Les Drakkars

The film starts telling the following legend :¨And so, by the storm's fury he lost all he loved most in this world, his ship and his shipmates. But he was ashore alone , the only survivor. Monks found him and took him to their monastery where they tenderly nursed him never asking his name of his country.And gradually he grew stronger, as he slowly recovered, he saw that the holy men collected tiny colored stones. And with great patience and loving skill made pictures from them to decorate their chapel. And the pictures told a story. A story of a mighty bell made of solid gold. For days without number the holy men labored to make this mighty bell, They made ready a great cauldron and under it fire burned day at night. They came of gold. Gold idols, golden rings taken from the harems, from wives, from princesses, from courtesans. Gold money, gold from ships, mines and caravans, from mosques , palaces and sacred cities. Gold stolen by robbers from from the tombs of pharaohs , golden cups, golden plate. Treasure won by conquering armies, And from its hiding place came the fabulous chain of Nimrud of the 10.ooo golden links. A last the huge cauldron was so filled with molten gold that no more could be added. Then I was poured into a gigantic clay mold. For days it stood cooling until the hour struck when the clay was torn away . And so the great golden bell came shinning into the world. They smoothed it, they polished it. Then they called on it to speak, And they ran back in terror and in awe. And covered their ears. For this was the mother of voices¨.

Rolf (Richard Widmark) as leader of a band of Norsemen along with his brother Orn (Russ Tamblyn) stealing a ship sets sail for the unknown land in search of a missing solid-gold bell . Meanwhile they kidnap a Viking princess (Beba Loncar) and hold her for security. Widmark heading off a mysterious place, defending his people and battling for his survival against mutinous crew , evil oppressors(Clifford Evans) and especially fighting Moorish prince named El Mansuh(Sidney Poitier) There're also some gorgeous babes ( Rosanna Schiaffino, Beba Loncar) around to offer us certain comfort .

This enjoyable picture packs adventures, thrills, good action scenes and is very amusing. Great location footage of booth Yugoslavia and Great Britain. Shimmer and glimmer cinematography by Christopher Challis. Spectacular and evocative musical score by Dugan Radic. The picture is well directed by Jack Cardiff (Dark of the sun, The girl on the motorcycle, My Geisha).

This basic costume epic belongs to Viking genre such as : The classic ¨The Vikings(1958)¨ by Richard Fleischer with Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis, ¨The Norseman(1978) ¨ by Charles B Pierce with Cornel Wilde and Mel Ferrer ; ¨The Viking queen(1967)¨ by Don Chaffey with Don Murray and Andrew Keir; ¨The Viking sagas(1995)¨ by Michael Chapman with Ralph Moeller , among others.

...story, lines, events, adventure, fights, heroism , love story. but not bad. in few aspects - surprising. because it has the right cast, the right director and...the right music. because it has the same flavor from the "historical" films of same period. but seductive nuances. because Sydney Poitiers is real convincing as the cruel, powerfull Aly Mansuh and Richard Widmark orRuss Tamblyn use the inspired recipe defining each of them roles. so, a film who not gives much surprises but it is more than decent. and, for today, when the Viking fashion is alive, "The Long Ships" has the chance to be real cool.

Considering Kirk Douglas, only five years before, has made of his 'The Vikings' the definitive viking epic, not so bad we could be entertained with a lighthearted version of the norwegian warriors. Sort of a 'comic relief' after the bloody, harsh, moody Douglas unsurpassed masterpiece.

Not to be taken seriously, this one. Directed by Jack Cardiff ('The Vikings' cinematographer), it offers fun, adventure, and a semi-Monty Python approach at times. The plot is the silliest ever, acting is hammy to the best, but what the hell?

The Othelo-tailored moor, cortesy of Sidney Poitier, is straight. The nice Russ Tamblyn makes his best. Rossana Schiaffino is traffic-stopper, jawbreaker, but this is a Richard Widmark's movie from the beginning to the end, because he is the only one who clearly got the point across: he is taken nothing, absolutely nothing, too seriously! He is clearly blinking an eye to all off us viewers all the time, saying: "Relax, folks, it's only a movie! Let's have fun!"

Somewhere in this very picture a given viking sighs: 'there's no real vikings anymore, like in the old times!" Man, they stayed all in the Kirk Douglas' movie, you bet! In this one, just tongue-in-cheek slapstick. Where's my popcorn pack?

A good yarn not to be taken too seriously. Some good fight scenes, especially the battle on the beach after the shipwreck. I felt Richard Widmark did not take his character too seriously, likewise Sydney Poitier, Oskar Homolka and Russ Tamblyn, Thr big plus for the movie was a great soundtrack. It is still with me even though I saw it on its first release in Sydney. The landscape for the fiords was magnificent. One aspect still standing out was when the king's captain brought the longship in to the jetty at full pace then reversed oars to stop it at the landing. I always wanted to do this and actually got a chance when coxing a racing eight back to its jetty.

In reading some of the other reviews I learned that The Long Ships was based on a rather serious work of medieval fiction. That's certainly did not come out in this film which has all the appearances of something that Vince McMahon might have directed.

I'm guessing that Richard Widmark, Sidney Poitier and the rest of the cast wanted to do something that paid well without too much strain on the talent. In addition, Poitier for the only time in his career, got to play a villain. He hams up his part as a poor man's Othello with real relish.

There's a little Captain Ahab in Poitier's Othello impersonation as well. He's a Moorish prince obsessed with finding a legendary golden bell. When he hear's of Richard Widmark spinning tales in the market place for pin money he has him summoned.

Widmark escapes by diving out a window from a height and the next thing you hear from him is that he's washed up on Viking shores. I'm not sure the writers didn't want you to think he swam from Morocco to Norway either. Any how he tries to get a ship from dad, Oscar Homolka. The only ship available is the ship Homolka built for the Norse king. To insure the Norse king doesn't kill his Homolka, younger brother Russ Tamblyn kidnaps his daughter who he has a thing for in any event. And back they go to find the bell.

Richard Widmark is not known as a player who's best at comedy, but he seems to get in the spirit of the lightheartedness. Russ Tamblyn who was finding less and less employment as a dancer got to show a lot of athleticism in dueling sequences. The guy who seemed to be really enjoying making this film however was Oscar Homolka.

Jack Cardiff directed this film and he's probably best known as the United Kingdom's premier color cinematographer. The Long Ships has some of his best work and it also has a stirring musical score.

I saw this film in theaters as a teen and over forty years later I still enjoy this rollicking medieval romp.

Vince McMahon couldn't have staged it better.