andras-ocskay Quit boring for me, too long talks, slow actions. They walk walk walk, nothing happening than they stop and talk few sentences, than walk again for few minutes, than talk again.Shooting scene is clamsy, no targeting just shoot. Main caracters nearly bullet proof.One guy always stick his dagger next to his belly. Seems that dagger not real, otherwise he would cut his belly badly when he jump, sit or just move.Sleeping scene is lame.Let the main enemy guy go in the end is clamsy also.Funny all of them has brittish accent and perfect englishActions are bad, they taking risk without real reasonBad acting, unnecesery dialogsKissing scenes are good, and funnyWhy they scared about elephamts? I did not get that.This movie could be 15 minutes only.Get there, grab the girl, walk a lot, find out his father dead, set the wildlings free, than meet again in the fort with a big fight scene.I know its 1963 but ppl had to have brain. It seem they did not have.

Wizard-8 While Steve Reeves certainly made a lot of musclemen movies for European filmmakers in the 50s and 60s, he would occasionally branch out into other genres, from spaghetti westerns to movies like this one. However, in this particular case, Reeves was used poorly in his new environment. He doesn't have his usual magnetic charm to keep the audience looking at him, one reason that he is not as up front and centre as he was in other movies, the other reason being that he hides his muscles for most of the movie. But even if Reeves had been better used, the movie would still have suffered from extreme dullness. Though filmed on location in Asia with a considerable budget, the pretty backdrop does not hide that the story is both slow-moving and has plenty of plot devices used in many other movies before and since. There's also a very limited amount of action, and except for the okay climatic battle, none of the action is particularly compelling. If you have a hankering for Reeves, pick one of his musclemen movies instead; they may be cheaper and cruder, but they are more lively than this movie.

Leofwine_draca An effective jungle adventure yarn from one of Italy's greatest cult directors - Umberto Lenzi, who would later go on to greater fame with his polizia and horror movies in the '70s and '80s. Here, his pacy direction keeps SANDOKAN THE GREAT interesting when it could be regarded as overlong, and a wealth of action and plot elements make the running time fly by. On top of this, the band of assorted leading characters are a well-developed bunch too, not just cardboard cut-outs as in many similar movies from the period, each with their own personality and character. The dashing hero is played this time around by genre titan Steve Reeves, effortlessly charismatic and athletic when the script calls for it, as Reeves displays once again the skills that made him a true legend in Italy.The majority of the film's running time is taken up by a huge jungle trek in which our heroes must fight many perils. The journey is interspersed with plenty of fights, shoot-outs, jailbreaks, and other action staples which are well-staged and always a pleasure to watch. Reeves' party is fleshed out by a pretty blonde girl (played well by Genevieve Grad, although she doesn't have a lot to work with), and minor parts for Wilbert Bradley and Dakkar Genre fans may spot seasoned performers Rik Battalgia and Superargo himself, Giovanni Cianfriglia, appearing in other minor roles. Leo Anchoriz ironically has the role of the stuffy British villain, Lord Hillock, but unfortunately is rather unmemorable.Along the way, Reeves and his men must traverse treacherous bogs and poisoned swamp water, a surprise attack by a lethal tiger, an elephant stampede (done with stock footage, but still realistic), a tribe of head hunters who shoot and kill with their poisoned darts, and a traitor in their midst as well as avoiding all the British soldiers out to get them. The ending could have been a classic but is let down by some poor day-for-night filming which obscures some of the action, so it just remains great fun. Sandokan and his men perform a jailbreak and then proceed to massacre the British army in a large battle scene, the highlight of which sees a bloodied Reeves jumping on to a huge machine gun and cutting down dozens of the enemy. A good way to end what is a perfectly enjoyable little adventure romp, recommended to all fans of the genre.

alphaboy This film even seemed stiffer than other Italian adventure-films of that time, and Steve Reeves, believe me!, doesn't help a bit. The storyline is tedious and unattractive. There is a lot of archive footage for the jungle-fauna built in (that even looks livelier than the film itself). Only fun scene: Reeves' fight against a tiger.But in the last ten minutes the situation explodes, and there is this gigantic battle at the fort, well staged and fun. Reeves gets to fire a machine gun (a little like Django) and matches the strength of an army. If only Lenzi had divided the action and strewn it all over the film's time, it would have been more watchable (if you don't skip the beginning, that is). My rating: 5/10.