Knives of the Avenger (1966)
"I coltelli del vendicatore" (original title)

A mysterious knife-throwing viking warrior protects a young peasant woman and her young son from the clutches of a evil regent bent on claiming the title of king and the woman for himself.

Director:

Mario Bava

Writers:

Mario Bava, Alberto Liberati,

Stars:

Cameron Mitchell, Fausto Tozzi, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart

Cast

Cast overview:
Cameron Mitchell	...	Rurik / Helmut
Fausto Tozzi	...	Hagen (as Frank Ross)
Giacomo Rossi-Stuart	...	King Arald (as Jack Stuart)
Luciano Pollentin	...	Moki (as Louis Polletin)
Amedeo Trilli	...	Viking King (as Michael Moore)
Renato Terra	...	Hagen's henchman
Sergio Cortona	...	Hagen's henchman
Elissa Pichelli	...	Karin (as Lisa Wagner)

Storyline

After the apparent death of her husband King Arald, a viking peasant woman, named Karin, takes her son Moki into hiding from Aghen, King Arald's enemy. But a mysterous stranger, named Rurik, begins acting as Karin's guardian, which evetually leads to a brutal showdown between Rurik and Aghen.

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Plot Keywords:

viking | knife throwing | queen | revenge | fistfight | 

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Genres:

Adventure

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

January 1968 (USA)

Also Known As:

Knives of the Avenger

Filming Locations:

Titanus Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

$75,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sider Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Mario Bava was brought in to salvage the troubled production after the original director was fired. Bava wound up scrapping most of the footage that had already been shot, threw out the old script, and rewrote and reshot virtually the entire film in six days.

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Connections

References Shane (1953)

User Reviews

KNIVES OF THE AVENGER (Mario Bava, 1966) **1/2

The last of Mario Bava’s various peplums for the silver screen – although he would still have a couple more stabs at the genre for Italian TV – is also the last of four films (one of them in an uncredited capacity) he made with second-tier Hollywood star Cameron Mitchell. It seems rather incredible to me now that Italian producers were still trying, at this late stage, to emulate the commercially successful formula of THE VIKINGS (1958) – even down to dyeing their leading man’s hair blonde like Kirk Douglas’.

The film starts atmospherically enough with a witch on a sandy beach waxing metaphysically about the doom-laden future lying in wait for a vanquished Queen (the rather wooden Lisa Wagner) and her treacherous pursuer (Fausto Tozzi, a forceful if decidedly one-note portrayal). Despite the expected bouts of lively action, the film is surprisingly intimate for this director and genre; in fact, an even stronger influence is that of SHANE (1953), complete with adulating kid – an aspect which is further reinforced by the various scenes of horsemanship and showdowns in dark taverns. Besides, even the action sequences rarely involve more than a couple of characters (including the climax set inside a cave), and the fact that it employs flashbacks (which help render the two male leads – the stoic and, decidedly, ambivalent Mitchell and the rugged Giacomo Rossi Stuart – more rounded than is par for the course) is largely a departure for this kind of film.

On the debit side, one must certainly note the sluggish pace. All in all, even if still perhaps his best peplum, this is a lesser Bava film – which I rather enjoyed more the first time around (ironically, watched via a pan-and-scan print on Italian TV!).