Sandokan, le tigre de Bornéo

This film even seemed stiffer than other Italian adventure-films of that time, and Steve Reeves, believe me!, doesn't help a bit. The storyline is tedious and unattractive. There is a lot of archive footage for the jungle-fauna built in (that even looks livelier than the film itself). Only fun scene: Reeves' fight against a tiger.

But in the last ten minutes the situation explodes, and there is this gigantic battle at the fort, well staged and fun. Reeves gets to fire a machine gun (a little like Django) and matches the strength of an army. If only Lenzi had divided the action and strewn it all over the film's time, it would have been more watchable (if you don't skip the beginning, that is). My rating: 5/10.

This high-spirited adventure yarn features Steve Reeves in the role of Sandokan, a Malaysian rebel who kidnaps the niece of a British general who is planning to execute Sandokan's father, the sultan of Moulker. He and his men traverse sweaty jungles, poisonous swamps, and strange lands filled with fierce native headhunters! An unforgettable experience.

Unlike movies such "lives of a Bengal lancer " ,the English are the villains ,who drive the legitimate sovereigns away from their land ;prince Sandokan is not only a noble who fights for a just cause , he's also endowed with a Herculean strength (Steve Reeves who leaves the sword and sandal world for the exotic landscapes of Sri Lanka)

The screenplay looks like a comic strip : it seems that some scenes (concerning the hero's father ,the sultan ) were intended but not filmed -they are told ,a convenient economical way);the story is very conventional :a group lead by a charismatic hero makes his way through a hostile luxuriant jungle ,with the usual dangers :snakes , wildcats ,headhunters ...and for good measure a traitor in the pay of the enemy ,the cruel English Lord ; and it's obvious ,a girl , precisely the lord's niece whose attitude is ,to put is mildly ,predictable :Geneviève Grad seems ill-at -ease in this genre,although she played with Reeves' alter ego Gordon Scott in "L'eroe di Babilonia" the very same year ; she's more efficient in Louis De funès ' s comedies , "Le Gendarme" -she's featured in three of them -.Here ,she is relegated to the part of the damsel in distress shrieking "Sandokan !help !"

The only character who is not entirely carboard is Yanez the stateless person (Andrea Bosic).The cinematography is nice, the movie takes advantage of the beautiful landscapes of the island.

Steve Reeves as Tiger from Mompracem

In this adventure film, Umberto Lenzi has adapted the third novel from the Sandokan series by Emilio Salgari. Although it was released in cinemas a year before I PIRATI DELLA MALESIA, it is actually the sequel that is being told here.

In the fight against the English colonial masters, Sandokan (Steve Reeves) and his friends (Andrea Bosic, Rik Battaglia, Giovanni Cianfriglia) kidnap the beautiful Mary Ann (Genevieve Grad), the niece of Lord Guillonk (Leo Anchoriz). During the dangerous escape through the jungle, adventures and numerous fights have to be overcome. Mary Ann realizes that the pirates are fighting for a just cause and falls in love with the shining hero Sandokan.

Filmed in Sri Lanka, this well-made adventure film attracted 263,000 viewers to West German cinemas. Peplum star Steve Reeves (1926-2000) has grown as an actor and is convincing as a romantic hero.

Exciting and action-packed!

While Steve Reeves certainly made a lot of musclemen movies for European filmmakers in the 50s and 60s, he would occasionally branch out into other genres, from spaghetti westerns to movies like this one. However, in this particular case, Reeves was used poorly in his new environment. He doesn't have his usual magnetic charm to keep the audience looking at him, one reason that he is not as up front and centre as he was in other movies, the other reason being that he hides his muscles for most of the movie. But even if Reeves had been better used, the movie would still have suffered from extreme dullness. Though filmed on location in Asia with a considerable budget, the pretty backdrop does not hide that the story is both slow-moving and has plenty of plot devices used in many other movies before and since. There's also a very limited amount of action, and except for the okay climatic battle, none of the action is particularly compelling. If you have a hankering for Reeves, pick one of his musclemen movies instead; they may be cheaper and cruder, but they are more lively than this movie.