The Long Ships (1964) User Reviews

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

[Nazi_Fighter_David · 7/10 · 2 September 2007]

"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

Prince Valiant Versus Othello, Best Two Out of Three Falls

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 8 September 2007]

In reading some of the other reviews I learned that The Long Ships was based on a rather serious work of medieval fiction. That's certainly did not come out in this film which has all the appearances of something that Vince McMahon might have directed.

I'm guessing that Richard Widmark, Sidney Poitier and the rest of the cast wanted to do something that paid well without too much strain on the talent. In addition, Poitier for the only time in his career, got to play a villain. He hams up his part as a poor man's Othello with real relish.

There's a little Captain Ahab in Poitier's Othello impersonation as well. He's a Moorish prince obsessed with finding a legendary golden bell. When he hear's of Richard Widmark spinning tales in the market place for pin money he has him summoned.

Widmark escapes by diving out a window from a height and the next thing you hear from him is that he's washed up on Viking shores. I'm not sure the writers didn't want you to think he swam from Morocco to Norway either. Any how he tries to get a ship from dad, Oscar Homolka. The only ship available is the ship Homolka built for the Norse king. To insure the Norse king doesn't kill his Homolka, younger brother Russ Tamblyn kidnaps his daughter who he has a thing for in any event. And back they go to find the bell.

Richard Widmark is not known as a player who's best at comedy, but he seems to get in the spirit of the lightheartedness. Russ Tamblyn who was finding less and less employment as a dancer got to show a lot of athleticism in dueling sequences. The guy who seemed to be really enjoying making this film however was Oscar Homolka.

Jack Cardiff directed this film and he's probably best known as the United Kingdom's premier color cinematographer. The Long Ships has some of his best work and it also has a stirring musical score.

I saw this film in theaters as a teen and over forty years later I still enjoy this rollicking medieval romp.

Vince McMahon couldn't have staged it better.

Long Ships, Tall Tales, and Big Bells

[mstomaso · 7/10 · 13 April 2010]

The entertaining if somewhat protracted interest in spectacular pseudo- and quasi-classical myths, legends, histories and fantasies has been a healthy undercurrent in popular film from right around the time when Jack Cardiff's The Long Ships was released. While more of a Viking romp set in 'ye olden tymes' than a grand classical spectacle like Jason and Argonauts, The Long Ships has just enough class to keep you entertained and just enough spoof to make you chuckle. Forget history, ignore reality, and enjoy.

Richard Widmark, surprisingly, makes for a convincing Viking adventurer. Rolfe (Widmark) is an extremely ambiguous character around which the entire story revolves. Is he a pathological liar, a loyal son, a dreamer, or a visionary? Perhaps he is all of the above. Rolfe loses his ship and crew in a maelstrom somewhere in the lands of the Moors. He tells stories for spare change in a Moorish market and catches the ear of one of the local ruler's guards when he tells a story concerning a solid gold bell the size of three tall men.

The ruler - Aly Mansur - is played by the always excellent Sidney Poitier. Mansur is obsessed with the symbols of wealth and power and has been seeking this very same bell for years. His wife, played by the beautiful and talented Rosanna Schiaffino, is his more rational half. She plays an important role in the development of all three of the central characters. Claiming that he was just telling a story, Rolfe finally escapes Mansur's torture by making a spectacular dive from the ruler's prison tower into the sea. Apparently, he then swims home to Scandinavia, arriving at his home town only to find that his father has been made destitute by the king's wheeling and dealing.

So he makes his pitch and recruits the aid of his naive younger brother, a new crew, and a hostage (the king's maiden daughter) to steal the king's best ship and pursue the mythical bell. For the sake of brevity, I'll stop my description of the plot here, though I could easily go on for several pages without a spoiler. A lot happens.

Director Cardiff was well known for his cinematography (winning several awards, including a pair of Oscars). Although The Long Ships was not one of his more memorable efforts, the camera work is solid. The special effects, even for its time, however, are nothing special. Some of the maritime scenes are, frankly, not very good. And unfortunately, the editor chose to use the same scenes twice in order to save a few pennies.

