Attila, der Hunnenkönig

This movie is not exactly great, but it is probably my personal favorite. And it's all because of Jack Palance's performance as Attila the Hun. I just love Jack Palance. He is one of Hollywoods first real tough guys. Before Stallone and Van Damme, there was Palance. It is sad that his early films have been sort of forgotten. They were classics. And "Sign of the Pagan" was one of his finests acting jobs. He played the part like he was born for it. All the other characters in the film were far less colorful. He stole the show! The story of the movie is definitely more Hollywood then history. And the real Attila the Hun was a dwarf. But that's okay, it still is most enjoyable. I've watched it maybe about 100 times. I don't think most people will want to do that. However, the princess is a mighty hot looking babe with a fine body. She could dance for me anytime. Attlia gets to kiss her too. Lucky Guy!

If Charlton Heston had been born Jewish, he'd have been Jeff Chandler, a lookalike who lost out on both The Ten Commandments AND Ben-Hur to Old Granite Jaw. Had Chandler nabbed those roles, he may have become a superstar himself. As is, he played the leads in studio program pictures, those B+ movies that disappeared with the end of the 'studio contract' system in the early sixties. By then, Chandler was already gone, having died while filming a WWII action flick, Merrill's Marauders, for Sam Fuller in the Phillipines. Anyway, his director for this costume mini-epic was Doug Sirk, an expert out of making magic from routine material. Chandler's the Roman centurion who must push back the invading armies of Atilla the Hun. Ludmilla Tcherina is one of a number of flashy looking women (Blonde Allison Hayes, later the sixty foot woman, is another). Lots of fairly big and semi-spectacular action sequences, with Jack Palance hamming it up even more than usual as Atilla. Nice production values, given a moody atmosphere by the always fascinating Sirk. This is one of those films that have been so completely forgotten that even Turner Movies doesn't revive it. Too bad - for this represents a fun aspect of the Old Hollywood in its final hours that ought to be reclaimed by contemporary viewers.

At 7:05 pm on Saturday, 1 May 1976, BBC 1 showed the complete and uncut version of Sign of the Pagan. Puzzlingly, this was probably the last time that anyone was allowed to see Ludmilla Tcherina's exotic dance number. For reasons known only to the Universal studios, that whole sequence has been deleted from subsequent television showings, both on American station AMC and Britain's Channel 4. Nor do DVD releases contain the dance, even though the main title still credits Kenny Williams as choreographer, leaving viewers wondering what he could have possibly choreographed. Most surprising of all is the 2011 German DVD "special edition" which presents both the original wide screen and 4 x 3 versions. Even here, Universal have cleanly cut the dance number from both prints and both languages.

For those who have never seen the sequence, Attila has just won the palace show fight with Herculanas. After that, the Emperor commands his sister, the Princess Pulcheria, to dance for the visiting barbarians. For the first 50 seconds she performs a graceful and dignified piece of ballet which the barbarians obviously find boring. Therefore, the Emperor tells a servant, "Advise my sister this is not suited to barbarian taste." So ordered, the Princess switches to a more raunchy routine that the visitors find much more enjoyable. This lasts about two minutes. Few genre fans would argue that, in both the Hollywood and Italian epics, the exotic dance interlude is something of a highlight. We get to see beautiful girls in eye-catching costumes, always accompanied by some classy music. Indeed, the ballet score we hear (or used to hear) from Salter and Skinner in Sign of the Pagan is arguably the best music they ever composed.

Universal obviously hope no-one's going to notice what they've done, but why did they do it in the first place? One can only theorize. Perhaps the film was cut at some stage to fit into a fixed television slot. Or maybe the dance was excluded to make the film more suitable for children's matinees. Then nobody remembered to put the scene back? A somewhat wilder theory is that it's a rights issue. Remembering how the Gershwin estate, not liking the Porgy and Bess movie, have tried for years to prevent anyone seeing it, could Ludmilla Tcherina and her estate have somehow bought out this dance scene and are now withholding it because it does not enhance her memory as a classical ballerina? But surely Universal, with all their wealth, would hardly spoil one of their classics just to grab a few dollars?

Whatever the reason, most fans will agree that missing scenes in movies are a continuing source of irritation. Come on, Universal, put it back!

Overall production value is not very high on this film; I seem to recall the film's inability to pass off studio sets as exterior locations. My recollection is of a very "TV-like" production on the level of a "B" movie with a large then usual budget. However, Jack Palance is excellent as Attila the Hun. He really does come across as a barbarian, giving a very intense performance that compares well with his earlier role as Toriano in "Arrowhead" with Charlton Heston. Some great supporting roles, also, with Jeff Morrow (This Island Earth) playing the grizzled Roman General, and Alexander Scourby (famous for his narration/voiceover work) playing Chrysaphius the Eunuch, advisor to Theodosius II. Jeff Chandler's subdued performance is a good match for the stoic Christian Roman he plays. It's a good counterpoint to Palance's growling Attila. For years, I thought Palance was short of stature, based on his sword fighting here with Jeff Chandler, but it was just that Chandler was several inches taller than Palance who was himself 6' 2"...

Interesting trivia:

The uncredited narrator of the film is Rex Reason who co-starred with Jeff Morrow in "This Island Earth."

Even for an epic, at 92 minutes this movie is quite short, but hey it is a very enjoyable movie regardless. Yes even with the occasionally muddled plot and dull performance of Jeff Chandler.

Sign of the Pagan is an example of a movie that is strikingly photographed in early CinemaScope, lustily staged by the director Douglas Sirk and terrifically scored. And there is some nice dialogue as well, not Oscar-worthy material perhaps but nice enough and the pacing wasn't too bad either. It is the performance of Jack Palance though that takes centre stage, he portrays Atila the King of the Huns as a ruthless and ferocious barbarian, and Palance seems to be having a whale of a time, it was quite simply a hugely enjoyable performance.

Overall, not absolutely brilliant but very enjoyable even with its faults. 7/10 Bethany Cox