The Long Ships (1963 film)
| The Long Ships | |
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Original cinema poster
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| Directed by | Jack Cardiff |
| Produced by | Irving Allen |
| Screenplay by |
Beverley Cross Berkely Mather |
| Based on |
The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson |
| Starring |
Richard Widmark Sidney Poitier Russ Tamblyn |
| Narrated by | Edward Judd |
| Music by | Dušan Radić |
| Cinematography | Christopher Challis |
| Edited by | Geoffrey Foot |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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126 min. |
| Country | United Kingdom Yugoslavia |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $16 million |
| Box office | est. $1,930,000 (US/ Canada) |
The Long Ships is a 1964 British-Yugoslavian adventure film shot in Technirama directed by Jack Cardiff and stars Richard Widmark, Sidney Poitier, and Russ Tamblyn.
The film was very loosely based on the Swedish novel The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson (1941-1945), retaining little more than the title (of the English translation) and the Moorish settings of Orm's first voyage. Although the protagonist is named Rolfe, the film was released in Sweden with the title Röde Orm och de långa skeppen (Red Orm and the Long Ships), in a further attempt to exploit the popularity of the novel. It was also intended to capitalise on the success of recent Viking and Moorish dramas such as The Vikings (1958) and El Cid (1961), and was later followed by Alfred the Great (1969).
The story centres on an immense golden bell named The Mother of Voices, which may or may not exist. Moorish king Aly Mansuh (Sidney Poitier) is convinced that it does. Having collected all the legendary material about it that he can, he plans to mount an expedition to search for it. When the shipwrecked Norseman, Rolfe (Richard Widmark), repeats the story of the bell in the marketplace, and hints that he knows its location, he is seized by Mansuh's men and brought in for questioning. Rolfe insists that he does not know and that the bell is only a myth. He manages to escape before the questioning continues under torture.
Managing to return home, Rolfe reveals to his father that he did indeed hear the bell pealing on the night his ship was wrecked in Africa. However, Rolfe's father has been made destitute after spending a fortune building a funeral ship for the Danish king, Harold Bluetooth, who then refuses to reimburse him by citing an outstanding debt. Rationalising that the ship does not yet belong to Harold (since he is still living), Rolfe and his brother steal not only the ship, but kidnap a number of inebriated Vikings to serve as its crew. In order to prevent Harold from killing his father in revenge for the theft, he also takes the king's daughter as a hostage. Harold declares that he will summon every longship he can find and rescue her. After prolonged difficulties at sea, the ship is damaged in a maelstrom. The Norse are cast ashore in Mansuh's country. Captured by the Moors, the Norse are condemned to execution but Mansuh's favourite wife Aminah (Rosanna Schiaffino) convinces her husband to use them and their longship to retrieve the bell.
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