Widmark shows his versatility nicely here. While playing shady characters is no stretch for this great actor, he manages to play up the comedic elements of the story - which are plenty - without losing Rolfe's dangerous ambiguity, upon which the entire story turns. The supporting cast is generally very good. And the stunt team should be legendary. The Long Ships incorporates a surprising amount of wild slapstick silliness into its highly choreographed fight scenes. I imagine that the film resulted in many bruised backs, sore shins and twisted ankles.

Although replete with violence, most of the gore remains implied, and The Long Ships succeeds as a goofy adventure primarily for young and young-old boys.

Colorful and big budgeted Viking adventure with marvelous scenarios

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 19 January 2010]

The film starts telling the following legend :¨And so, by the storm's fury he lost all he loved most in this world, his ship and his shipmates. But he was ashore alone , the only survivor. Monks found him and took him to their monastery where they tenderly nursed him never asking his name of his country.And gradually he grew stronger, as he slowly recovered, he saw that the holy men collected tiny colored stones. And with great patience and loving skill made pictures from them to decorate their chapel. And the pictures told a story. A story of a mighty bell made of solid gold. For days without number the holy men labored to make this mighty bell, They made ready a great cauldron and under it fire burned day at night. They came of gold. Gold idols, golden rings taken from the harems, from wives, from princesses, from courtesans. Gold money, gold from ships, mines and caravans, from mosques , palaces and sacred cities. Gold stolen by robbers from from the tombs of pharaohs , golden cups, golden plate. Treasure won by conquering armies, And from its hiding place came the fabulous chain of Nimrud of the 10.ooo golden links. A last the huge cauldron was so filled with molten gold that no more could be added. Then I was poured into a gigantic clay mold. For days it stood cooling until the hour struck when the clay was torn away . And so the great golden bell came shinning into the world. They smoothed it, they polished it. Then they called on it to speak, And they ran back in terror and in awe. And covered their ears. For this was the mother of voices¨.

Rolf (Richard Widmark) as leader of a band of Norsemen along with his brother Orn (Russ Tamblyn) stealing a ship sets sail for the unknown land in search of a missing solid-gold bell . Meanwhile they kidnap a Viking princess (Beba Loncar) and hold her for security. Widmark heading off a mysterious place, defending his people and battling for his survival against mutinous crew , evil oppressors(Clifford Evans) and especially fighting Moorish prince named El Mansuh(Sidney Poitier) There're also some gorgeous babes ( Rosanna Schiaffino, Beba Loncar) around to offer us certain comfort .

This enjoyable picture packs adventures, thrills, good action scenes and is very amusing. Great location footage of booth Yugoslavia and Great Britain. Shimmer and glimmer cinematography by Christopher Challis. Spectacular and evocative musical score by Dugan Radic. The picture is well directed by Jack Cardiff (Dark of the sun, The girl on the motorcycle, My Geisha).

This basic costume epic belongs to Viking genre such as : The classic ¨The Vikings(1958)¨ by Richard Fleischer with Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis, ¨The Norseman(1978) ¨ by Charles B Pierce with Cornel Wilde and Mel Ferrer ; ¨The Viking queen(1967)¨ by Don Chaffey with Don Murray and Andrew Keir; ¨The Viking sagas(1995)¨ by Michael Chapman with Ralph Moeller , among others.

THE VIKINGS meets John Cleese!

[uds3 · 30 October 2003]

Churned out at pretty much the end of the cycle of epics, THE LONG SHIPS was NEVER meant to be taken seriously! Richard Widmark understood that - what's with this plethora of pseudo-intellectual reviews decrying cinematic and plotline aspects here. Wake up and smell the roses people, this is one for all and ALL for fun!

Even Poitier, hamming it up as OTHELLO with a wicked hairdresser, was secretly having fun! The whole misbegotten tale of the fabled golden bell was little more than a cack-fest but by GOD was the musical score great or what? I can still hear Dusan's stirring theme now, and I only saw the flick once at its Sydney premiere in '63.

Action aplenty, outrageous script and despite accusations to the contrary here, some gung-ho cinematography. This was never gonna be up for any Oscars, Widmark, Homolka and three quarters of the cast in fact, saw to that!

