King of the Khyber Rifles

Last updated

King of the Khyber Rifles
TalbotMundy KingOfTheKhyberRifles.jpg
Cover to the hardback 1st edition
Author Talbot Mundy
Genre Adventure novel
Publisher Bobbs-Merrill
Publication date
1916
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (hardback and paperback)
Khyber Rifles. Watercolour by Maj AC Lovett, 1910. Khyber Rifles.jpg
Khyber Rifles. Watercolour by Maj AC Lovett, 1910.

King of the Khyber Rifles is a novel by British writer Talbot Mundy. Captain Athelstan King is a secret agent for the British Raj at the beginning of the First World War. Heavily influenced both by Mundy's own unsuccessful career in India and by his interest in theosophy, it describes King's adventures among the (mostly Muslim) tribes of the north with the mystical woman adventuress, princess Yasmini and the Turkish mullah Muhammed Anim. Like Greenmantle by John Buchan, also first published in 1916, it deals with the possibility that Turkey might try to stir Muslims into a jihad against the British Empire.

Contents

The Khyber Rifles was and is an actual regiment.

What was to be Mundy's third novel was originally serialised in Everybody's Magazine in nine parts from May 1916 illustrated by Joseph Clement Coll. [1] It was published in book form in November 1916.

The book gave many characters and themes to the book The Peshawar Lancers , including the main character, Athelstane King.

Adaptations

The first film adaptation was The Black Watch (UK title King of the Khyber Rifles), released in 1929 and starring Victor McLaglen and Myrna Loy. A second version, King of the Khyber Rifles (1953) featured Tyrone Power and Terry Moore. Apart from the title and the Khyber Pass setting, it has little in common with Mundy's novel. A third adaptation, to have been adapted by Philip Kaufman and released by TriStar Pictures was planned but never made.

A Classics Illustrated comic book of Mundy's book was printed in 1953, No. 107.

Related Research Articles

<i>Robot</i> series Series of stories by Isaac Asimov

The Robot Series is a series of thirty-seven science fiction short stories and six novels created by American writer Isaac Asimov, from 1940 to 1995. The series is set in a world where sentient positronic robots serve a number of purposes in society. To ensure their loyalty, the Three Laws of Robotics are programmed into these robots, with the intent of preventing them from ever becoming a danger to humanity. Later, Asimov would merge the Robot series with his Foundation series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">H. Rider Haggard</span> English adventure novelist (1856–1925)

Sir Henry Rider Haggard was an English writer of adventure fiction romances set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a pioneer of the lost world literary genre. He was also involved in land reform throughout the British Empire. His stories, situated at the lighter end of Victorian literature and including the eighteen Allan Quatermain stories beginning with King Solomon's Mines, continue to be popular and influential.

<i>King Solomons Mines</i> 1885 novel by H. Rider Haggard

King Solomon's Mines is an 1885 popular novel by the English Victorian adventure writer and fabulist Sir H. Rider Haggard. It tells of an expedition through an unexplored region of Africa by a group of adventurers led by Allan Quatermain, searching for the missing brother of one of the party. It is one of the first English adventure novels set in Africa and is considered to be the genesis of the lost world literary genre. It is the first of fourteen novels and four short stories by Haggard about Allan Quatermain. Haggard dedicated this book to his childhood idol Sir Humphry Davy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert W. Chambers</span> American artist, novelist, short-story writer (1865–1933)

Robert William Chambers was an American artist and fiction writer, best known for his book of short stories titled The King in Yellow, published in 1895.

<i>The Prince and the Pauper</i> 1882 novel by Mark Twain

The Prince and the Pauper is a novel by American author Mark Twain. It was first published in 1881 in Canada, before its 1882 publication in the United States. The novel represents Twain's first attempt at historical fiction. The plot concerns the ascension of nine-year-old Edward VI of England in 1547 and his interactions with look-alike Tom Canty, a London pauper who lives with his abusive, alcoholic father.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernard Cornwell</span> British writer (born 1944)

Bernard Cornwell is a British-American author of historical novels and a history of the Waterloo Campaign. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe. He has also written The Saxon Stories, a series of 13 novels about the making of England.

