Os Bravos Tártaros

Very talented and recognized Orson Welles (brilliant in "Citizen Kane", "The Third Man" or "Compulsion") must have been very needed of money in the early 60's to enter this film; there can be no other explanation whatsoever. As a Tartar ruler confronting Viking invaders Welles shows not interest at all in what he is doing and even though his undeniable screen personality is enough for him to steal the show.

Victor Mature plays the enemy Viking chief (yes, I said Viking!) with his usual and inevitable overacting and going around with his little war? axe and his black greasy 1960's hairdo. His casting in this is like putting Mickey Rooney to play Goliath.

As for the rest of it "The Tartars" is just one more of the usual sort of low budget adventure costume movies the Italians gave us after the bad though sort of original "Hercules" (1959) with good old Steve Reeves (he always underacted in the same level Mature overacted). Some average action sequences a less than average plot and an all standard direction complete the picture.

The point is that if Welles (or even Mature) where not in "The Tartars" you would have not much expectations and you would surely judge this film with a more generous concept. But taking the film as it is you can only say it's a terrible piece of cinema. So terrible that if you are a movie's fan you can't miss it because that is precisely its major achievement.

Victor Mature and Orson Welles head a continental cast in I Tartari, a badly dubbed Italian film about the Vikings and the Tartars set somewhere in the steppes of Eastern Europe. Both of these American film icons had nothing better to do. Welles just needed the money for his own projects and Mature after the studio system was shutting down was putting his career into half speed as he concentrated on golf more than films.

Like the cowboys and the farmers in Oklahoma, the Tartars and Vikings just feud because its natural both being imperialist sorts. The Tartars are moving west and would eventually reach the Balkans. The Vikings expanded in every direction including voyages southward down river routes into what is now Byelorussia and the Ukraine.

The Tartars make an offer the Vikings under Mature can and do refuse. The Tartars want to have a military alliance and attack the native Slavs, but Mature who has married into the Slavs refuses and negotiations break down. The Tartar chief is killed and his daughter is carried off by the Vikings and Mature's brother has a yen for her and they get to kanoodling.

Orson Welles who is the brother of the slain chief takes over and his troops capture Mature's wife. He's willing to exchange Mature's wife for his niece, but not after a little forced kanoodling of his own, brought on as Welles and the wife are being entertained by some sexy oriental strip dancing and Orson's hormones get the better of him.

I won't go any farther in describing this disaster of an Italian spectacle film just to say it all ends rather badly for just about everyone in the film. There were spots in the film where Mature's English was dubbed and I can't see why other than Mature could not summon up enough conviction to give a passable interpretation of a performance. Given the material I can't blame him. Even Welles, professional that he is, looks positively bored even when getting ready to rape Mature's wife. Victor Mature would be off the screen for five years before appearing in Peter Sellers's After The Fox in a good natured satire of an actor very much like himself.

Vic and Orson really hit the bottom doing this one.

THE TARTARS is a tale of revenge set in the Russian steppes circa 900 A.D. Viking Prince Oleg (at best a weak and unintentionally humorous portrayal by Victor Mature) is asked by a Tartar chieftain to join the Mongol horde and destroy the indigenous Slavic tribes. Oleg refuses to betray his Slavic brethern and all hell breaks loose. The Tartar chieftan is murdered and his brother Ogotai (a "larger" than life Orson Welles) voys to avenge his brother's death which leads to more massacres and malicious deeds. Welles is interesting in the part of the Tartar Khan and his palace is a work of sensational art direction. Costumes in this Italian-made epic are first rate and half of the cast and crew are recognizable names from other Italian epics, sci-fi and horror films. Mature once said, "I'm a lousy actor with 75 motion pictures to prove it." This critic can only say, "Amen to that!" THE TARTARS is certainly worth seeing but is not the most memorable moment in epic filmmaking history.

Richard Thorpe was known to be one of the best director of period, costumes adventure medieval movies: IVANHOE, QUENTIN DURWARD, KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE, PRODIGAL SON and now this very one; but this film was produced in Europe, as so many movies of the early sixties: THE MONGOLS, TARASS BOULBA; so it is in the fashion, but I can confirm that director Thorpe finished by working out of Hollywood. As you can see here, he is quite comfortable in this adventure period genre. And at long last, Victor Mature, also very used to period, costume flicks, finished to work with Richard Thorpe. They could have done it far earlier. I like this movie very much, as much as THE MONGOLS, which I always confound with this one. But I have excuses.

In the 1950s and 60s, Italian filmmakers realized that if they cast American actors in the leads in their films, they'd be more marketable worldwide. As a result, many B-list actors or A-listers in their waning years went there to make films. To do this, they needed to dub the actors in various languages...which is what they did with "The Tartars" ("I tartari"). Like most of the Italian epics of the era, it looks a lot like a Hercules/Maciste film...with large casts, nice costumes and adequeate acting.

In the case of "The Tartars", two Americans lead the cast...Victor Mature plays the leader of the Russian Vikings* and Orson Wells plays the leader of the local Tartars. Of the two, Wells looks the silliest...and SHOULD look like a Mongolian, but doesn't.

The film involves a war between the Tartars and Vikings...and various women are taken prisoner in order to try to convince the other side to capitulate. Of couse, this doesn't work so they spend much of the movie splitting each others' head open and acting macho.

This film turned out to be pretty much what I expected...a lovely looking story but also a relatively dull one. Why? Because the acting seems so incredibly muted and none of the main characters seem to act like real people...more like statues that somehow talk. This makes it all seem quite sterile...and dull. For a MUCH better and more interesting film, try Hollywood's "The Vikings" (1958)...a film that is better in pretty much every way.

*While most folks think the Vikings were only from Scandinavia, some migrated to Russia and instead of sacking the land, stayed and became farmers and traders. Many Russians today can trace their ancestry to these people.