The Tartars

Richard Thorpe was known to be one of the best director of period, costumes adventure medieval movies: IVANHOE, QUENTIN DURWARD, KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE, PRODIGAL SON and now this very one; but this film was produced in Europe, as so many movies of the early sixties: THE MONGOLS, TARASS BOULBA; so it is in the fashion, but I can confirm that director Thorpe finished by working out of Hollywood. As you can see here, he is quite comfortable in this adventure period genre. And at long last, Victor Mature, also very used to period, costume flicks, finished to work with Richard Thorpe. They could have done it far earlier. I like this movie very much, as much as THE MONGOLS, which I always confound with this one. But I have excuses.

On the great plains of Russia a thousand years ago, many tribes converge. From the North, the peaceful and honorable Vikings are led by Oleg the Brave (Victor Mature). From the East, the barbaric Tartars are led by the local khan Togrul. He tries to recruit Oleg to join in attacking the Slavs but Oleg refuses due to their hundred years of friendship. Togrul starts a fight and gets killed. The Vikings kidnap Togrul's daughter Samia and escape. Togrul's brother Burundai (Orson Welles) vows revenge.

This comes from another era in Hollywood and the world. The yellow-faced Orson was ignored at the time but it has not aged well in the present day. One thing that wasn't ignored is the Italian-American Mature trying to play a Viking. He sticks out like a sore thumb. Neither him nor Orson fit their roles in the modern sense. If one can ignore that, this is generally a functional B-movie with a lot of westernized history and a Hollywood version of the exotic East. As part of the plot, I would expect Oleg to sent emissaries to the Slavs right away. The movie opens with many tribes and it quickly dwindles down to the two sides. As for the acting, it is old-time Hollywood melodrama and Orson seems to be gleefully playing the villain. All in all, it is a swords and sandals adventure that hasn't aged well.

The tartars casts some of the same characters as "The Conqueror" which starred John Wayne and Susan Heyward and is widely known as one of the worst big-budget Hollywood movies ever made. It is so bad it is usually seen as a comedy due to awful scripting and acting.

The Tartars takes Wayne's character 30-40 years into the future in the shape of Orson Welles. Welles here attacks Victor Mature, miscast as a Viking (?), and murders his wife. Terrible vengeance is the theme of this laughable epic. It is hard to tell whether the worst thing about this movie is the acting, the script, or the costumes featuring all the men in mini-skirts.

Turner movies has both epics in the library and should combine them on any weekend billed as 'The worst historical double feature of all time'.

THE TARTARS is a tale of revenge set in the Russian steppes circa 900 A.D. Viking Prince Oleg (at best a weak and unintentionally humorous portrayal by Victor Mature) is asked by a Tartar chieftain to join the Mongol horde and destroy the indigenous Slavic tribes. Oleg refuses to betray his Slavic brethern and all hell breaks loose. The Tartar chieftan is murdered and his brother Ogotai (a "larger" than life Orson Welles) voys to avenge his brother's death which leads to more massacres and malicious deeds. Welles is interesting in the part of the Tartar Khan and his palace is a work of sensational art direction. Costumes in this Italian-made epic are first rate and half of the cast and crew are recognizable names from other Italian epics, sci-fi and horror films. Mature once said, "I'm a lousy actor with 75 motion pictures to prove it." This critic can only say, "Amen to that!" THE TARTARS is certainly worth seeing but is not the most memorable moment in epic filmmaking history.

In the 1950s and 60s, Italian filmmakers realized that if they cast American actors in the leads in their films, they'd be more marketable worldwide. As a result, many B-list actors or A-listers in their waning years went there to make films. To do this, they needed to dub the actors in various languages...which is what they did with "The Tartars" ("I tartari"). Like most of the Italian epics of the era, it looks a lot like a Hercules/Maciste film...with large casts, nice costumes and adequeate acting.

In the case of "The Tartars", two Americans lead the cast...Victor Mature plays the leader of the Russian Vikings* and Orson Wells plays the leader of the local Tartars. Of the two, Wells looks the silliest...and SHOULD look like a Mongolian, but doesn't.

The film involves a war between the Tartars and Vikings...and various women are taken prisoner in order to try to convince the other side to capitulate. Of couse, this doesn't work so they spend much of the movie splitting each others' head open and acting macho.

This film turned out to be pretty much what I expected...a lovely looking story but also a relatively dull one. Why? Because the acting seems so incredibly muted and none of the main characters seem to act like real people...more like statues that somehow talk. This makes it all seem quite sterile...and dull. For a MUCH better and more interesting film, try Hollywood's "The Vikings" (1958)...a film that is better in pretty much every way.

*While most folks think the Vikings were only from Scandinavia, some migrated to Russia and instead of sacking the land, stayed and became farmers and traders. Many Russians today can trace their ancestry to these people.