I pirati della Malesia

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.

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.

I couldn't work out when this was supposed to be set, because it contained such a weird selection of artifacts and weapons.

Apart from the magical machine gun on a little railway truck - which seemed to fire forever, without feeding any cartridges into the breech, there was the significant quantity of Number 4 Lee Enfield rifles, which weren't manufactured until after the beginning of WW2 in 1940.

Considering that the original novel was written in 1883, that stretches the timeline way beyond the bounds of credibility.

The dubbing is at times hilarious, and occasionally disappears altogether - with sections reverting to Italian, before slipping back into comedic English.

On an extremely wet day, with precious little else on TV, this rescued me from listening to the raindrops bouncing off my roof tiles.

If you're looking for Steve Reeves to unveil that magnificent torso of his in this movie, then skip it. He's clad from head to toe throughout a decent adventure film that could have starred any number of action stars. Reeves trademark: his phenomenal body remains hidden throughout. Even in the scenes where other men are barechested, Reeves coyly keeps his shirt on. This is akin to movie producers putting Marilyn Monroe in potato sacks to prove her dramatic talents. I loved the earlier Reeves movies, especially his masterpiece, "Giant of Marathon" because it was like studying a marvel of nature: a phenomenal physique with charisma to spare. Perhaps Reeves thought it a good idea to downplay his body to show the world that he could act. In any case, this isn't a typical Reeves movie. In fact, it seems that the more movies he made over the years, the more he tried to hide his torso by cloaking it in capes and tunics and cloaks. So enjoy "Hercules," "Hercules Unbound" and "Giant of Marathon" while you can because his body-beautiful movies began wounding down soon after.

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.