Sandokan, la tigre di Mompracem (1963)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Umberto Lenzi

Writers:

Víctor Andrés Catena (writer)
Fulvio Gicca Palli (writer)

Release Date:

May 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure

Tagline:

Heroism and High Adventure in the Malay Jungle!

Plot Keywords:

Machine Gun | Kidnapping | Fort | Niece | Tied Up

Cast

Steve Reeves	...	Sandokan
Geneviève Grad	...	Mary Ann
Andrea Bosic	...	Yanez
Rik Battaglia	...	Sambigliong
Mario Valdemarin	...	Tenente Ross
Leo Anchóriz	...	Lord Guillonk
Antonio Molino Rojo	...	Tenente Toymby
Enzo Fiermonte	...	Sergente Mitchell
Wilbert Bradley	...	Pataan
Maurice Poli	...	Girobatol
Gino Marturano	...	Kanandurian
Nazzareno Zamperla	...	Hirangù
Giovanni Cianfriglia
Pietro Capanna
Ananda Kumar	...	Twang Long

Also Known As:

Sandokan the Great (UK) (USA)
Le Sandokan - Le tigre de Bornéo (France)
Sandokán, el magnífico (Spain)

Runtime:

Germany:105 min | Italy:95 min | Spain:105 min | USA:105 min

Country:

Italy | France | Spain

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Comptoir Français du Film Production (CFFP)

Movie Connections:

Followed by I pirati della Malesia (1964)

Very stiff movie, but impressive action at the end!

This film even seemed stiffer than other Italian adventure-films of that time, and Steve Reeves, believe me!, doesn't help a bit. The storyline is tedious and unattractive. There is a lot of archive footage for the jungle-fauna built in (that even looks livelier than the film itself). Only fun scene: Reeves' fight against a tiger.

But in the last ten minutes the situation explodes, and there is this gigantic battle at the fort, well staged and fun. Reeves gets to fire a machine gun (a little like Django) and matches the strength of an army. If only Lenzi had divided the action and strewn it all over the film's time, it would have been more watchable (if you don't skip the beginning, that is). My rating: 5/10.