''The Tartars''/''I Tartari'' is a 1961 Italian-Yugoslavian epic historical

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring

Victor Mature Victor John Mature (January 29, 1913 – August 4, 1999) was an American stage, film, and television actor who was a leading man in Hollywood during the 1940s and 1950s. His best known film roles include ''One Million B.C.'' (1940), '' My Darlin ...

and

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

. It is one of the sword-and-sandal genre films made in Italy in the 1950s and early 1960s.

Plot

In what is now Russia, a settlement of

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and ...

lives in peace with both the

Tatars The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

and the Slavs. All is well until Togrul (

Folco Lulli Folco Lulli (3 July 1912 – 23 May 1970) was an Italian partisan and film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1946 and 1970. He was the brother of actor Piero Lulli. Selected filmography * ''How I Lost the War'' (1947) * ' ...

), a Tatar chief seeks the help of Oleg (

), the chief of the Vikings, to war on the Slavs in a surprise attack. Oleg refuses and the group does battle ending with Oleg killing Togrul and abducting Togrul's daughter Samia ( Bella Cortez) as a hostage. Togrul's brother Burundai (

) is furious and wishes the Viking settlement burnt to the ground. "I am your Khan", he says to his troops. His high priest, Ciu Lang (

Arnoldo Foà Arnoldo Foà (24 January 1916 – 11 January 2014) was an Italian actor, voice actor, theatre director, singer and writer. He appeared in more than 130 films between 1938 and 2014. Biography Foà was born in Ferrara, Italy, to a Jewish fam ...

), reminds Burundai that Samia is promised to the leader of the Tatars as his wife; her safety and return has a higher priority than Burundai's revenge. Burundai gets his chance to retrieve Samia when a Viking

longship Longships were a type of specialised Scandinavian warships that have a long history in Scandinavia, with their existence being archaeologically proven and documented from at least the fourth century BC. Originally invented and used by the Nors ...

is attacked, resulting in the capture of Oleg's wife Helga ( Liana Orfei) and her handmaidens. Burundai initially promises to treat Helga well as an exchange for Samia but tortures Helga's handmaidens to discover the strength of the Vikings. He also rapes Helga and gives her to his men for their further pleasure prior to exchanging her for Samia. Meanwhile, Samia has fallen in love with Oleg's brother Eric ( Luciano Marin). When Oleg comes to make the exchange and Ciu Lang leads Helga out to the battlements of the Tatar fortress, she leaps down upon seeing Oleg below and is fatally injured. He takes her and Samia back to the Viking settlement, where Helga asks him to kiss her and dies. The grief-stricken Oleg is ready to kill Samia, but Eric reveals that she is pregnant by him and demands to marry her. Oleg has them tried for their lives by the tribal elders. Meanwhile, Ciu Lang counsels Burundai to get Samia back peacefully, but he has megalomaniac dreams of conquering the whole

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

, and he kills the priest and goes to lead the Tatars to wipe out the Vikings. At the trial of Eric and Samia, the elders split their votes evenly between acquittal and death, leaving Oleg to cast the deciding vote. Just as he is about to, word comes that Burundai is attacking. He tells Eric to earn the second chance this gives him, organizes the women and children to flee to the Vikings in the mountains, and he and Eric lead the defense of the settlement by the men. The Tatars outnumber them and overwhelm the defenses; Oleg tells Eric to take Samia and go, and Eric rescues her from Tatar soldiers and gets her to a longship. Oleg fights Burundai, throws him into the water and drowns him; as he is saluting Eric and Samia on board their ship, a Tatar spear strikes him and kills him. The longship moves off as the settlement burns.

Cast

Oleg Oleg (russian: Олег), Oleh ( uk, Олег), or Aleh ( be, Алег) is an East Slavic given name. The name is very common in Russia, Ukraine and Belаrus. It derives from the Old Norse ''Helgi'' ( Helge), meaning "holy", "sacred", or "bless ...

as Burundai * Liana Orfei as Helga *

as Ciu Lang * Luciano Marin as Eric * Bella Cortez as Samia *

Furio Meniconi Furio Meniconi (22 February 1924 – 12 December 1981) was an Italian film and television actor. Life and career Meniconi was born in Rome into a family active in the cinema industry in the technical cast, or engaged in the general organizatio ...

as Sigrun *

as Togrul

Production

Filming took place in Rome and Yugoslavia in October 1960. It was filmed using Italian Totalscope anamorphic lenses.

Reception

Box office

According to MGM records the film made a profit of $34,000..

Critical

Orson Welles' enunciation has been praised while Victor Mature has been considered a miscast for not having the looks of an archetypal Viking. Critic

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fi ...

calls the film "a routine spectacle", giving it 2 stars out of four.

Biography

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tartars Yugoslav adventure films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films 1961 films 1960s English-language films English-language Italian films English-language Yugoslav films Fictional Vikings Films based on European myths and legends Films directed by Richard Thorpe Films set in the Viking Age Italian epic films Historical epic films Lux Film films 1960s historical films Italian historical films Films set in Russia Films scored by Renzo Rossellini 1960s Italian films