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Both photographs were taken by the renowned Hollywood photographer, Alexander Kahle. The first depicted features a huge throng of costumed extras returning to basecamp with various crew in contemporary clothing. It is in very fine- condition as shown. The second and final image depicts a long shot of a battle scene on horseback. It is in near-fine condition with straight-edge marks from a black ballpoint pen on the recto as shown. On the verso of both is a large rubber stamp in light purple ink that credits the photographer as well as RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
The Conqueror is sometimes called "An RKO Radioactive Picture." It was filmed near an active nuclear test site in Utah, where eleven tests had reportedly been carried out in the year before the production landed there. Not surprisingly, the set was contaminated by nuclear fallout, but producer Howard Hughes and the local population had been reassured by the Atomic Energy Commission that the area was completely safe. Photographs exist of John Wayne holding a Geiger counter that reportedly made so much noise that he simply thought it was broken. After location shooting, Hughes had tons of contaminated soil transported back to Hollywood in order to match interior shooting done there. Over the next thirty years, 91 of the 220 cast and crew members had developed a form of cancer. Forty-six had died, including John Wayne, Susan Hayward, Pedro Armendariz (who shot himself soon after learning he had terminal cancer), Agnes Moorehead, John Hoyt and director Dick Powell. Lee Van Cleef had throat cancer, but died of a heart attack. The count did not include several hundred local Native Americans who played extras, or relatives of the cast and crew who visited the set, including John Wayne's son, Michael. A "People" magazine article quoted the reaction of a scientist from the Pentagon's Defense Nuclear Agency to the news, "Please, God, don't let us have killed John Wayne." As of June 2011, the article is available in its archive online.
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