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The Long Ships

Long is right... if the title is any indicator, "The Long Ships" is impressive in scale but dreadfully, frightfully dull when it comes to its story and characters. Many noticeable faces abound here, headed by Richard Widmark, playing a Viking who claims to know the location of a giant bell made of solid gold, nicknamed "The Mother of Voices." When he is kidnapped by the covetous Prince Aly Mansuh (Sidney Poitier), he withholds disclosure of its whereabouts, and later makes his escape. Once he steals a funeral ship from the Norse king with his brother (Russ Tamblyn), who himself makes off with the king's daughter (Beba Loncar), it's off to the seas, where all manner of hell breaks loose, on the characters as well as the audience. ***

You can have all the action sequences and well-crafted photography in the world at your disposal, but if your viewers don't give two hoots about what's going on underneath all the dazzle, then you've ultimately lost them. "The Long Ships" proves just how tiresome a movie like this can be: sure, the battles are nicely staged and executed, and Christopher Challis's lensing of the epic is quite grand in places. But director Jack Cardiff, himself a cinematographer, obviously didn't learn much from his collaboration on 1956's "War and Peace. With a strong emphasis on action, Cardiff's direction loses us once it becomes painfully clear that the story is merely a spinal chord for battles, mayhem, and special effects, with little room for Widmark's slightly-average acting and Poitier's hairdo. For those of you who thought that style over substance was strictly a modern Hollywood dilemna, this fool's gold nugget should do well to provide you with a different perspective.

The film's 2.35:1 aspect ratio comes from a good source print, so there is little-to-no problems with dirt or speckle. Film grain is present here and there, but nothing too bothersome. Contrast, however, looks muddy and unfocused, while colors, although nicely saturated, bleed in some of the darker moments. Edges are sharp with some enhancement artifacts present. A so-so transfer, but nothing to cross the ocean for. ***

The sound comes in Dolby 2.0 Mono, and isn't very impressive, even for a mono track. Sound effects are harsh and muddled, with sloppy dialogue and audible noise and hiss in the background. This one could have used a clean-up job.