" I am no dreamer, Viking! I too seek the Mother of Voices "

[thinker1691 · 7/10 · 5 December 2008]

Every Tale, fable, or legend has a basis in some small fact. In this film called " The Long Ships " we have a Viking reciting a legend which was once told to his people of a great bell which was as high as 'three tall men.' Said to have been created by the monks of Byzantium, in actuality, they had indeed cast one out of solid gold, but was small enough to be handed as a gift to the German emperor, for his personal chapel, during the middle ages. As with most 'fish' stories, the size of the bell grew with each retelling. For this movie, the seekers are Northmen, not Germanic knights as in the original tale. Still, the movie is entertaining enough due to the major stars in it. Here we have, Richard Widmark as Rolfe, a seafaring Viking who is captured by Aly Mansuh, the Moorish prince (Sidney Poitier) who threatens him with torture is he does not reveal its location. Then there is Russ Tamblyn as Orm, his very agile brother and then of course there is international star Oskar Homolka as Krok, who is their father. All in all, a good film, for an otherwise lazy afternoon. ****

Good fun

[Lupercali · 6/10 · 17 June 2004]

They say you shouldn't re-visit things you dug when you were a kid, because you'll be disappointed. I remember being blown away by 'The Long Ships' on b/w TV when I was about 8, and I knew that the film wasn't going to live up to my memories - but it could have been a lot, lot worse.

'The Long Ships' was made at the tail end of the historical togas and sandals epics of the fifties and early sixties, and it doesn't take itself anywhere near as seriously as 'Ben Hur', 'El Cid' or 'The Egyptian'. It's basically a good old adventure yarn, and it's still actually a load of fun, even if it gets a bit bogged down in the middle.

Richard Widmark is a Viking (only slightly more ridiculously than his nemesis Sidney Poitier as a Moor) who is shipwrecked and thinks he has found the location of the fabled 'Mother of Voices' - a gigantic golden bell as tall as 'three tall men', made by monks somewhereorother. In his efforts to capture it he and his crew constantly run up against Poitier who has similar designs. All of this leads to some rather improbably rapid voyages from one end of Europe to the other, apparently accomplished overnight - but the film makers obviously didn't give a lot of priority to plausibility, and neither should the viewer.

Widmark plays his hero more like Indiana Jones than Ben Hur. There is a good deal of comedy, and a couple of scenes even feel like they belong in a 'Carry On' movie (particularly the scene where the Vikings bust into the Harem, which might have been offensive if it wasn't so deliberately slapstick).

Sure, it's an adventure drama, but if you're expecting the sort of grave, Biblical epic which had been popular for most of the previous decade, look somewhere else. 'The Long Ships' is a good old-fashioned adventure yarn, and as such is still pretty good fun; at least as much as modern equivalents like 'The Mummy'. I'm giving it a strong 6.0.

A good yarn from "Boys Own"

[billpollock183 · 7/10 · 22 March 2006]

A good yarn not to be taken too seriously. Some good fight scenes, especially the battle on the beach after the shipwreck. I felt Richard Widmark did not take his character too seriously, likewise Sydney Poitier, Oskar Homolka and Russ Tamblyn, Thr big plus for the movie was a great soundtrack. It is still with me even though I saw it on its first release in Sydney. The landscape for the fiords was magnificent. One aspect still standing out was when the king's captain brought the longship in to the jetty at full pace then reversed oars to stop it at the landing. I always wanted to do this and actually got a chance when coxing a racing eight back to its jetty.

The only really good bit turns out to be not that good.

[BA_Harrison · 5/10 · 30 August 2017]

The Long Ships is a rather unremarkable Viking adventure, barring one scene that involves an eye-wateringly nasty method of execution called 'The Mare of Steel'; I haven't seen this film since I was a child, but I can still vividly recall how the poor vikings were sent to their gruesome death, sliced down the middle while sliding down the Mare's large and wickedly sharp blade.

Except that this isn't what happens, as I have just found out by at long last revisiting the film. Over the years, my memory has been deceiving me: the scene in question is extremely tame, only one person, a Moorish guard, riding the Mare, his demise not in the least bit graphic, making the film as a whole quite the disappointment.

The humdrum story sees ruffian Rolfe (Richard Widmark) leading a group of scrawny Viking warriors on a quest to find a fabled bell made of solid gold. Also looking for the bell is Moorish king Aly Mansuh (Sidney Poitier), who isn't about to let the pale northerners steal his prize.

