Review of The Long Ships (1964) by Van R — 14 May 2009
The 1964 British-Yugoslavian epic "The Long Ships" with Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier, about a rivalry between Viking seafarers and Moorish swordsmen in search of a giant golden bell, is an entertaining, formulaic, far-fetched load of nonsense with Widmark hamming it up and Poitier playing his Moorish prince, Aly Mansuh, with a straight face through out this 125 minute saga.
Director Jack Cardiff started his career as a cinematographer and "The Long Ships" qualifies as a visual spectacle. If you're looking for traditional Vikings wielding broadswords and wearing helmets with horns, then this is not your movie.
The sequence where the Monks take the shipwrecked Rolfe (Richard Widmark) in and tell him about the bell was created by long-time James Bond title sequence master Maurice Binder. Irving Allen produced this lusty saga and the budget is big.
Dusan Radic's orchestral musical score is memorable. There are lots of fights and the ultimate tortune device called 'the Mare of Steel.' The Mare is a gigantic curved sword, razor-sharp with a horse's head.
The victim is sent sliding down it and gets sliced into two pieces. Atmospheric and suspenseful at times. Widmark's Viking complains that everybody believes his lies but nobody believes the truth when he tells it.
This review of The Long Ships (1964) was written by Van R on 14 May 2009.
The Long Ships has generally received mixed reviews.
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