O Diabo Branco

It is such an annoyance to watch mutilated foreign films, specially Italian productions as in this case, which was obviously a well- mounted co-production, benefiting from the participation of the Yugoslavian film industry which provided beautiful art direction and bright choreography, as well as fine performers, combined with Italian professionals: cinematographer Mario Bava (a year before making his first feature, "La maschera del demonio"), composer Roberto Nicolosi and director Riccardo Freda, all working in beautiful scenery and sets. The version I just saw is English-dubbed and 10 minutes shorter than the original (even with the restoration of some footage that had originally been censored in Spain, where my copy was issued): it is a strange mixture of average-looking sections with others that seemed to come from a blown-up VHS copy. "Agi Murad" though is an attractive wide-screen adventure film with a touch of history, in spite of being not very well acted by Steve Reeves, who this time seems a little beyond his scope for the title role in the dramatic scenes, but he compensates his shortcoming in the action scenes and has Gérard Herter to counteract as he chews the scenery playing the Russian villain, and sexy Scilla Gabel as his scheming wife, who has fallen for the "White Devil", as Murad is called. By the state the home-video business is in these days, it is a pity that we will probably never be able to watch these films in their original form.

This is another of those films that I was introduced to as a kid via a still in my Dad's scrapbook of movie posters which he collected during his own childhood; curiously enough, as far as I know, it was never broadcast on any of the basic Italian TV channels. In fact, I only came across a copy of it a few years ago by way of an Italian satellite TV screening that dates back from 2005; unfortunately, the channel's cumbersome announcement for the film we are presently watching goes on for its first 5 minutes and the print itself bore intermittent instances of jerkiness in the picture! At any rate, for being the only movie on which "Peplum" icon Steve Reeves was directed by the great Riccardo Freda, the end result was something of a letdown – frankly, it was one of the perennial "Euro-Cult" items of this year's Easter marathon I was looking forward to the most! In hindsight, the involvement of "directorial collaborator" Leopoldo Savona (a journeyman helmer of similar efforts) might have had something to do with that; for the record, Freda also helped out on the superior THE MONGOLS (1961), on which Savona handled the Italian side of a production that was officially credited to Hollywood director Andre' De Toth!

But let us get to the good stuff first: there are a couple of sequences or shots which do attest to Freda's directorial hand – the vividly depicted opening village raid by the Tsarist militia; the following sequence in which a steaming Tsar Nicholas I strips his generals of their medals for not having yet tamed a revolting band of Caucasian subjects (led by "The White Devil", Agi Murad), a cathartic ritual that is interrupted by his visiting future daughter-in-law (Scilla Gabel) to whom he professes and displays affections which go well beyond the paternal!; the Tsar's son (Gerard Herter) is memorably introduced via a low-angle shot while he is instructing his pet pooch in etiquette. The entire film also bears the unmistakable mark of its legendary cinematographer Mario Bava (still a year away from officially graduating to the director's chair) who bathes the proceedings in colourfully atmospheric hues. Roberto Nicolosi's musical accompaniment, then, is a decently rousing one as well.

This Italo-Yugoslavian co-production is marred by a clichéd script and an exceedingly low budget: Reeves is a widower in love with his son's governess (Giorgia Moll) who is also coveted by fellow rebel ring-leader Renato Baldini; this romantic rivalry augurs nothing but disaster for the Caucasian forces with Reeves' subsequent desertion (after the obligatory but totally gratuitous wrestling bout, of course) and apprehension by the enemy, Moll having to promise herself to Baldini in return for the life of Reeves' son; the death of their feeble and ineffectual figurehead; Reeves is tortured by Herter's men but a besotted Gabel intervenes, thus freeing him (Reeves rides a galloping horse all over the Tsarist palatial retreat) to reclaim his true love and pursue his real foe (the latter's death is particularly lame). For the record, Leonard Maltin's guide gives this a measly *1/2 rating and, while definitely not all that bad, I guess it should have alerted me not to raise my expectations too highly. Incidentally, I have also acquired a much earlier 1930 German film adaptation of the same Leo Tolstoy story co-starring Peter Lorre and I might get to give it a whirl presently, in the hope that it will be a more worthwhile rendition.

