I pirati della Malesia

The Peplum hero has become an adventurer: Steve Reeves as Sandokan

In Italy, the adventure novels of Emilio Salgari (1862-1911) are about as well known as those of Karl May in German-speaking countries. One of his most popular heroes is the intrepid Sandokan, who fights against English colonial rule in Malaysia. Many novels have been written about him. You can mix up the order if, like cult director Umberto Lenzi, you made several films with different main actors in Southeast Asia in 1963 and 1964. THE (BLACK) PIRATES OF MALAYSIA is Salgari's second novel about the adventures of Sandokan. The third novel is called THE TIGER OF MOMPRACEM, which was the basis for the film SANDOKAN (also starring Steve Reeves). Got it? The second part came to the cinema a year before the first. It's understandable that moviegoers couldn't understand that. SANDOKAN (1963) only sold 263,000 tickets in West Germany, so that THE BLACK PIRATES OF MALAYSIA (1964) was no longer shown in West German cinemas. Planning failed! But the result is two very impressive films, although the 1963 film is a bit better.

Sandokan (Steve Reeves) experiences some adventures in the fight against the English occupier Lord Guillonk (Leo Anchoriz). With his Portuguese friend Yanez (Andrea Bosic) he manages to free the beautiful Hada (Jacqueline Sassard), the lady of Tremal Naik's (Mimmo Palmara). The good one suffers from amnesia, but is supported by her brave comrade-in-arms Kammamuri (Dakar). Since Sandokan also wants to free his own father from captivity, the pirates find themselves in many dangerous situations...

You can tell that the plot is a bit too complicated. But the film is still a lot of fun. Pierre Cressoy and George Wang also appear in other roles. It was shot in Singapore. Oh yes, in the German-speaking world the film is also known as MEUTE DER VERDAMMTEN.

This is a wonderful film! Shot on location in Singapore, it is the story of a Malaysian rebel, Sandokan, who, with his group of fanatic renegades, tries to thwart an evil British general from forcing the good king Hassim to resign in favor of the Imperial crown. I enjoyed this film quite a bit. The cinematography is lush, and the sets lavish. In one of my favorite scenes, a gang of rebels is attacked by bloodthirsty natives! Another scene finds a captive about to be fed to a hungry alligator. If you enjoy high-end historical adventure romances, this should whet your palate.

Out of 8 movies and/or TV mini-series featuring the character of Sandokan currently lying in my unwatched pile, I will most probably end up watching just two – both bearing the original Italian title of I PIRATI DELLA MALESIA – being the film under review and the 1941 original co-starring Massimo Girotti; more than wishing to concentrate on them now that Malaysia is all over the world news due to a mysteriously disappearing plane, I choose not to overdose on any particular character in a short space of time – be it Casanova, The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo or what have you – but rather leave the rest for future Epic-themed marathons that I purposely leave for the Easter season...

Anyway, this year I also elected to watch the remaining two Steve Reeves movies I had in my collection that fall under this header – the other was Riccardo Freda's THE WHITE WARRIOR (1959); just as had been the case with his professional rival Mark Forest, there is now only one other Steve Reeves film that I have yet to catch up with (not counting his contested cameo in the star-studded war spoof THE SHORTEST DAY {1963}, which I do own a copy of in any case): the Spaghetti Western A LONG RIDE TO HELL (1968) which, luckily, I also have in my collection. This second stab at the mythical adventurer followed hard on the heels of Lenzi's own SANDOKAN THE GREAT (1963) and, alas, proved to be Reeves' penultimate film; if any proof was needed as to how hard it is to break typecasting in the movies is the fact that it took the former "Mr. Universe" 4 years and a self-financed film (which, sadly, left him in a penurious state afterwards due to his unwise choice of business partners!) for him to test his versatility!! Similarly, out of all the other beefcake musclemen who variously took on the mythological roles prevalent in the "Peplum" subgenre, only craggy-faced Gordon Mitchell had any longevity in other "Euro-Cult" areas...