Poorly executed action scenes rub shoulders with moments of embarrassingly bad slapstick comedy (the raucous vikings' wild antics—drinking, brawling and raping—are played for laughs), leading to an uneven film that lacks the rousing sense of adventure to be found in the earlier Hollywood viking epic The Vikings (1958).

A usually reliable cast do little to distinguish this mediocre romp, Poitier clearly not taking matters seriously judging by his ridiculous James Brown hairdo, Widmark and Russ Tamblyn (as Rolfe's younger brother Orm) failing to put any swash into their buckling, and Brit comic actor Lionel Jeffries camping it up in black-face as an effete eunuch!

And don't even get me started on the film's many goofs, which include the massive bell being towed on a raft (which would sink immediately under the weight of all that gold), Rolfe seemingly able to swim from the Barbary coast to Scandinavia, and the small matter of who has been ringing the bell all this time and why (the rocky outcrop on which it is found being totally deserted).

My rating: 5 deafening golden bell bongs out of 10. Moderately entertaining, but mostly for the wrong reasons.

Vikings vs Moors: Who will be first to claim the great golden bell?

[mlraymond · 7/10 · 17 October 2006]

This is what is often referred to as " a good bad movie". For sheer rowdy, swashbuckling fun, it's hard to beat. Two Viking brothers steal their king's funeral ship and his daughter, and set off with a bold Viking crew to find the legendary treasure of the great golden bell.But they have some pretty rough competition in the form of a Moorish prince and his warriors, who also want the fabulous prize. This movie has got everything: storms at sea, land battles, orgies, beautiful women, romance, and enough macho men for a dozen movies. The long ships of the title are beautifully recreated craft that look quite authentic as the crews make their way through dangerous waters and reefs. The Eastern European locations used as background are wonderful to see, and add authenticity. A colorful cast includes a sardonic Richard Widmark as the older brother, with Russ Tamblyn his idealistic younger sibling. Their cantankerous father is played by character actor Oscar Homolka. Many well known British character actors make up the Vikings, including Gordon Jackson and Colin Blakely. But the biggest surprise of the movie is Sidney Poitier, who is incredibly menacing as the Moorish prince. He has a gleam of something close to madness in his eyes, and a quiet voice that is more threatening than a blustering delivery. He and Widmark are obviously having a great time playing these larger than life characters, and the grandiose, heroic music fits wonderfully with the rousing story. For an unapologetically good time at the movies, lovers of adventure should not miss this one.

Awful

[WilliamFAlexander · 1/10 · 25 July 2015]

Although Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier made several movies together in which their chemistry was absolutely great (e.g. "The Bedford Incident" and "No Way Out"), "The Long Ships" is not one of them. Their use of 1960's colloquial American phrases in the dialog just made it unbearable and the acting seemed second rate. Widmark seemed more like a Bronx hood than a viking and Poitier was an even worse prince of the Moors. While watching the movie, I kept wondering if there was really any point of the plot which start off half way decent and then degraded into silliness. I kept asking myself "How did that happen if this had happened?". For example, they had to pass through a maelstrom to get to their destination: this was an absolute must, there was no other way. However, on their return journey, all weighed down with booty, they did not have to pass back through the maelstrom. Why didn't they just go around it in the first place? Such mysteries of the universe we will never known, just has how anyone could rate this movie more than 1 out of 10 ;)

Who Gets IT?

[scttwortman · 10/10 · 4 April 2001]

Oskar Homolka got it. Richard Widmark got it.Even Gordon Jackson got it.Does anyone remember "the Crimson Pirate"? Folks this is not history! This is fun. One of My childhood favorites. The score that every one seems to love is the tipoff.This is going to be a swashbuckler! Only Poitier seems to think he's playing Shakespeare's Moor. This is a great adventure movie! So well done in fact;that no one, in my Saturday matinee audience,even noticed the interracial romance.Kudos to Cardiff for pulling that off! Quite a feat in 1963! This is the kind of film parents hated,because scrap lumber and yardsticks disappeared to make swords,and every trash can lid became a battered shield [that no longer fit the can]. By Sunday morning there were many bruised and splinter wounded 10 year olds You should rate this type of movie by the number of bandaids passed out to young berserkers!

