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A sandal film is out of line: religious kitsch by Remigio Del Grosso

The peplum genre was at its peak in the early 1960s. This is how this unusual Ursus film came about, which is actually not an Ursus film. But one after anonther! The original name of the film, which is also known as "The Hordes of Khan" in German-speaking countries, is roughly translated: Ursus and the Tartar Girl. An Ursus (Joe Robinson) also appears, but he actually only plays a supporting role.

It's about the conflict between Poland and the Tartar tribes, probably set around the beginning of the 18th century. During one of the Tartar raids, Ursus' son is kidnapped. Together with Prince Stefan (Ettore Manni) and his people (including Marcel Carné's favorite actor Roland Lesaffre), Ursus takes action against the Muslim Tartars. Stefan falls in love with the Tartar princess (Lesaffre's wife Yoko Tani), who then converts to the Catholic faith. In the end there is a decisive battle between Christians and Muslims...

Heavy religious kitsch is the order of the day here, which rightly isn't for everyone. Director Remigio Del Grosso apparently only added the character of Ursus to keep his film in the wake of the successful Peplum films. Otherwise, it's an overly religious adventure film that seems very propagandistic these days.

Ursus actor Joe Robinson never had a great career, but he did make notable appearances in "Rache der Wikinger" by Mario Bava and in "Diamond Fever" (in a fight with Sean 007 Connery).

Certainly only for ultra fans of sandal filmmaking!

For commercial reasons ,the title reads " Ursus and the tartar girl" whereas the muscle man only plays a supporting part ,and has no love affair (he is accompanied by his young son ,kidnapped by the barbars ) ;one can also wonder why Carné's regular actor, Roland Lesaffre (Ivan),got top billing whereas he's only supporting (and I mean supporting) with four or lines to say :he was Yoko Tani's real life husband ,that must be the reason why.

Ettore Manni as a dashing Polish prince gets the lion's share ; three minutes after he' s imprisoned -in a lush apartment- , the tartar princess( Tani ) falls for him ,but she's coveted by a Mongol prince ; it looks like a cross between the Asian epics ,the likes of Marco Polo and the Roman peplums (the "religious "scenes seem to be taken by force from "the last days of Pompey" or "quo vadis" ,the mass and the martyrdom ).The Buddhists are not more blood-thirsty than the Orthodox Christians ,but the screenwriters were in need of villains .The princess' revelation and her discovery of the "true" religion and of the "true" God are pure nonsense .Manni saves something from the wreckage, he makes the best of a ludicrous script , but it is routine "sword and sandal " story ,in spite of the "cultural " lines which open the flick: "at the time ,Poland was the last bastion against the barbar hordes ,blah ,blah,blah....."

this is a spectacularly bad movie. a glowingly awful representation of the sword and sandal "epics" the Italian studios were churning out at the time.everything about it is cheap: the acting, the direction, the sets, the costumes. the score is the only saving grace. i have only seen it in its dubbed form which adds to the hysterical enjoyment of this nonsense. it made me mad that they even decided to dub the great Akim Tamiroff who contributes a cameo here as the great Khan. fortunately for him he's not on screen for very long and dies an unintentionally comic death at the hands of the enemy. favourite moment is when muscleman Ursus dislodges a polystyrene rock from the inside of a cave and great acting kicks in to exemplify his strength under the weight of his heavy burden. the film itself is a heavy burden, only watch it if you really absolutely most definitely have nothing better to do with your spare one hour and twenty minutes.

URSUS and the TARTAR PRINCESS. AKA: SAVAGE HORDES. Please note that Joe Robinson (Ursus), fights a BEAR in the trailer I have posted on You Tube. Now look at all the other full length movies for this feature on Y/T. There isn't a BEAR shown in any of them. It seems strange that the trailer has the bear but the movie doesn't. Also notice that there is a BEAR shown in the poster. The producers missed this great opportunity to show how strong Ursus was, when he killed the bear. Maybe they were marketing this as a love story between the Princess and the Polish leader? This movie is considered, by many, as a strong man hero type movie. Watch it and see for yourself. URSUS means Bear in Latin. Larry Anderson.

Although the title "Ursus and the Tartar Princess" is a bit misleading - Ursus is really only a side character in a film which centers upon a love story involving a Polish prince and the enemy's Asian Tartar Princess, it is still thoroughly enjoyable. Large scale scenes, otherworldly lighting, enchanting sets and great characters all highlight a swift moving story with both action-packed and touching moments. I'm not sure what motivated the previous two IMDb reviewers to leave such negative words, but perhaps the Italian Sword and Sandal films are not really their bowl of spaghetti. However, if you are one of the fans of this small but voluminous sub-sub-genre of film, then this hidden gem which isn't readily available from any mainstream outlets is most definitely worth tracking down.