The Long Ships (1963)
Screen: 'The Long Ships':Widmark and Poitier in Viking Adventure
TAKE it from us, "The Long Ships" is a big one for the eye, if not the mind. With Richard Widmark's Viking raiders and Sidney Poitier's Moorish hordes in bloody combat over a huge, golden bell, this adventure whopper arrived at the Paramount and other theaters yesterday splashing color, gore and enough action to rattle five Westerns. Nobody is going to sleep through this one.
The supreme irony of this Columbia release, photographed along the coast of Yugoslavia, is the stunningly artistic canvas encasing the commotion. From start to finish, the picture is visually rich and tasteful, as the camera scans craggy Norse villages alabaster Moorish facades and, above all the briny course of Mr. Widmark's slim boat, with its dragonhead prow nosing the rugged coastlines. Better still, the director, Jack Cardiff (photographer of "The Red Shoes") often interlaces artistry and action with real sweep and zing. A hollow movie and a loud one — but it moves.
The very tempo, furthermore, cushions the somewhat contemporary edge of the dialogue supplied by Berkely Mather and Beverley Cross, whose harmless adaption of a Frans Bengtsson novel is hardly affecting. As the two wily, warring leaders, Messrs. Widmark and Poitier glare at each other reasonably in surface characterizations laconically returned to the writers (and the audience).
Russ Tamblyn makes a limber sidekick for Mr. Widmark. Oscar Homolka, Edward Judd and Lionel Jeffries are capable sword-swingers themselves. Beba Loncar is a toothsome Nordic princess, and Rossanna Schiaffino, as the Moor's head wife, shares with Mr. Widmark one of the film's most telling conversations. There are few.
In general, Mr. Cardiff takes the picture over the beautifully tinted landscape like a spiked bulldozer. And beware, all, of one hair-raising execution scene — that of a man set astride a "steel mare."
Big, empty, gory—yes. But flavored with a floridly apt musical score, this Irving Allen production simply boils with locomotion, some of it fine movie stuff. Mr. Cardiff's best battle scene is a tingling beach foray, with the Norsemen crouched beside their wrecked boat. And the cliff scene where the bonging bell is gouged from the ruins of a monastery is a sharp, thrilling sight.
"The Long Ships" is not for young or sensitive eyes. It should fill the bill for those who can take it.
The Cast
THE LONG SHIPS, screenplay by Berkely Mather and Beverley Cross, based on the novel by Frans Bengtsson; directed by Jack Cardiff; produced by Irving Allen for Warwick Avala Productions; presented by Columbia Pictures. At the Paramount Theater, Broadway and 43d Street; the Murray Hill Theater, 34th Street east of Lexington Avenue; and other theaters. Running time: 125 minutes.
Rolfe . . . . . Richard Widmark
Aly Mansuh . . . . . Sidney Poitier
Orm . . . . . Russ Tamblyn
Aminah . . . . . Rosanna Schiaffino
Krok . . . . . Oscar Homolka
Sven . . . . . Edward Judd
Aziz . . . . . Lionel Jeffries
Gerda . . . . . Beba Loncar
King Harald . . . . . Clifford Evans
http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F02E4DF163DE13ABC4D51DFB066838F679EDE
No comments:
Post a Comment