the caravan, driving Targatai away and taking Bortai for his own.
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His mother Hunlun despises Bortai, as her father killed Temujin's father many years ago.
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She warns Temujin to get rid of her, lest she bring woe to their people, but he refuses, as he wants to keep her for his wife.
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However, Bortai refuses Temujin, seeing him as a beast beneath a woman like her.
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She approaches Temujin's blood brother and right hand man Jamukha, offering herself to him if he will free her.
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He refuses to betray Temujin, but at that moment, the Marekits attack the camp.
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In the confusion, Temujin sees Jamukha leaving Bortai's tent, sowing seeds of distrust in his mind.
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Temujin manages to escape the fighting along with Bortai.
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Hiding together from the Merkits, they make love.
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When they return to the camp the next day, his mother chastises him for letting a woman bring danger to the camp.
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Temujin again refuses to listen, and instead decides to seek help from his old ally, Wang Kahn.
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His plan is to lie to Wang Kahn and convince him that the Tartars and Merkits are conspiring against him.
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He and Bortai arrive at Wangkan's city, who welcomes him with a feast and a display of dancing women.
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After the celebration, Temujin lies to him about the Tartar threat.
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Wangkan consults with his shaman, who declares that the spirits say Temujin is truthful.
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Wangkan agrees to unite against the Tartars.
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However, as Temujin is leaving, the shaman reveals that he lied because he wants Temujin to take over Wangkan's kingdom after his death.
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On their return to their camp, Temujin is ambushed by the Tartars.
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Bortai manages to escape back to her people, leaving Temujin wounded in a cave.
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Jamukha finds him and pretends to defect
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so the Tartars will trust him enough in order for him to steal horses for their escape.
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However, they follow him back to Temujin's location and end up capturing him.
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Temujin sees Jamika escape, making him believe that he betrayed him.
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The Tartars bring Temujin back to their camp, torturing him and planning on executing him the next day.
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However, Bortai, now realizing her love for him, helps him escape.
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Returning back to his camp, Temujin accuses Jamika of betrayal.
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In order to prove himself, he is sent along with Temujin's actual brother Kassar to Wang Kahn's city in order to organize the attack on the Tartars.
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Arriving in the city, the shaman warns Wang Kahn that Temujin plans on betraying him.
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He orders that Jamika and Kassar be held captive while he goes to investigate the Mongols' plan.
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Jamika manages to escape their captivity, but Kassar is killed in the escape.
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Jamika rides for the camp, but is captured by the Tartars.
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Temujin is at the meeting spot, awaiting Wang Khan's forces.
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The shaman arrives and tells him that Wang Khan has betrayed their agreement.
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He offers to unlock the city gates and allow Temujin to conquer the city.
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Temujin agrees, but is distrustful of the shaman.
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The shaman allows the Mongol forces through the gate, who take the city under their control.
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With his dying breath, Wang Khan reveals the shaman's deception.
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Temujin cuts him down and claims Wang Khan's forces as his own.
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Together, they march on a Tartar camp.
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Temujin finally gets his revenge by killing the Tartar chief, and he and Bortai are reunited.
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She reassures Temujin that Jamukha never betrayed him and only feels love for his blood brother.
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However, Jamukha says that the seeds of distrust can never be undone.
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and asks that Temujin kill him and let him die with honor.
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Temujin reluctantly agrees.
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As the movie ends, Jamika narrates that with all his enemies defeated,
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Temujin assumed the title of Chinggis Khan and conquered the land with Bortai by his side.
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There's so much wrong with this film, I don't even know where to begin.
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The elephant in the room is of course the casting.
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While I'll give the film leeway as casting white actors in non-white roles wasn't as controversial then as it is today, even with that in mind,
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Wayne is horribly out of place as the great Mongol chief.
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Now, John Wayne is a good, if not slightly limited actor.
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He shines in a certain role.
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The gruff cowboy, the stern gunslinger.
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And while the role of the brutish conqueror might seem like something that suits him, he sounds ridiculous delivering lines like this.
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I'm not saying the blame is entirely on him, as the entire cast gives a cardboard performance.
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Much of it has to do with the dialogue.
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These lines are trying to sound vaguely 13th century, but when combined with the cowboy accent, it just comes off as awkward.
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The only actor who comes close to a good performance is Agnes Moorhead, who plays Temujin's mother Hun Lun.
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She's not on camera for long, but she was clearly having fun with the role.
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She is the daughter of Kumlik.
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Kumlik's daughter?