THE LONG SHIPS (Jack Cardiff, 1964) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 6/10 · 4 April 2007]

Richard Flesicher's THE VIKINGS (1958) was, together with the original version of KING KONG (1933), the film I watched most during my childhood - and I still consider it one of the finest adventure movies ever made. Knowing that this was made in its wake, I have always been interested in watching it and, actually, I had seen bits and pieces from the film on a Sicilian TV channel one Sunday afternoon some 20 years ago! I finally acquired it a few weeks back but when, in anticipation of my viewing it, I read what my favorite online DVD reviewer Glenn Erickson aka DVD Savant, had to say about the film - calling it "a feeble joke", "a real embarrassment", "a total botch", and "one big goulash of mistakes" - I was somewhat dreading the prospect of watching it!

The cast is certainly promising: Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier (in their second of three collaborations), Russ Tamblyn, Rosanna Schiaffino (surprising casting, given that the film is a British/Yugoslavian production, but actually quite good as Poitier's non-Moorish wife who eventually has a brief fling with Widmark), Edward Judd, Oskar Homolka, Clifford Evans, Colin Blakely, Gordon Jackson, David Lodge and (in hindsight, unrecognizable) Lionel Jeffries! Widmark is fun as the tell-tale Viking hero but Poitier, saddled with an unbecoming Billy Dee Williams-type wig as a Moorish prince, looks miserable throughout (he later considered the film "a disaster" himself); Tamblyn as Widmark's brother is typically energetic and Homolka is evidently aping Ernest Borgnine's turn in THE VIKINGS as the Norse patriarch…but the most bizarre casting of all is that of Jeffries as the insufferable eunuch in Poitier's harem (although his screen time is mercifully brief)!

Director Cardiff had been the cameraman on the earlier Viking epic and, though THE LONG SHIPS was based on a book, it clearly took much inspiration from the Fleischer film: the Viking festivities, the Norse community welcoming its returning males, Widmark and Tamblyn both falling for female enemies, etc. Two of THE VIKINGS' major assets were the awesome cinematography and the unforgettable score; these two aspects are also notable here (courtesy of Christopher Challis and Dusan Radic respectively) - though the latter does grow repetitive after a while. The action scenes, with a surfeit of falling horses and leaping Norsemen, are decent enough - though the 'Mare of Steel' torture device promises brutality which never materializes! The quest for the Golden Bell (introduced in the notably colorful animated prologue) even equates this with the search for the Holy Grail (of Arthurian times) and the Golden Fleece (from Greek mythology). The highlight of the film is certainly the discovery of the bell itself and its subsequent tumble into the sea taking many of Widmark's crew along with it (although, it's rather inconceivable how a thing of that magnitude would float after falling from such heights)!

My verdict, therefore, may not be as harsh as that of Erickson or Poitier but there's little doubt that the amount of talent involved in THE LONG SHIPS should have made for a more significant film; ultimately, it's enjoyable as a juvenile romp but falls short of the full-blooded thrills delivered by THE VIKINGS. Incidentally, producer Irving Allen would soon go on to make GENGHIS KHAN (1965) - another maligned international epic which, again, I've been wishing to check out for a couple of decades and which is, surprisingly enough, still unavailable on DVD...

Almost hopeless

[chaswe-28402 · 2/10 · 9 August 2016]

The name of Frans G. Bengtsson features on the credits. He must be turning in his grave. He was an outstanding Swedish writer, and the author of several novels and historical works, including an exciting best-seller, in two parts, which was translated into English as "The Long Ships", and into 22 other languages. This film, so far as I can tell, has virtually nothing whatsoever to do with that excellent book. The film does have a character called Krok, who bears no resemblance to his namesake in the book. Otherwise the whole production is a ghastly travesty.

Richard Widmark was of Swedish descent, and he does look quite Swedish. However, he doesn't look anything like a Viking. His acting in this film is atrociously inappropriate. None of the other actors seem anything like Vikings or Moors, especially not Russ Tamblyn and Sidney Poitier, or any of the variegated British crowd. Leonard Rossiter and Lionel Jeffries for God's sake! Was this meant to be a comedy ? It's riddled with plot holes and serious impossibilities, including a bell made of solid gold, perhaps the least suitable metal for a bell, 18 foot tall.

The film starts off immediately on the wrong note with an excruciating introductory narrative in a light, gentlemanly English voice, by an actor called Edward Judd. Strange that characters in films of this era, notably females, always have impeccable hairdos, even if they've just been dragged through a storm backwards. The wife of the head Moor (was that really Poitier ?) has an exceptionally dishy deshabille.

Widmark is reported as having said of the shoot, which took place in Yugoslavia during the rule of Tito, that "It wasn't a happy time." That is apparent. It's an unhappy film. There are one or two good maritime scenes, hence the extra star. Made for uncritical ten year olds.

well known

[Kirpianuscus · 3 January 2018]

...story, lines, events, adventure, fights, heroism , love story. but not bad. in few aspects - surprising. because it has the right cast, the right director and...the right music. because it has the same flavor from the "historical" films of same period. but seductive nuances. because Sydney Poitiers is real convincing as the cruel, powerfull Aly Mansuh and Richard Widmark orRuss Tamblyn use the inspired recipe defining each of them roles. so, a film who not gives much surprises but it is more than decent. and, for today, when the Viking fashion is alive, "The Long Ships" has the chance to be real cool.

Why not use the Sagas?

[arno-1 · 6/10 · 28 April 2005]

I have watched a few of the "Viking" movies, and watching this one gives me the same impression. The authors or rather the movie producers must be ignorants in history. If they were better readers of the Norse Sagas for instance, they would have found many marvelous plots for movies, that would make classic epic movies with great attraction to the public. There is every ingredient, such as lust for power and fame but also high spirited men. On the exterior side, there are many great adventures such as the life of Harald Hardrada (i.e. hard rule.) After a raid into the Mediterranean, he became a general in the most advanced state in the Western world, the East-Roman Empire. Later, in 1066, he invaded England to take the throne which he legally inherited. Later on, in 1108, King Sigurd let Bergen with 10.000 men and visited their Norman allies's in Londisfarne. London, Normandie, sunk Moorish fleets outside Portugal, took the Balearic islands for the Moors, visited the Norman king in Sicily, beat the Moors in Syria, left his fleet and men with Emperor Alexis in Constantinople and went home to Konghelle and further by horseback. On the 'interior side' he came home, disillusioned with the practice of the Christain faith in Constantinople. Now that is a story to be told!

Long ships rule

[dunsuls · 6/10 · 19 June 2002]

Sydney Poitier as a bad guy!!!Worth the rental just for that. As a moorish ruler obsessed with a wrong done by christians there is some relivance to today,but the obsession is for GOLD not correcting the wrong deed.Richard Widmark is NOT a Viking,but this movie is a laugh a minute with mistakes and unbelivable happenings.Still Oscar Hominka is right on in his small but important role,and its good to see Russ Tambyn in a non West side story role.Not to be taken to seriously as the much more recent 13 warrior is to be.

Just Take It As What It Is

[ragosaal · 7/10 · 8 November 2006]

Though released at about the same time, "The Long Ships" was not intended as an epic spectacular film in the line of "The Vikings" (1958), "Ben Hur" (1959), "Spartacus" (1960) or some other of the 50's and early 60's classics. This movie has to be assumed just as what it was planned to be: a colorful period costume extravaganza in the times of the Vikings with lots of action and adventure; as such it stands as a most enjoyable product all the way.

A very impressive color photography in beautiful open-wide outdoor locations, perfect settings and an interesting cast help too. Richard Widmark is the Viking chief that leads his men in the search of the "Mother of Voices" a legendary huge bell made of gold; Sidney Poiter plays a sort of villainous Muslim leader who also wants the bell and fights the Vikings for it. Oscar Homolka, Russ Tamblyn and Lionel Jeffries (in an unusual character) are there too. Beautiful Italian actress Rosanna Schiaffino adds the feminine touch as Poitier's favorite wife.

If you don't think much in realistic terms and just let yourself go with action and adventure you'll surely have a good time with this film.

Just for the record: in Argentina "The Long Ships" was renamed as "Los Invasores Vikingos" ("The Viking Invaders").

A good, though not great, movie from a time when hollywood actually made good movies.

[ccunning-73587 · 7/10 · 19 July 2019]

A good, though not great, movie from a time when hollywood actually made good movies. Well worth the time to watch this swashbuckling, adventure, action movie. It is light & humorous, not the gore filled, CGI, pinball machine constant action of the garbage hollywood puts out now a days. Quick glimpse: Two viking brothers steel the Norse king's ship, and daughter, to seek out a large gold bell, hinted at in mythology but actually heard by Widmark, one of the brothers. Trials and adventure accrue along the way as they face problems with the crew and weather. They shipwreck on the Moorish coast and are enslaved by the Moorish ruler, a young Poitier, who has also heard about and believes the myth of the bell. A chess match between Widmark & Poitier ensues... I vote worth the watch...

Bells, Belles and Biceps.

[hitchcockthelegend · 5/10 · 15 July 2010]

Out of Columbia Pictures comes this Viking/Moors adventure very loosely based on the Swedish novel of the same name written by Frans G. Bengtsson. Produced by Irving Allen, it's directed by Jack Cardiff and stars Richard Widmark, Sidney Poitier & Russ Tamblyn. It's a Technicolor/Technirma 70 production with cinematography from Christopher Challis, who shoots on location along the Yugoslavia coast. The plot follows the search and fights for a fabled golden bell known as The Mother of Voices. On one side is the Moor army led by king Aly Mansuh (Poitier), on the other is the Norsemen led by Rolfe (Widmark).

Thought to be an attempt at cashing in on the success of Richard Fleischer's The Vikings and Anthony Mann's El Cid (in spite of there being a 6 and 3 year gap respectively?), The Long Ships is a messy film bogged down by confused intentions and a poor script from Beverley Cross & Berkely Mather. Things are also problematic within the cast as Widmark, sensing the turgid nature of the beast, plays it for laughs, while a disgruntled Poitier gives it the maximum effort trying to make it work. The rest of the cast are, it seems, just along for a meal ticket ride. Even Dusan Radic's score is boisterously out of place, loud and uneven with the action, it's a score that would be more at home with an Asterix The Gaul cartoon. However, and depending on if you can forgive the nonsense history and all round bad narrative, there's still some fun to be had. Be it intentional or not. The costuming is effective, while Challis' coastal photography is gorgeous and sparkles in Technicolor. The action sequences are competently staged by Cardiff {cinematographer on The Vikings funnily enough}, tho the site of an army being felled by weapons unseen is hilariously bad. With sea-storms, double-crosses and the evil Mare Of Steel execution device, there's enough to have made this something of a cult favourite with the adventure fan. So bad it's good? Well it's not quite in that category, but newcomers entering into it expecting anything other than a dumb downed costume adventure will be sorely disappointed. 5/10

Enjoyable and colourful hokum

[Marlburian · 6/10 · 4 November 2005]

Most reviews of this film contrast Sidney Poitier playing his role seriously with Richard Widmark's tongue-in-cheek approach and describe the plot as hokum. This it certainly is, but it's enjoyable and undemanding to watch.

The plot (in the version that I saw, which may have been edited) leaves unanswered several questions. Having dived a couple of hundred feet out of a torture chamber on the Barbary Coast (north west Africa), Widmark is next seen crawling out of the sea back home in "Scandia"; what happened in between? No-one knows the location of the bell made "out of half the gold in the world" and Poitier is desperate to find it out, but Widmark heads in the right direction; within seconds of spotting it, his longboat is shipwrecked and he and his crew captured by Poitier's men, so it can't have been that far away. Despite losing many members in shipwrecks and fights, the longboat's crew always seems to be the same size. And after many of the oars on one side of the boat splinter against a cliff face they are mysteriously replaced in the next scene.

How the Vikings turn the tables on their captors at the end is a contrived cop out that does not convince. There just aren't enough of them.

Often close to pantomime, the film descends into it when the Vikings escape into a harem and make merry with its members, with a blacked-up Lionel Jefferies as (presumably) the chief eunuch trying to defend his charges. Oskar Homolka overacts as the Norse boatbuilder, but in a film like this he may be forgiven. One can be distracted by trying to identify the British character actors in their wigs, beards and (very) short tunics. Russ Tamblyn, his dark hair dyed blond - sort of - does the occasional piece of acrobatics but is as unlikely a member of the longboat crew as Tony Curtis is in the superior film The Vikings.

