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» » I tartari (1961)

Short summary

Orson Welles is tartar leader Burundai, who takes the place of his brother Togrul, killed during the battle against the Slavs, as Viking chieftain Oleg refuses to join him. After the kidnapping of Togrul's daughter by the Vikings, and Oleg's wife, by the Tartars, the two leaders have a fight...

According to Orson Welles' conversations with Peter Bogdanovich, as recounted in the book "This is Orson Welles", Victor Mature had his sandals built up by three inches to make him look taller.

Orson Wells plays a role as tartar leader. He also played a similar role eleven years before, in The Black Rose (1950).

User reviews


  • comment
    • Author: kewdiepie
    This film has a few bizarrely humorous scenes. When the vikings practice shooting paper-mache boulders with their catapults, their leader Victor Mature goes out to be the target, all with that great grin on his face! Welles as the Tartar prince makes goo-goo eyes at his Viking hostage with the plunging neckline, during a banquet which has for entertainment ballet dancers pretending to copulate in front of the dazed guests! Endless shots of armies on horseback riding by, with each shot lasting about twice as long as you'd expect! And then there's the scene where the vikings throw knives at the Romeo-and-Juliet couple in order to register their vote on the couple's fate! And the shots of Orson, huge as a house and shaped like a melon, walking up and down the corridors in his resplendent robes! And the battle scenes are great too, no one ever seems to get hurt! And the viking commandos slip into the river to cross; even though no one's around to see them, they go underwater for a remarkably long time! And then there's the ship which returns to harbor even though no one's got a pulse enough to steer! And then there's the giant sugar cubes being loaded into the catapult! ********SPOILER**** When a wounded Welles (actually a double) falls into the river, it's an absurd echo of "Touch of Evil". Pretty strange stuff.
  • comment
    • Author: DarK-LiGht
    THE TARTARS is a tale of revenge set in the Russian steppes circa 900 A.D. Viking Prince Oleg (at best a weak and unintentionally humorous portrayal by Victor Mature) is asked by a Tartar chieftain to join the Mongol horde and destroy the indigenous Slavic tribes. Oleg refuses to betray his Slavic brethern and all hell breaks loose. The Tartar chieftan is murdered and his brother Ogotai (a "larger" than life Orson Welles) voys to avenge his brother's death which leads to more massacres and malicious deeds. Welles is interesting in the part of the Tartar Khan and his palace is a work of sensational art direction. Costumes in this Italian-made epic are first rate and half of the cast and crew are recognizable names from other Italian epics, sci-fi and horror films. Mature once said, "I'm a lousy actor with 75 motion pictures to prove it." This critic can only say, "Amen to that!" THE TARTARS is certainly worth seeing but is not the most memorable moment in epic filmmaking history.
  • comment
    • Author: Small Black
    A stilted historical epic with pretensions of Hollywood grandeur, The Tartars remains a viable option for admirers of sixties Euro-cinema. Victor Mature, looking ridiculous in period garb and elevator sandals, plays Oleg, a Viking prince who's somehow found his way to the Russian steppes, where he's been invited to join forces with the Mongol hordes in war against the opposing Slavic hordes. Oleg refuses and immediately becomes a target for Tartar big man Burundai (Orson Welles, who's clearly enjoying himself). Oddly, IMDb doesn't list a director for the film, but MGM vet Richard Thorpe was at the helm, and his experience directing costume dramas (such as 1954's Knights of the Round Table) is evident. Featuring terrific art design, plenty of action, and a fine score by Renzo Rossellini, The Tartars is clearly head and shoulders above the usual sword and sandal pictures of the period—even though Mature seems out of his (admittedly shallow) depth.
  • comment
    • Author: Felolune
    Victor Mature and Orson Welles head a continental cast in I Tartari, a badly dubbed Italian film about the Vikings and the Tartars set somewhere in the steppes of Eastern Europe. Both of these American film icons had nothing better to do. Welles just needed the money for his own projects and Mature after the studio system was shutting down was putting his career into half speed as he concentrated on golf more than films.

    Like the cowboys and the farmers in Oklahoma, the Tartars and Vikings just feud because its natural both being imperialist sorts. The Tartars are moving west and would eventually reach the Balkans. The Vikings expanded in every direction including voyages southward down river routes into what is now Byelorussia and the Ukraine.

    The Tartars make an offer the Vikings under Mature can and do refuse. The Tartars want to have a military alliance and attack the native Slavs, but Mature who has married into the Slavs refuses and negotiations break down. The Tartar chief is killed and his daughter is carried off by the Vikings and Mature's brother has a yen for her and they get to kanoodling.

    Orson Welles who is the brother of the slain chief takes over and his troops capture Mature's wife. He's willing to exchange Mature's wife for his niece, but not after a little forced kanoodling of his own, brought on as Welles and the wife are being entertained by some sexy oriental strip dancing and Orson's hormones get the better of him.

    I won't go any farther in describing this disaster of an Italian spectacle film just to say it all ends rather badly for just about everyone in the film. There were spots in the film where Mature's English was dubbed and I can't see why other than Mature could not summon up enough conviction to give a passable interpretation of a performance. Given the material I can't blame him. Even Welles, professional that he is, looks positively bored even when getting ready to rape Mature's wife. Victor Mature would be off the screen for five years before appearing in Peter Sellers's After The Fox in a good natured satire of an actor very much like himself.

