Taras Bulba [Blu-ray]

A rather loose adaptation of Russian Nikolai Gogol's novel of the same title. It primarily deals with the late 16th century conflict between feudal catholic Poland and non-catholic, freedom-loving, Cossacks over control of part of present Ukraine. The other plot thread deals with the fatal obsession of Andriy: son of Cossack leader Taras Bulba, over a young Polish princess, causing him to commit treason to hopefully save her from starvation or the plague inside the Polish citadel of Dubno, besieged by a Cossack army lead by his father. Today, Ukraine is again much in the news from an attempt by Russia to annex it or render it a vassal state.I find it quite odd that Tony Curtis, as Taras's amorous traitorous son, Andriy, is given top billing over Yul Brynner, who plays the title character and apparent hero.. Strangely, unlike Brynner and many others, no attempt is made to make Tony or his cast brother look like a typical Cossack, or anything other than their usual off-screen selves. At 37, Tony evidently is playing 15 or so years younger, as a student at the Polish Academy, in Kiev, which makes him seem a much more acceptable love interest for the teen Polish Princess Natalia. He and his brother are ostracized as apparently the only Cossacks attending the academy. While being punished for romancing Natalia, he somehow manages to grab a rapier and, in an informal duel with Natalia's brother, kills him, after which he and his broth decide they should quickly return home. One would think that misdeed would end the princess's love interest in him, should they meet again. But, later, we discover: not so!Brynner was quite disappointed in the final product, in which many of his favorite scenes had been deleted. Brynner was only 6 years older than Tony, but gets away with playing his father, because of Tony's still youthful looks.............Meanwhile, 16yo German actress Cristine Kaufmann, as Princess Natalia, is the female lead. Like the previous Linda Darnell and Joan Leslie, for example, she had always been precocious. Thus, studios weren't hesitant to pair them romantically with a man in his late 30s or early 40s, especially if he were still young-looking, like Tony. Well, on screen, as well as off screen, it was clearly a case of love at first sight. Thus, after completing filming, Tony took her to the US, to become his 2nd wife when she was considered legally 'of age'.Overall, the screenplay is quite intriguing, including forbidden love, treachery by groups and by individuals, personal tragedies, battle scenes, and final victory by Taras and the Cossacks, in contrast to the tragic ending in Gogol's novel.Filmed in Argentina, utilizing hundreds of gauchos, mostly as cavalry, the cost went way over budget. There are a number of chaotic battles, as close-order hand-to-hand fighting tends to be. Expectedly, the Cossacks lacked body armor, while the Poles generally had such. Rather primitive firearms of the times, sabers, and lances were used, as well as castle-born cannons. The initial battle scenes have the combined Poles and Cossacks fighting the expansionist Turks. Unfortunately, this scene is too brief and largely staged in semi-darkness, to make much of an impression. However, the Poles then treacherously attack the Cossacks, who bore the brunt of the battle against the Turks. As a result, the Poles take over more of Ukraine from the Cossacks.............The final battle between the Poles and Cossacks occurs near a precipitous, over a river. Many cavalry are crowded near the edge, and are pushed over to fall into the river or its bank...........In a rather similar scene, previously, Taras had ordered a contest between Andryi and one who accused him of cowardice. This involved their horse jumping over a very narrow gorge, until one failed to complete the jump, and fell into the deep gorge.A criticism is that too many scenes either in the open or inside were shot in semi-darkness, making it impossible to tell what is going on. This especially applies to Andriy's sneaking into the Polish citadel during the Cossack siege, and the attempts to capture him, and his finding Natalia, who had serendipitously relocated from Kiev to the Dubno citadel. I found this whole episode unlikely and unconvincing. In fact, I find it highly unlikely that she would be so attracted to a Cossack, especially one who had killed her brother, that she would risk her life for their romance. In fact, she very nearly is burned at the stake, assumed to be a witch, for this dalliance! ..........Some reviewers believe Tony was miscast as a Cossack. I don't agree. His primary role was to be the romantic lead, while Brynner was the dramatic lead. Tony may not have been as beefy as ideal for a Cossack, and wasn't really made up to look like a Cossack, but Arnold Swartzeneger and Sylvester Stallone were too young then, and Burt Lancaster had rejected the role. Evidently, an extraordinarily good-looking man is what most attracted the princess, be he Pole or Cossack. Tony fit this bill perfectly. This was necessary to overcome the inconvenient fact that he was a Cossack.

