Os Legendários Vikings

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?

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.

Every Tale, fable, or legend has a basis in some small fact. In this film called " The Long Ships " we have a Viking reciting a legend which was once told to his people of a great bell which was as high as 'three tall men.' Said to have been created by the monks of Byzantium, in actuality, they had indeed cast one out of solid gold, but was small enough to be handed as a gift to the German emperor, for his personal chapel, during the middle ages. As with most 'fish' stories, the size of the bell grew with each retelling. For this movie, the seekers are Northmen, not Germanic knights as in the original tale. Still, the movie is entertaining enough due to the major stars in it. Here we have, Richard Widmark as Rolfe, a seafaring Viking who is captured by Aly Mansuh, the Moorish prince (Sidney Poitier) who threatens him with torture is he does not reveal its location. Then there is Russ Tamblyn as Orm, his very agile brother and then of course there is international star Oskar Homolka as Krok, who is their father. All in all, a good film, for an otherwise lazy afternoon. ****

Churned out at pretty much the end of the cycle of epics, THE LONG SHIPS was NEVER meant to be taken seriously! Richard Widmark understood that - what's with this plethora of pseudo-intellectual reviews decrying cinematic and plotline aspects here. Wake up and smell the roses people, this is one for all and ALL for fun!

Even Poitier, hamming it up as OTHELLO with a wicked hairdresser, was secretly having fun! The whole misbegotten tale of the fabled golden bell was little more than a cack-fest but by GOD was the musical score great or what? I can still hear Dusan's stirring theme now, and I only saw the flick once at its Sydney premiere in '63.

Action aplenty, outrageous script and despite accusations to the contrary here, some gung-ho cinematography. This was never gonna be up for any Oscars, Widmark, Homolka and three quarters of the cast in fact, saw to that!

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.