Raubzug der Wikinger (1964)

Raubzug der Wikinger: Directed by Jack Cardiff. With Richard Widmark, Sidney Poitier, Russ Tamblyn, Rosanna Schiaffino. A vagabond Viking adventurer and a Moor both compete to find “The Mother of All Voices

“In reading some of the other reviews I learned that The Long Ships was based on a rather serious work of medieval fiction. Thatu0026#39;s certainly did not come out in this film which has all the appearances of something that Vince McMahon might have directed.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIu0026#39;m guessing that Richard Widmark, Sidney Poitier and the rest of the cast wanted to do something that paid well without too much strain on the talent. In addition, Poitier for the only time in his career, got to play a villain. He hams up his part as a poor manu0026#39;s Othello with real relish. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThereu0026#39;s a little Captain Ahab in Poitieru0026#39;s Othello impersonation as well. Heu0026#39;s a Moorish prince obsessed with finding a legendary golden bell. When he hearu0026#39;s of Richard Widmark spinning tales in the market place for pin money he has him summoned.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWidmark escapes by diving out a window from a height and the next thing you hear from him is that heu0026#39;s washed up on Viking shores. Iu0026#39;m not sure the writers didnu0026#39;t want you to think he swam from Morocco to Norway either. Any how he tries to get a ship from dad, Oscar Homolka. The only ship available is the ship Homolka built for the Norse king. To insure the Norse king doesnu0026#39;t kill his Homolka, younger brother Russ Tamblyn kidnaps his daughter who he has a thing for in any event. And back they go to find the bell.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRichard Widmark is not known as a player whou0026#39;s best at comedy, but he seems to get in the spirit of the lightheartedness. Russ Tamblyn who was finding less and less employment as a dancer got to show a lot of athleticism in dueling sequences. The guy who seemed to be really enjoying making this film however was Oscar Homolka.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eJack Cardiff directed this film and heu0026#39;s probably best known as the United Kingdomu0026#39;s premier color cinematographer. The Long Ships has some of his best work and it also has a stirring musical score.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI saw this film in theaters as a teen and over forty years later I still enjoy this rollicking medieval romp.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eVince McMahon couldnu0026#39;t have staged it better.”