    Vic and Orson really hit the bottom doing this one.
  • comment
    • Author: Rocksmith
    Sometimes there are films that are so bad they are good, even great, see "Welcome to Woop Woop." (1998) "The Maze." (1953.) The Conqueror" (1956). "I Tarari" (1961) is in this vaulted class of movies. Staring the great Orson Wells and Victor Mature it just collapse under it's own sincerity, what a hoot!. The lines are stock and over blown. Don't bother with the plot what ever it is, just listen to the lines and watch the really bad acting, have a bottle of cheap red wine to get the full effect. I love this movie and give it a 10.

    It is worthy of an MST3K treatment. Orson Wells must have needed money to make a movie he wanted to make, as others have pointed out in this section. It's a lot of fun to watch with friends.
  • comment
    • Author: Qwert
    Very talented and recognized Orson Welles (brilliant in "Citizen Kane", "The Third Man" or "Compulsion") must have been very needed of money in the early 60's to enter this film; there can be no other explanation whatsoever. As a Tartar ruler confronting Viking invaders Welles shows not interest at all in what he is doing and even though his undeniable screen personality is enough for him to steal the show.

    Victor Mature plays the enemy Viking chief (yes, I said Viking!) with his usual and inevitable overacting and going around with his little war? axe and his black greasy 1960's hairdo. His casting in this is like putting Mickey Rooney to play Goliath.

    As for the rest of it "The Tartars" is just one more of the usual sort of low budget adventure costume movies the Italians gave us after the bad though sort of original "Hercules" (1959) with good old Steve Reeves (he always underacted in the same level Mature overacted). Some average action sequences a less than average plot and an all standard direction complete the picture.

    The point is that if Welles (or even Mature) where not in "The Tartars" you would have not much expectations and you would surely judge this film with a more generous concept. But taking the film as it is you can only say it's a terrible piece of cinema. So terrible that if you are a movie's fan you can't miss it because that is precisely its major achievement.
  • comment
    • Author: Nikohn
    This is no boring picture but it is far away from well entertainment too. The story is too simple. Most of the actors are not very convincing (especially too old and too dark "Viking" Victor Mature and an uninspired Luciano Marin). There remains an interesting Orson Welles as "Tartarian" Burundai and the experienced directing by Richard Thorpe (director of legendary historical epics like "Ivanhoe"). Good work is also done by the Italian cast members who composed the music, took the location shots and designed the costumes. To sum it up an average movie.
  • comment
    • Author: Miromice
    This was one of those awful exotic spectaculars of the 1950's and early 1960's that tried to place a grade b western into an exotic place. In this case, Orson Welles and Victor Mature quarrel over control of the steppes of central Asia. The dialog is stilted, to be kind only because I can't think anything worse to say about it. The plot consisted on Orson Welles plotting(he was already getting fat)and Victor Mature running around showing his muscles. The movie combined the worse attributes of the two. Victor Mature was never noted for his ability to handle sophisticated dialog and Orson Welles was never noted as an action hero, except at the dinner table. The movie did feature some rather stunning blonde women with large mammary glands, but their parts were limited to lines like, "Yes, Great Khan." Even something that simple was often blown. After seeing this film it's hard to understand why they say Orson Welles was so great. This one certainly didn't do him any honor. I gave the movie a 1 only because they wouldn't let me give it a 0.
  • comment
    • Author: Lanadrta
    Welles always seemed to need money to make his own movies. He'd take on a role (even if it was just lending his voice) no matter how good or bad the movie was just for the paycheck, saving up until he had enough money to make his next visionary film that was far removed from the normal type that audiences were used to.

    You can tell by his acting that he really didn't care about the role--but it was the money that mattered to him--and where the money was--no matter what country he had to go to to get it, he'd take the role--even if it was a piece of crock--and this film sure is! But 1961's THE TARTARS helped finance Welles' next movie (Despite, as usual, his having to film it in another country plus having problems getting a US distributor) the following year--1962's Kafka's THE TRIAL.

    As usual, Welles' small indie film made little money and he barely broke even--but he was already planning Shakespeare's CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT and going through the process once more in acting in any role given to him to get those paychecks in his savings account.
  • comment
    • Author: NI_Rak
    The tartars casts some of the same characters as "The Conqueror" which starred John Wayne and Susan Heyward and is widely known as one of the worst big-budget Hollywood movies ever made. It is so bad it is usually seen as a comedy due to awful scripting and acting.

    The Tartars takes Wayne's character 30-40 years into the future in the shape of Orson Welles. Welles here attacks Victor Mature, miscast as a Viking (?), and murders his wife. Terrible vengeance is the theme of this laughable epic. It is hard to tell whether the worst thing about this movie is the acting, the script, or the costumes featuring all the men in mini-skirts.

    Turner movies has both epics in the library and should combine them on any weekend billed as 'The worst historical double feature of all time'.
  • Complete credited cast:
    Victor Mature Victor Mature - Oleg
    Orson Welles Orson Welles - Burundai
    Liana Orfei Liana Orfei - Helga
    Arnoldo Foà Arnoldo Foà - Ciu Lang
    Luciano Marin Luciano Marin - Eric
    Bella Cortez Bella Cortez - Samia
    Furio Meniconi Furio Meniconi - Sigrun
    Pietro Ceccarelli Pietro Ceccarelli
    Renato Terra Renato Terra
    Folco Lulli Folco Lulli - Togrul
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