In this movie, Sandokan is pitted against the villainous British Lord James Brooke (played here by one Leo Anchoriz – who portrayed a different foe in the preceding film!) that had been the Indian rebel's arch-nemesis in the popular, eponymous Italian TV mini-series starring Kabir Bedi and Adolfo Celi that I fondly remember from my childhood days and I have had the pleasure of revisiting many years later. Although I am familiar with SANDOKAN THE GREAT, it has been some time since I watched it and I cannot justly compare the two movies: suffice to say that, apart from Reeves and Anchoriz, they share director Lenzi (the most charismatic and flamboyant of the "Italian Kings Of The Bs" I met at the 2004 Venice Film Festival), actor Andrea Bosic (as Sandokan's renegade chain-smoking Portuguese ally Yanez De Gomera) and composer Giovanni Fusco. Besides, one welcomes the presence of the lovely Jacqueline Sassard (as a battle-scarred fugitive Princess), genre regulars Mimmo Palmara (as Sandokan's equally-famed acolyte Tremal-Naik, who almost blows the latter's cover when he is forced to shoot an approaching alligator while he is strapped to a wooden pole stuck in the swamp!) and Pierre Cressoy (as an ill-fated riverboat captain who had, at one point, 'promoted' passenger Sandokan to perform unlikely cabin-boy duties!) and cinematographer Angelo Lotti; indeed, this second outing is certainly a handsomely-mounted effort (particularly the costumes of Sandokan and Brooke's troops) that cries to be watched via a pristine print for full enjoyment; under the circumstances, the copy of it I acquired for myself was pretty decent and included such action highlights as a tavern brawl, a shipboard mutiny, a jailbreak from a mining camp (preceded by yet another bare-chested wrestling bout from Reeves!) and the climactic mountaintop swordfight between hero and villain.

Incidentally, the characters of Tremal-Naik and Kammamuuri (here employed as Sassard's bodyguard) also feature in another Italian TV adaptation of Sandokan's creator Emilio Salgari's original novel that I watched as a kid: THE MYSTERIES OF THE DARK JUNGLE (1991) in which Kabir Bedi himself appeared. Indeed, Salgari was a very popular writer of adventure hokum on his home ground (if little-known elsewhere) and unsurprisingly proved a reliable source of inspiration to genre film- makers for well-over 50 years; in fact, 13 movies revolving around the Sandokan character alone were made between 1941 and 1998 – apart from the Lenzi/Reeves diptych, there were two with Luigi Pavese in the early 1940s, two non-related Italian flicks starring Ray Danton and two further miniseries with Bedi! For what it is worth, I have initiated proceedings to acquire another Salgari adaptation from Lenzi, TEMPLE OF A THOUSAND LIGHTS (1965) starring Richard Harrison that promises to be good fun in a proto-Indiana Jones vein...but I doubt I will get it in time to be included in this year's Epic batch!

Malaysian pirate Sandokan (Steve Reeves) and his brave men attempt to rescue Princess Hada of Sarawak (Jacqueline Sassard), and her father, the maharajah (Giuseppe Addobbati), from evil British invaders.

It seems strange that, for a man whose USP was his muscular build, Steve Reeves mostly covers up his impressive pecs and bulging biceps in The Pirates of Malaysia (often opting for a shirt tied in a knot at the front, Daisy Duke style - how fetching!). This leaves much of the film reliant on Reeve's acting prowess, which is a mistake: he's not terrible, but neither is he Larry Olivier (and he's definitely not fooling anyone as a Malaysian).

Director Umberto Lenzi tries to compensate for the lack of 'body beautiful' by cramming in as much swashbuckling fun as he can, with several prolonged action set-pieces: a skirmish in a tavern, a battle on a steamboat, an escape from a salt mine, and the climactic fight in and around a mountain-top monastery. These scenes provide Lenzi's stuntmen with plenty of opportunity to throw and receive punches, fall from heights, and act like they've been shot or stabbed, but it's not particularly well staged or all that exciting, especially since Sandokan is clearly indestructible and his enemy are prone to dropping like flies.

There is some fun to be had from the dubious casting, most notably the European cast playing Asian characters, with several actors 'blacking up' for their roles in unconvincing manner (why they didn't get Asian actors to play the supporting Malaysian pirates is beyond me). And being English myself, I had to laugh at the villains of the piece, thoroughly despicable Brits who think nothing of tying up innocent men for crocodiles to feast upon or burying someone alive. We English are pure evil (although, once again, the characters are played by Europeans: a Spaniard and an Italian).

5/10. An unexceptional adventure - passable entertainment, but unlikely to remain in the memory for long.

Steve Reeves stars for the second time as Sandokan a pirate who's proving ground is the South China seas.

A superb drama filled with action and adventure. The filming seems have taken place in Malaysia and the sceneries are beautiful. This movie about a 19th century adventurer is refreshing in its lack of high tech gadgets or CG based special effects. All the actors are beautiful, and they engage in some of the best action scenes made for movies.

One thing I'm curious is where they've filmed the final battle sequence. It looks awfully like the monastery that appeared in James Bond film For Your Eyes Only.

Very good action adventure, that is a treat to watch.