Way under rated. Seen Taras Bulba when it was released in 1962 in Bay Shore, New York. Brand New Movie Theater, at time largest indoor screen in Country. I was 12 and by myself, theater was empty. This movie touched me like no other would, I was Andrei in this movie. I was a changed boy when the movie was over. In later years I bought this on Laser Discs, Good Picture, Great Sound, changing discs ruins the movie, plus it seemed slowed down at times & looked fake. Bought DVD next, China Release, real bad. Well I no longer felt the same about this movie, Including like most reviews Tony Curtis was wrong choice for Andrei. I have to believe though in 1962 most people Loved Tony Curtis & did not care. Worst part of script to me was Andre wounded. Back & Forth, Wound Serious, to acting like nothing wrong. Another serious wound in Battle. Couple days later He Feels Great and fights Taras again. They show him with no shirt on & not a mark on his body. Couple days ago I ordered the Blu-ray, because of what has happened to The Time Machine with Rod Taylor. I kept the movies on Wish List, planning on buying both if price came down. Time machine has been discontinued, now selling $49.00 - 129.00. I could see it happening to Taras, so I ordered it, not sure I would even enjoy it anymore. Surprised Me, much better than expected, and truly enjoyed it. The story itself is awesome. The Scope, the mass of actors & horses. the colors. No One Could Replace Yul Brenner. The Love between Tony & Christine at the time was real in & off the screen. Your Home Land being stolen & then taken back. The power Love Can Be, for True Love ,for Land, for a way of Life. Buy The Blu-ray

Taras Bulba was conceived as a big screen epic, the type of movie that got people away from their TV's, which simply couldn't compete in scope with the big screen. Unusually, it was not set in Ancient Rome or the American West but in the Ukraine, depicting a historical event that Americans knew little to nothing about. Since the 1300's a dynastically united Poland and Lithuania ruled a huge area from the Baltic almost to the Black Sea. The enemy was generally Turkey, and so the Ukraine, inhabited by the Cossacks among others, became an area of contention. Taras Bulba takes place in the 1500's as Poland incorporates the area as a formal province of the kingdom despite the Cossacks' opposition.Originally the film was to be directed by Robert Aldrich, who had specified that Yul Brynner not be hired; but he was forced to sell the rights to a group of buyers who included Yul Bryner, so guess who got the role. That was one of the film's lucky breaks, because this was a role Brynner was born to play; who was Aldrich thinking of anyway? Because the United Artist film was planned as a major release, it had to have a major star in the role of Bulba's son, Andrei. This was 1961, so there was no question of anyone but a Hollywood star playing the role. Originally it was going to be Burt Lancaster, but he decided not to do it and Tony Curtis ended up in the role against the wishes of Yul Brynner. This is one of the problems in the film. Though he plays it with full commitment, Tony Curtis just doesn't give off even a hint of being a 16th century Cossack. They might as well have hired Cary Grant. With new director J. Lee Thompson fresh off the success of The Guns of Navarone, they trucked off to the Andes foothills of Argentina near Salta to shoot the film.What resulted is a mixed affair. The movie almost splits itself into two distinct parts, one thrilling and one boring. All the outdoor scenes are exciting and excellent, with vast panoramas of horses and men gathering and in battle, including the justifiably famous "Ride to Dubno" in which Yul Brynner and a few horsemen eventually add others until thousands of horses and riders fill the screen. There are also fun-filled scenes of Cossacks drunkenly celebrating, which echo the spirit of the painting behind the opening credits (a version of a famous Cossack painting by Ilya Repin). These are the high points of the film. But the rest of the film mostly takes place on a cleanly swept sound stage version of Kiev and concerns the forbidden love between Cossack peasant Andrei and a beautiful Polish Princess, Natalia (Christine Kaufman).That's where the problems of the film lie. The script is dull and everything in it is a cliche from the Polish students' hazing of Andrei and his brother to the love affair itself. Christine Kaufman is given so little to say or do that all she is left with is standing around looking sweet. The romance should be full of incendiary passion, since it forces Andrei into a terrible dilemma, but instead we're left wondering at his motivation after a single pleasant day in the country. The Poles are painted as the blackest of villains, which is typical of films but unfair to them. Oddly, the film reverses the usual conflict formula of film, where the audience generally is given to root for the forces of civilization over barbarism. Here we are given the relatively barbaric Cossacks as the heroes, despite the fact that when not fighting, they seem to only indulge in drunken carousing, and the relatively civilized Poles as the bad guys. the film is careful to show that the wild-looking Cossacks are Christians.So what you end up with is an unsatisfying film with sequences that are really exciting. Fortunately there are enough of the good parts to make the film watchable. The film is buoyantly supported by one of the most famous scores in film history. Franz Waxman's score received a deserved Academy Award nomination (but lost to Lawrence of Arabia. But who could have beaten that?). The score is almost a character in its own right and really keeps things moving.