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Spawn of evil!
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Let your slaves have their sport with her.
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I will not have her within our tents.
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I say who stays in our tents.
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This woman is for my pleasure.
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You will take pleasure with the offspring of your father's slayer?
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She will bring woe to you, my son, and to your people.
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The story is also atrocious for many reasons.
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For starters, it isn't even close to historically accurate.
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The real story of Temujin's life, or at least the one we know from the secret history of the Mongols, is so interesting it could be a movie on its own.
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And it's clear the writers at least had some idea of history, as they get the names mostly right.
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But they changed so many details for no reason.
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In real life, Jamika was blood brother to Temujin, but he wasn't the dotering man-servant he's portrayed as in the movie.
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In actuality, he was Temujin's superior by birth, and in time, they developed a rivalry that ended in war.
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It's honestly an epic story about brothers turning into enemies, and it would make for a damn good film.
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But instead, Jamika is devoted to serving Temujin for seemingly no reason.
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I mean he says there's something about Temujin that makes men want to follow him or something, but we never actually see it.
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In fact it's just the opposite in this movie.
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The movie portrays Temujin as a complete jackass.
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He endangers his tribe by recklessly attacking the Merkits in order to steal some woman for himself,
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and then has the gall to accuse his men of failure in stopping the counter attack.
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He complains that he is beset by traitors
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when he himself lied to his benefactor Wang Kahn and tried to trick him into going to war for his own benefit.
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This is all in complete disregard to the real Temujin, who dedicated himself to protecting his people.
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Why the hell would anyone want to follow this tool?
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I'd almost say the movie is trying to criticize Temujin and show that he was a terrible person, if it wasn't for the fact that they show Bortai falling in love with him.
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From her reaction, we get the sense that there's something to love and admire in Temujin.
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But her sudden feelings for Temujin come out of nowhere, and are a complete contradiction to how he has treated her throughout the entire film.
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What exactly is she supposed to love about this guy?
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The way he hits her?
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I mean I know as the 50's and women were expected to just swoon when a big tough guy grabs them, but even as the so called conqueror, Temujin is lacking.
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The first time they make love, it's after Temujin runs away from the enemy, something she mocked her first husband for.
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He's constantly falling into traps and is completely out of touch with the situation around him.
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It makes her sudden love for him contradict her character and make no sense.
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And speaking of making no sense, what the hell is up with that ending?
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Jamika has been a loyal servant of Temujin the entire movie, and even though Bortai confirms that he's never even thought about betraying Temujin,
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for some reason he has to die?
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His reasoning that doubt would creep into Temujin's thoughts makes no sense, as there's no one left for him to betray Temujin to, even if he wanted to.
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I think the writers were hoping his death would give the ending a sense of sadness, Temujin's victory came at the cost of a friend,
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but the problem is we aren't invested into this conflict because the character is flat and boring.
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Instead the scene just serves to confuse the audience and slow the climax down for no reason.
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Now all of that would be enough to call any movie terrible, but the problems this film has go beyond just what's on the screen.
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The film also had one of the most unfortunate productions of any movie ever made, and the decision to film there would result in an untold number of deaths.
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The film was primarily shot near St. George, Utah, which is downwind of the United States nuclear test site in Nevada.
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In fact only 3 years earlier, 11 nuclear weapons had been tested in the area,
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which allowed radioactive fallout to be dispersed and carried downwind to the filming site.
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Of the 220 members of the crew, 91 developed cancer and at least 46 died from it.
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This included Wayne himself, who developed lung and stomach cancer, eventually dying from the latter.
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Pedro Armand Rees would end up committing suicide after a terminal diagnosis of cancer in 1963,
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and Agnes Moorhead, Susan Hayward, and director Dick Powell would all die from cancer as well.
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Even Wayne's sons, Michael and Patrick, who only visited the set,
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developed cancer, and a true number of cases is suspected to be even higher than what was reported.
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The decision to film in St. George was made by the film's producer, the legendary business magnate Howard Hughes.
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Hughes is an interesting figure, having been both a record setting pilot and one of the most successful entrepreneurs of all time.
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He wielded great political and business power and came to be an influential member of Hollywood.
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He financed many films including the original 1931's Scarface, and later came to control RKO Studios,
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which gave us King Kong and Citizen Kane.
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Recluse was known to be an eccentric even in his early days, and suffered from OCD.
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However, later in his life, his eccentricity turned into madness.
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He became a recluse, not taking care of himself and rarely being seen in public.
