The Tartars

Original title: I tartari

1961
Approved
1h 23m

IMDb RATING

4.6/10

520

YOUR RATING

Tartan and Viking forces clash in what is modern-day Russia.

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Action Adventure Drama

Tartan and Viking forces clash in what is modern-day Russia.Tartan and Viking forces clash in what is modern-day Russia.Tartan and Viking forces clash in what is modern-day Russia.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

4.6/10

520

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

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Storyline

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Trivia
According to Orson Welles's conversations with Peter Bogdanovich, as recounted in the book "This is Orson Welles", Victor Mature had his sandals built up by three inches to make him look taller.

Goofs
Vikings did not wear horned helmets.

Quotes
Burundai: Did you plan to desert me, Ciu Lang, eh? Where were you bound for? Did you dream of bearing your lying reports of me to the court of the great Khan? Did you dare to think I would let you return to the east?
Ciu Lang: You cannot stop me, Burundai, unless you kill me.
Burundai: Why should I spare you, then? You give me no choice. I, who stand on the threshold of glory... What does your little life mean to me?
Ciu Lang: Less than nothing. It means no more to me. We have no choice in the matter of death. It comes for us all, Burundai.
Burundai: You seem to desire your own.
Ciu Lang: No, I have have no desire. I follow the way.
Burundai: The way... Your way is mystic humbug. It leads nowhere. Mine is forward... into greatness.
Ciu Lang: Not forward, Burundai, but downward. Your way is all downward into the darkness. Wading in blood... drowning in blood.
Burundai: You presume upon my patience. Would you dare to speak thus before the great Khan? I do not think so. I do not think that you would stand and face him as you dare now to stand and face me.
[to Guards]
Burundai: Leave us.
[Brandishes axe]
Burundai: I will see what reverence this wise old man will make to me. In the presence of that other Khan who is still called great, you would make the kowtow, wouldn't you, Ciu Lang? You would fall prostrate on your hands and knees and bump your head upon the ground. I would like to see that, Ciu Lang. I would like to see you make your kowtow... before me.
[Ciu Lang stands defiantly and Burundai strikes him down with the axe]
Burundai: That's it, Ciu Lang. Even so, your head at my feet... Even so, you must make obeisance to the great Khan.

Connections
Featured in They'll Love Me When I'm Dead (2018)

Oh The Tartars And The Vikings Should Be Friends

Victor Mature and Orson Welles head a continental cast in I Tartari, a badly dubbed Italian film about the Vikings and the Tartars set somewhere in the steppes of Eastern Europe. Both of these American film icons had nothing better to do. Welles just needed the money for his own projects and Mature after the studio system was shutting down was putting his career into half speed as he concentrated on golf more than films.

Like the cowboys and the farmers in Oklahoma, the Tartars and Vikings just feud because its natural both being imperialist sorts. The Tartars are moving west and would eventually reach the Balkans. The Vikings expanded in every direction including voyages southward down river routes into what is now Byelorussia and the Ukraine.

The Tartars make an offer the Vikings under Mature can and do refuse. The Tartars want to have a military alliance and attack the native Slavs, but Mature who has married into the Slavs refuses and negotiations break down. The Tartar chief is killed and his daughter is carried off by the Vikings and Mature's brother has a yen for her and they get to kanoodling.

Orson Welles who is the brother of the slain chief takes over and his troops capture Mature's wife. He's willing to exchange Mature's wife for his niece, but not after a little forced kanoodling of his own, brought on as Welles and the wife are being entertained by some sexy oriental strip dancing and Orson's hormones get the better of him.

I won't go any farther in describing this disaster of an Italian spectacle film just to say it all ends rather badly for just about everyone in the film. There were spots in the film where Mature's English was dubbed and I can't see why other than Mature could not summon up enough conviction to give a passable interpretation of a performance. Given the material I can't blame him. Even Welles, professional that he is, looks positively bored even when getting ready to rape Mature's wife. Victor Mature would be off the screen for five years before appearing in Peter Sellers's After The Fox in a good natured satire of an actor very much like himself.

Vic and Orson really hit the bottom doing this one.