Taras Bulba, O Cossaco

I saw this film on TV in 1979 under the title Plains of Battle dubbed into English. It was distributed by Universal at that time. In my opinion, it is a superior film to Hollywoods 1962 treatment of Taras Bulba except that the Taras Bulba in Il cosacco seemed a bit old. Yul Brynner was a more dynamic Taras Bulba in the Hollywood treatment than Vladimir Medar in Il Cosacco. This is, in my opinion, one of director Ferdinando Baldi's best films.Excellent battle scenes are what I remember best from this film. Its been many years since I saw this film and it is not available on VHS or DVD at this time. It appears to have disappeared without a trace. I believe this film was released on VHS in Germany years ago but I need a confirmation.

After generations of betrayals by their Polish overlords, "Taras Bulba" (Vladimir Medar) and his brotherhood of Cossacks determine that they are going to fight back. His tactics are a bit different, though. Rather than engaging in an head-on battle, he sends his sons "Andrei" (Jean-François Poron) and "Ostapi" (George Reich) to school in Kiev - the heart of their enemy's territory. Returning as lively adults, familiar with the foibles of the Poles, they are soon ready to head to Lubno and take the battle to their invaders. Unexpectedly, the young "Andrei" is captured and encounters "Natalia" (Lorella De Luca) who just happens to be the daughter of the provincial Governor and with battle lines drawn, this man soon becomes conflicted between his familial loyalties and those to his new love. He manages to escape, but when his father demands that she be provided as a hostage, "Andrei" has to choose. This was released around the same time as the more publicised version with Messrs. Brynner and Curtis et al but except for the more memorable Franz Waxman score this is actually just as good. The authentic looking settings and costumes look good here and the ebullient Medar gets stuck in right from the start of this quickly paced historical drama with plenty of sabre-rattling, gunfire, treachery and only a little bit of cluttering romance. Pride or passion?

This is of course much inferior to the Yul Brynner version of the same year. What an awfully bad synchronisation to make parallel films on the same story at the same time in both Italy and Hollywood, the Italian version being entirely without stars, while both films have that in common that they have totally distorted Nikolai Gogol's dramatic story and made a sentimental sob intrigue the focus of the film! What is better in the Italian version is the music by Guido Robuschi and Gian Stellari, which offers a lovely melody you will not be likely to forget. The Italian Taras Bulba is more rowdy in coarse exaggerations completely lacking the dashing style of Yul Brynner. The fighting sequences is another advantage here, while as a whole it lands hopelessly in the shadow of John Lee Thompson's Hollywood splendour shot in the wild plains of Argentine. There has been a number of screenings of Gogol's famous novel, both as silents and in the 30s, the story is irresistibly great and dramatic, but both these films have failed miserably in living up to Gogol's standard, although Yul Brynner at least makes justice to the character.