Out of Columbia Pictures comes this Viking/Moors adventure very loosely based on the Swedish novel of the same name written by Frans G. Bengtsson. Produced by Irving Allen, it's directed by Jack Cardiff and stars Richard Widmark, Sidney Poitier & Russ Tamblyn. It's a Technicolor/Technirma 70 production with cinematography from Christopher Challis, who shoots on location along the Yugoslavia coast. The plot follows the search and fights for a fabled golden bell known as The Mother of Voices. On one side is the Moor army led by king Aly Mansuh (Poitier), on the other is the Norsemen led by Rolfe (Widmark).
Thought to be an attempt at cashing in on the success of Richard Fleischer's The Vikings and Anthony Mann's El Cid (in spite of there being a 6 and 3 year gap respectively?), The Long Ships is a messy film bogged down by confused intentions and a poor script from Beverley Cross & Berkely Mather. Things are also problematic within the cast as Widmark, sensing the turgid nature of the beast, plays it for laughs, while a disgruntled Poitier gives it the maximum effort trying to make it work. The rest of the cast are, it seems, just along for a meal ticket ride. Even Dusan Radic's score is boisterously out of place, loud and uneven with the action, it's a score that would be more at home with an Asterix The Gaul cartoon. However, and depending on if you can forgive the nonsense history and all round bad narrative, there's still some fun to be had. Be it intentional or not. The costuming is effective, while Challis' coastal photography is gorgeous and sparkles in Technicolor. The action sequences are competently staged by Cardiff {cinematographer on The Vikings funnily enough}, tho the site of an army being felled by weapons unseen is hilariously bad. With sea-storms, double-crosses and the evil Mare Of Steel execution device, there's enough to have made this something of a cult favourite with the adventure fan. So bad it's good? Well it's not quite in that category, but newcomers entering into it expecting anything other than a dumb downed costume adventure will be sorely disappointed. 5/10
Thought to be an attempt at cashing in on the success of Richard Fleischer's The Vikings and Anthony Mann's El Cid (in spite of there being a 6 and 3 year gap respectively?), The Long Ships is a messy film bogged down by confused intentions and a poor script from Beverley Cross & Berkely Mather. Things are also problematic within the cast as Widmark, sensing the turgid nature of the beast, plays it for laughs, while a disgruntled Poitier gives it the maximum effort trying to make it work. The rest of the cast are, it seems, just along for a meal ticket ride. Even Dusan Radic's score is boisterously out of place, loud and uneven with the action, it's a score that would be more at home with an Asterix The Gaul cartoon. However, and depending on if you can forgive the nonsense history and all round bad narrative, there's still some fun to be had. Be it intentional or not. The costuming is effective, while Challis' coastal photography is gorgeous and sparkles in Technicolor. The action sequences are competently staged by Cardiff {cinematographer on The Vikings funnily enough}, tho the site of an army being felled by weapons unseen is hilariously bad. With sea-storms, double-crosses and the evil Mare Of Steel execution device, there's enough to have made this something of a cult favourite with the adventure fan. So bad it's good? Well it's not quite in that category, but newcomers entering into it expecting anything other than a dumb downed costume adventure will be sorely disappointed. 5/10