Steve Reeves takes a vacation from ancient times in order to play a Moslem resistance fighter in The White Warrior. He plays the real life Hadji Murad who led Moslems in Chechniya in the 19th century against the encroachment of Russia. How times have changed. Made today the Russians would be the heroes, but in 1959 these were the years of the Cold War.

The film is not biographical in any sense, it rather is based on a Leo Tolstoy novel on the same subject. Reeves is a popular hero and one of the clan leaders in fighting Russian imperialism. He's also the beloved of both the sultan and his daughter whom Reeves would like to marry. But there's intrigue in both camps and he's got to overcome all that plotting.

Fans of the Herculean physique will be disappointed in that he only takes his clothes off in one scene. What's the purpose in casting Steve Reeves then?

Not the greatest film, but not as "tiresome" as Leonard Maltin claims in his review. (Leonard has seen so many films, he apparently gets tired easily -- See IMDB's sidebar link.) The wonderful thing about this film is its decision to cover a subject area that is largely unknown to Western audiences. Indeed, we Westerners didn't have any idea about this area of the world until the fall of the Soviet Union, where a lot of these mysterious countries emerged with an "an" at the end: Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and the like... largely Turkic regions and nations. Of course, Turks are almost always treated as villains in Western films (Another group that's usually villainous in cinema are the Arabs; however in a rare film where the Arabs were the heroes, "Lawrence of Arabia," the Turks were still the villains).

Now the Turks are not the heroes in this film, per se (not the Turks of today's Turkey, or the then-Ottoman Empire) but various Turkic tribes in the Caucasus (in the film, they're referred to as "tribesmen," "Caucasian," once as "Muslims," or -- derogatorily by the Russians --as "Savages." Probably using the word "Turk" would have been risky, as the Western audience might then lose its sympathy for the film's heroes). In the declining years of the Ottoman Empire, mighty Czarist Russia instigated many wars against the Ottomans, taking good advantage of their weakened state.

The thing I found interesting is that Czarist Russia is often depicted in American and other Western films as noble and heroic... I guess it's the Christian connection. In this film, based on a novel by Tolstoy, the Russians are hinted at as the bloodthirsty oppressors they were. I'm influenced by a rare book, "The Ethnic Cleansing of Ottoman Muslims" by Prof. Justin McCarthy, which showed the unbelievable magnitude of the evil and inhumanity displayed by the Russians, and others, including Bulgars and Armenians. Turkish or Muslim lives are not as important, and this part of history is very unknown to us Westerners. I doubt this subject matter would be chosen in an American film, and if it wasn't for Tolstoy's book, probably the Italians would have been unaware of the subject matter themselves, when they tried to choose an adventurous vehicle for Steve Reeves.

At the beginning of the film when Hadji Murad attacks Russian troops down a lonely road, Robin Hood-style, he meets with the "Maid Marian," Russian princess Maria. When she makes a statement regarding the superiority of Russian soldiers, Murad replies that his tribe kills only soldiers, whereas the Russians slaughter women and children. I'm reminded of the fighters in Chechnya following the same procedure (generally)... they wouldn't target innocent Russian civilians (other than terrorist attacks) during the first phase of their recent struggle, a few years ago. During the second phase, when the Russians invaded again, the Russians murder, rob and rape as indiscriminately as they have done in centuries past. Now that the Chechnyans (is it Chechens?) are no longer winning, there has been a general news black-out in the American media... but their struggle is still a continuation of freeing themselves from Russian domination in the Caucasus that "The White Warrior" is about.

I thought Steve Reeves had a surprising charisma... obviously, he was hired for these kinds of films for his spectacular build and not for his great acting ability, but he came across as a likable and believable hero in this one.

This film is set during the mid-19th century when Russia flexed its empire-building muscles. The mountain tribes of the Caucusus rebelled against the Russian domination. The region is on the border of the southern most part of Russia today. The princess, who takes a trip to deliver the Czar's new orders to her husband, had to travel more than about 1,500 miles from St. Petersburg.

Steve Reeves play the lead role of Hadji Murad. The movie is based on a novel by that name written by Leo Tolstoy. Some of its account of the years of struggle in the Caucusus is fiction. But, many of the specific incidents did occur. In reality, a reading of a short bio or encyclopedia article on Hadji Murad would convince one that his escapades in this film were quite tame by comparison.

"The White Warrior" is an interesting film about a time and place for which American's have only occasionally shown interest. Still, it has historical value, and is based on a famous author's book of fiction.