This is a great movie from my youth that I wanted to add to my collection. I'm very happy to say that the movie played very well and I didn't have any problems with it's viewing.

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Now add a motion picture to the Wonders of the world! So said the promoters marketing this film.Taras Bulba is an enjoyable yet flawed epic adventure movie. It has many pluses; Yul Brynner plays the role of a lifetime - (forget the King and I) he chews up every scene he is in; spectacular photography filmed on location in Argentina; a cast of thousands with the Argentinian army posing both as Cossacks and the Polish cavalry, colourful costuming; an Academy award nomination for music by Franz Waxman that truly is superb, a great story of betrayal and revenge from Ukrainian 19th century author Nikolai Hohol and impressive battle scenes. So what's not to like?Well, this film was supposed to be a 3 hour roadshow film (like Ben-Hur and Spartacus, but by the time filming was completed, the bean counters in Hollywood decided that roadshows were passe (even though that same year, Lawrence of Arabia mopped up at the Academy awards and was a roadshow movie). The movie was heavily edited down to just over two hours and suffers from some continuity issues. Yul Brynner was furious that some of his best scenes with Tony Curtis were cut out of the film.Despite this, the film has become a cult classic in the 70's and beyond.Look for the "Bring out the dead" scene that the members of Monty Python lovingly stole for one of their movies. The final confrontation between Yul and Tony (playing father and son)as locust chirp noisily in the background is one you will not easily forget.This is the first time that it has been released on DVD. The DVD has no extras to speak of and the video transfer is not that impressive. MGM truly "cheaped out" on this one, but it is the only way that you'll get to see it outside of the previous Laserdisc release and the price is reasonable.They don't make them this way anymore and despite what I've written, I still love watching this movie! (1962 122 min.)

Something brought this movie to my mind recently and I haven't seen it since I was about 9 years old but I had enjoyed it then. I didn't even know it was in colour. I didn't even look at the sleeve, just put it straight into the device and was surprised when the menu came up - it was in Spanish. Fortunately I speak a little and was able to navigate through it and watch the movie. It's a movie very much of it's time, the early 60's, or even an earlier era. The special effects are woeful though the scenery is breathtaking. However if you are 9 years old it would still be exciting. They say you should never revisit the scene of a happy childhood holiday and I think the same applies to movies.

Malgré tous mes efforts, je ne suis pas arrivé à obtenir l'option lecture en français qui existe dans le menu. Le texte dans ce genre de film n'étant pas fondamentalement important (pour moi), mais s'il est possible que les Ukrainiens parlent dans un avenir proche l'américain... pour le coup, condamner un cosaque à parler cette langue à cette époque, me semble un peu prématuré !

The movie came early but the DVD is defective and don't play a complete scene.