Year of Release: 1964Country of Origin: UK, Yugoslavia
Director: Jack Cardiff
Cast: Richard Widmark, Sidney Poitier
Plot outline: Viking seamen battle a Moorish prince for possession of a golden bell (IMDb).
Inspired by the success of The Vikings (1958) starring Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis, producer Irving Allen used Swedish writer Frans Bengtsson’s well-researched novel The Long Ships and dumbed it down for his own costume action-adventure movie that's set during the middle-ages. It's about the rivalry between a Norse adventurer, Rolfe (Richard Widmark), and a Moorish sheik, Aly Mansuh (Sidney Poitier), over a golden treasure called the Golden Bell of St James -the great bell made of pure gold that contains half the gold in the world and is three times the size of a man. The bell was fashioned from gold looted by the Crusaders in Byzantium. Director Jack Cardiff, who was the cinematographer on The Vikings, can't do much with the messy script, except keep it stilted and oddly amusing. Though it's beautifully shot along the coast of Yugoslavia, so at least it makes for a good watch. If you take pleasure in watching a bad movie that treats history as if it were a tale fit for a romper room, then try sucking on this one for a while. The noisy movie drags on for seemingly an eternity as it covers battles, double-crosses, sea-storms, floggings and safe cinema sex. There was dissension on the set, as Widmark hated the script and played it as camp while Poitier hated his dialogue and played it seriously. The result was a hodge-podge, a shallow and poorly executed movie. (DS)
My judgement: *1/2 out of 4 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment