Musings!

Rosanna Schiaffino is a bad babe in THE LONG SHIPS (1964) 

This movie is an oddity in the PEPLUM genre. Produced by Columbia Picture with a predominantly Hollywood cast, except for Rosanna. It was released relatively late, in 1964, just as the genre was petering out. It was directed by the legendary cinematographer Jack Cardiff, who didn't direct that many films. And he agreed to do a boisterous PEPLUM movie? This is the closest Hollywood has ever come to making an all out PEPLUM movie, along with ATLANTIS THE LOST CONTINENT (1961). Personally, I like it but I don't find the story, about the bell, compelling enough. By the one hour mark, my mind is drifting away. I don't mind Richard Widmark but a Viking hero he is not. Sydney Poitier was, by then, an established actor and as good as he is, he seems above it (like Widmark). The only one that seems to get it is Rosanna. Her role in this movie is essentially the same role she played in her very first film, ROLAND THE MIGHTY (1956). She was great in that and she's the best thing in this movie. Her expression here sums it up. She seems like she's the only one having fun. I wrote about ROLAND THE MIGHTY in the latest issue of BY THE GODS! magazine. THE LONG SHIPS is a mix of Vikings and Arabian adventure. Cardiff was the cinematographer on THE VKINGS (1958), the Kirk Douglas movie. Widmark sorta resembles Kirk. Did I already write that it's very over-the-top boisterous?