The Long Ships (1964)

Director:

Jack Cardiff

Writers:

Frans G. Bengtsson (novel)
Beverley Cross (screenplay)

Release Date:

24 June 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure

Tagline:

The Greatest Viking Adventure Of Them All!

Plot:

There is a legend about a great bell, called "The Mother of Voices," made of pure gold, three times the size of a man, made by monks many years ago...

Plot Keywords:

Bell | Death | Gold | Viking | Brother Brother Relationship

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award.

Cast

Richard Widmark	...	Rolfe
Sidney Poitier	...	Aly Mansuh
Russ Tamblyn	...	Orm
Rosanna Schiaffino	...	Aminah
Oskar Homolka	...	Krok
Edward Judd	...	Sven
Lionel Jeffries	...	Aziz
Beba Loncar	...	Gerda
Clifford Evans	...	King Harald
Gordon Jackson	...	Vahlin
Colin Blakely	...	Rhykka
David Lodge	...	Olla
Henry Oscar	...	Auctioneer
Paul Stassino	...	Raschild
Jeanne Moody	...	Ylva

Also Known As:

Dugi brodovi (Yugoslavia: Serbian title)

Runtime:

USA:126 min

Country:

UK | Yugoslavia

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) | Australia:PG | West Germany:12 (nf) | Norway:16 | Netherlands:12 (2003) (DVD) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Yugoslavia

Company:

Avala Film

Trivia:

Average Shot Length = ~6.2 seconds. Median Shot Length = ~5.9 seconds.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The devil was not part of the Vikings' religion.

Quotes:

Rolfe: If we ever had children, my lady, what princely liars they would be!

A rousing action/adventure movie for a treasure lost for centuries, the richest prize in the world…

"The Long Ships" is the story of a mighty gold bell "as tall as three tall men," the one people call the Mother of Voices, cast long ago by the monks of Byzantium…

Prince Aly Mansuh had searched from the mountains to the sea for the bell… Now he must know what lies beyond the horizon until Allah's divine guidance leads him to the treasures of Islam…

Prince Aly's wife Aminah thinks that her husband is chasing a legend, a fairy tale that has already cost them dearly in lives and gold… But the prince is no dreamer… He is sure that the bell does exist and it rests somewhere in this world, in a Christian land… For him it was stolen by the Christian armies when they plundered their way across his cities to the dishonor and humiliation of his ancestors…

In that morning, the obsessed Moorish prince is informed by his guards that a stranger in the market knows the whereabouts of the golden bell… The stranger is arrested and taken to a tower for interrogation… The stranger assures to the prince that he knows nothing but stories and legends, and swears that, out in the market he was trying to earn some money for food and shelter… He also said that he is a sailor, a dreamer, a Norseman, a Viking who was shipwrecked and was simply trying to get back to his homeland…

Richard Widmark is the true Norse warrior who swallowed the ocean… He tells his father that he has returned because he needs another ship and another crew… Rolfe said that he had found the bell… He heard it booming away like a god's hammer on a mountain of ice… Nothing else would've brought him back after losing his ship… That ship cost his father the tribute money he owed the king…

Sydney Poitier promised Rolfe that he would not be prepared to die so calmly… He shall give him an example of real courage that comes from authority, 'his' authority… Aly Mansuh asks Lady Aminah to select one of his guards to be the first to feel the kiss of steel before the Viking…

Rosanna Schiaffino could offer Rolfe and his comrades the chance to live and to sail from these shores as rich men… With fire in her cheeks, Lady Aminah looked lovely as the most envied woman with eye-catching legs…

Orm (Russ Tamblyn) asks the great Odin what did they do that he turns his rage against them ruining his father…

Gerda (Beba Loncar) is the beautiful snow princess taken as a hostage and whom to be sacrificed as a maiden to lift the curse of the death ship…

Krok (Oskar Homolka) is the old, ruined man who asks himself how a thane whose entire fortune consists of two gold pieces, find or even equip another ship…

King Harald (Clifford Evas) practically stole the ship build by Krok's men… He cheated the broken man in giving him two gold pieces for his funeral ship, the difference between the ship's price and two years' tribute he owes him…

Sven (Edward Judd) is the sailing master to King Harald of Norseland who really thinks the ship is cursed for being a funeral ship… He commands the sailors, these 'greedy devils' to turn back or they'll be hanged in the king's name…

With great stars, mutinous sailors, beautiful cinematography, and a look at a Moorish harem, "The Long Ships" remains another fine Viking adventure with a lot of humor and fun…