Sandokan, la tigre di Mompracem (1963)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Umberto Lenzi

Writers:

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

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
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Adolfo Celi
Mimmo Palmara
Jacqueline Sassard

Directed by
Umberto Lenzi

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Víctor Andrés Catena		writer
Fulvio Gicca Palli		writer
Umberto Lenzi		writer
Emilio Salgari		novel "Le tigri di Mompracem"

Produced by
Solly V. Bianco	....	co-producer
Joseph Fryd	....	co-producer
Thomas Sagone	....	producer

Original Music by
Giovanni Fusco

Cinematography by
Aurelio G. Larraya
Angelo Lotti
Giovanni Scarpellini

Film Editing by
Jolanda Benvenuti
Antonietta Zita

Production Design by
Arrigo Equini

Set Decoration by
Arrigo Equini
Juan Alberto Soler

Costume Design by
Giancarlo Bartolini Salimbeni		(as Bartolini Salimbeni)

Makeup Department
Giovanni Palombi	....	hair stylist
Raul Ranieri	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Cecilia Bigazzi	....	production supervisor
Sardha Rathnarive	....	general manager: Sri Lanka
Thomas Sagone	....	production manager (as Tommaso Sagone)
Averoe Stefani	....	production supervisor (as Averroè Stefani)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jean Maury	....	first assistant director
Giancarlo Romitelli	....	second assistant director
Viktor Tourjansky	....	first assistant director (as Victor Tourjansky)

Camera and Electrical Department
Giorgio Garibaldi Schwarze	....	assistant camera (as Giorgio G. Schwartze)
Fausto Rossi	....	camera operator
Antonio Schiavo Lena	....	camera operator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Nadia Vitali	....	assistant costume designer

Other crew
Emilio Cigoli	....	voice dubbing: Steve Reeves
Jean Maumy	....	assistant to director
Laura Vignola	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Comptoir Français du Film Production (CFFP)
• Filmes S.A.
• Ocean Films

Distributors

• Arco Film (Spain) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1965) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)

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.