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While the cause of his decline is impossible to pinpoint, many think that the guilt he felt over the Conqueror was part of it.
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He spent $12 million buying every copy of the film he could so no one could ever see it, and watched it on repeat over and over again in his personal theater.
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He often sat in his chair naked, watching the film for weeks on end, not bathing or cutting his hair or nails.
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When he finally died in 1976, he was so unrecognizable, the FBI had to use fingerprints to confirm it was him.
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To be fair to Hughes, he didn't know the area was dangerous.
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When he went to the Atomic Energy Commission, they told him it was perfectly safe, which is also what they told the residents of St. George.
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However, higher rates of cancer in the area were reported all the way until the 1980s,
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and Congress would later set up a fund to compensate the victims of the nuclear fallout.
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When the film debuted, it was a box office bomb, no pun intended.
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It was met with negative reception, mostly around the casting and a nonsensical story.
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Wayne would later receive the Golden Turkey Award for his performance, and the film would be included in the 50 worst films of all time.
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Unlike some of the other films on that list, like Plan 9, there's nothing even funny bad here.
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Nothing that would bring the film into the so bad it's good category.
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It's a tragic story, for the characters in the film, for the people who made it, and of course for the people who had to watch it.
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But the next time you see a crappy movie and think to yourself this is the worst thing ever, just remember, it can get so much worse.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “The Conqueror (1956) - The Objectively Worst Film Ever Made”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Temujin, film, movie, Bortai, Tartar. This video has 155 sentences and 2363 words to shadow. The speech runs for 15:42. The speaker talks at a natural 150 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 78% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| betray verb | /bɪˈtɹeɪ/ | To deliver into the hands of an enemy by treachery or fraud, in violation of trust; to give up treacherously or faithlessly. |
| shaman noun | /ˈʃɑːmən/ | A traditional faith healer. |
| conqueror noun | /ˈkɑŋˌkɚ.ɚ/ | Someone who conquers. |
| cowboy noun | /ˈkaʊˌbɔɪ/ | A man who tends free-range cattle, especially in the American West. |
| tent noun | /tɛnt/ | A pavilion or portable lodge consisting of skins, canvas, or some strong cloth, stretched and sustained by poles, used for sheltering people from the weather. |
| distrust noun | /dɪsˈtɹʌst/ | Lack of trust or confidence. |
| downwind adverb | /ˌdaʊnˈwɪnd/ | in the same direction as the wind is blowing |
| objectively adverb | /əbˈd͡ʒɛktɪvli/ | In an impartial, objective manner. |
| ambush noun | /ˈæm.bʊʃ/ | The act of concealing oneself and lying in wait to attack or kill by surprise. |
| cardboard noun | /ˈkɑɹdˌbɔɹd/ | A wood-based material resembling heavy paper, used in the manufacture of boxes, cartons and signs. |
| fallout noun | /ˈfɔlˌaʊt/ | The event of small airborne particles falling to the ground in significant quantities as a result of major industrial activity, volcano eruption, sandstorm… |
| accuse verb | /əˈkjuz/ | To find fault with, blame, censure. |
| conquer verb | /ˈkɑŋkɚ/ | To defeat in combat; to subjugate. |
| madness noun | /ˈmæd.nəs/ | The state of being mad; insanity; mental disease. |
| warn verb | /woɹn/ | To make (someone) aware of impending danger, evil, etc. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. | |
| come off verb | To become detached. | |
| run away from verb | To avoid or shirk a problem or consequences; to rush to back away from or disclaim responsibility for something. | |
| set up verb | /ˌsɛt ˈʌp/ | To make ready for use. |
| take over verb | To assume control of something, such as a business or enterprise, and sometimes by force. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | be said · is ambushed · is sent |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has betrayed · has treated · has been |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | Utah, which is · safe, which is · people who made |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 10 contractions and reduced forms, such as wasn't, aren't, didn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shaman /ˈʃɑːmən/, ambush /ˈæm.bʊʃ/, atrocious /əˈtɹoʊ.ʃəs/, brutish /ˈbɹuːt.ɪʃ/, contradiction /ˌkɑːntɹəˈdɪkʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: objectively /əbˈd͡ʒɛktɪvli/, unfortunate /ʌnˈfɔː.t͡ʃə.nɪt/, actuality /ˌækt͡ʃuˈælɪti/, benefactor /ˈbɛnəˌfæktɚ/, contradiction /ˌkɑːntɹəˈdɪkʃən/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like betray, shaman, conqueror.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.