<i>The Black Watch</i> (film) 1929 film by John Ford

The Black Watch is a 1929 American Pre-Code adventure epic film directed by John Ford and starring Victor McLaglen, Myrna Loy, and David Torrence. It was written by James Kevin McGuinness and based on the 1916 novel King of the Khyber Rifles by Talbot Mundy. The film features an uncredited 21-year-old John Wayne working as an extra; he also worked in the arts and costume department for the film. This was director John Ford's first sound film.

<i>Captain Blood</i> (novel) 1922 novel by Rafael Sabatini

Captain Blood: His Odyssey is an adventure novel by Rafael Sabatini, originally published in 1922.

<i>The Dark Tower</i> (series) Series by Stephen King

The Dark Tower is a series of eight novels, one novella, and a children's book written by American author Stephen King. Incorporating themes from multiple genres, including dark fantasy, science fantasy, horror, and Western, it describes a "gunslinger" and his quest toward a tower, the nature of which is both physical and metaphorical. The series, and its use of the Dark Tower, expands upon Stephen King's multiverse and in doing so, links together many of his other novels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afridi</span> Pashtun tribe

The Afrīdī are a Pashtun tribe present mostly in tribal areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Talbot Mundy</span> British writer, born William Lancaster Gribbon (1879–1940)

Talbot Mundy was an English writer of adventure fiction. Based for most of his life in the United States, he also wrote under the pseudonym of Walter Galt. Best known as the author of King of the Khyber Rifles and the Jimgrim series, much of his work was published in pulp magazines.

A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dialogic process.

<i>Classics Illustrated</i> American comic book series

Classics Illustrated is an American comic book/magazine series featuring adaptations of literary classics such as Les Misérables, Moby-Dick, Hamlet, and The Iliad. Created by Albert Kanter, the series began publication in 1941 and finished its first run in 1969, producing 169 issues. Following the series' demise, various companies reprinted its titles. Since then, the Classics Illustrated brand has been used to create new comic book adaptations. This series is different from the Great Illustrated Classics, which is an adaptation of the classics for young readers that includes illustrations, but is not in the comic book form.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reginald Arkell</span> English writer (1881–1959)

Reginald Arkell was a British script writer and comic novelist who wrote many musical plays for the London theatre. The most popular of those was an adaptation of the spoof history book 1066 and All That: 1066—and all that: A Musical Comedy based on that Memorable History by Sellar and Yeatman. He was the author of A Cottage in the Country and the Green Fingers series of garden verse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khyber Rifles</span> Pakistani paramilitary force

The Khyber Rifles are a paramilitary regiment, forming part of the Pakistani Frontier Corps Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (North). The Rifles are tasked with defending the border with Afghanistan and assisting with law enforcement in the districts adjacent to the border. Raised in the late nineteenth century, the regiment provided the title and setting for the widely read novel, King of the Khyber Rifles, and is the oldest regiment of the Corps. The regiment has a 2020/21 budget of Rs. 1.816 billion(1800 crore PKR) and is composed of seven battalion-sized wings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry King (director)</span> American film director

Henry King was an American actor and film director. Widely considered one of the finest and most successful filmmakers of his era, King was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Director and directed seven films nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Empire in fiction</span>

The British Empire has often been portrayed in fiction. Originally such works described the Empire because it was a contemporary part of life; nowadays fictional references are also frequently made in a steampunk context.

<i>King of the Khyber Rifles</i> (film) 1953 film by Henry King

King of the Khyber Rifles is a 1953 adventure film directed by Henry King and starring Tyrone Power and Terry Moore. The film shares its title but little else with the novel King of the Khyber Rifles (1916) by Talbot Mundy. This novel was also the basis for John Ford's The Black Watch (1929). The Khyber Pass scenes were shot in the Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California. Released by 20th Century Fox, the film was one of the first shot in Technicolor CinemaScope.

Jules Verne's 1870 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas has been adapted and referenced in popular culture on numerous occasions.

References