One last puzzle: inevitably the Vikings end up with the bell at the end of the film but what do they do with it when they get it home (though it would have been a heck of thing to tow behind one of their boats).

Unbelievable!

[Ambak · 1/10 · 2 February 2014]

This 1964 effort from Jack Cardiff could (with some recasting) have been Monty Python and the Big Bell or Carry on Viking. Glum faced actors mouth woeful dialogue while the action scenes are so stagey and stilted they might as well have left the clapper board at the beginning of each one. All this is accompanied by the most discordant, ghastly "music" score by the justifiably obscure Dusan Radic. The golden bell manages to roll down a cliffside without a scratch or the slightest deformation while clanging all the way (gold is too soft to behave like this). All in all this falls into the category of "has to be seen to be believed".

The OTHER great Viking movie.

[jckruize · 8/10 · 14 December 2001]

After Kirk Douglas' THE VIKINGS, this was a close second in fun, Saturday matinée-style spectacle. Richard Widmark inhabits the role of the Viking, Rolfe, with a breezy, unstilted style that suits his character's sense of derring-do perfectly. In contrast, Sidney Poitier plays it straight, and his majestic voice and bearing make him a commanding yet sympathetic villain. The plot is lightweight, it's true, but there's much fun to be had for those of us fond of old-fashioned adventure in distant eras and exotic climes. Sit back, drink in the magnificent cinematography and Dusan Radic's powerful, melodic score and enjoy the heck out of this epic clash of Vikings and Moors. And be warned: the Mare of Steel is not for the faint-hearted!

Saturday Afternoon Fun

[TheRook · 6/10 · 18 December 2001]

I saw this with my family as a teenager and it was a fun family movie then and it still is. We went to see it because of Sidney Poitier and Richard Widmark and we were not disappointed. I have seen it pop up on TV occassionally but not enough to suit my taste. If you like action and adventure movies you should get some entertainment out of this. It involves a band of vikings led by Widmark trying to find a legendary gold bell. Poitier captures them trying to steal the bell from his kingdom and their battle then and escape later has some decent action. This is definitely no brainer family entertainment, and not for snobs that bash anything that doesn't have a 120+ million dollar FX budget or that makes the average person wretch from the overacted drama. When it comes out on DVD I plan to buy it.

Wow...they have Vikings and it's STILL a rather dull film!

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 14 June 2010]

I wanted to love this film. After all, my favorite film for fun and adventure from the 1950s is 1958's "The Vikings". While this Richard Fleischer film is no masterpiece for the snobs out there, it IS exciting throughout--with more action and thrills than three typical action films. So, with this in mind, I was hoping to see the same sort of movie--filled with excitement aplenty. However, sadly, this was NOT the case. The entire movie seemed very, very talky (a Viking who talks?!) and a bit like a bad movie serial--with lots and lots of narrow escapes but not a lot of inspired action.

The film begins with Viking Richard Widmark in the middle of the Muslim empire. While it is a little-known fact that Vikings DID travel as far as the Mediterranean and the Muslim world, the combination seemed uninspired. And, to make it worse, the powerful Muslims seemed amazingly dumb--as they let the Vikings escape repeatedly. The only possible cool moment they COULD have had involved a fictional device called the "steel horse"--and they never exactly got around to actually using it on anyone but one of their own innocent men!! Duh.

The plot is a silly mess, as it supposedly involved an enormous golden bell that has NONE of the properties of real gold (see the GOOFS on IMDb for more). And, seeing Vikings in furs in the middle of the hot Middle East looking for Byzantine gold just seemed crazy. But, this MIGHT have worked if the film had been interesting or the characters compelling--which none of it ever was. So what you have is a pretty film with decent music but that is all. Too bad...Vikings should be fun and entertaining to watch.

By the way, while the film was far from great and the Vikings NEVER would have dressed in furs like this, I did at least appreciate that they did NOT have horns on their helmets--a modern myth about these Scandinavian warriors.