I coltelli del vendicatore (1966)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Mario Bava

Writers:

Mario Bava (writer)
Alberto Liberati (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

January 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure

Plot:

A mysterious knife-throwing viking warrior protects a young peasant woman and her young son from the clutches of a evil regent bent on claiming the title of king and the woman for himself.

Plot Keywords:

Viking | Knife Throwing | Mother Son Relationship | Queen | Violence

Cast

Cameron Mitchell	...	Rurik / Helmut
Fausto Tozzi	...	Hagen (as Frank Ross)
Giacomo Rossi-Stuart	...	King Arald (as Jack Stuart)
Luciano Pollentin	...	Moki (as Louis Polletin)
Amedeo Trilli	...	Viking King (as Michael Moore)
Renato Terra	...	Hagen's henchman
Sergio Cortona	...	Hagen's henchman
Elissa Pichelli	...	Karin (as Lisa Wagner)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bruno Arié	...	Hut Intruder (uncredited)
Osiride Pevarello	...	Hagen Henchman (uncredited)
Goffredo Unger	...	Hagen's henchman (uncredited)

Directed by
Mario Bava

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Mario Bava		writer (as John Hold)
Alberto Liberati		writer
Giorgio Simonelli		writer

Original Music by
Marcello Giombini

Cinematography by
Antonio Rinaldi
Mario Bava		(uncredited)

Film Editing by
Otello Colangeli		(as Othello)

Production Design by
Alberto Tavazzi

Art Direction by
Piero Filippone		(as Peter Felt)

Set Decoration by
Alberto Tavazzi

Costume Design by
Giorgio Desideri

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Roberto Giandalia	....	assistant director

Camera and Electrical Department
Giorgio Aureli	....	assistant camera
Saverio Diamante	....	camera operator

Production Companies

• Sider Film

Distributors

• World Entertainment Corp. (1968) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Image Entertainment (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• e-m-s the DVD-Company (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• Mega Video (????) (USA) (VHS) (as "Viking Massacre") (dubbed)
• Pan-Canadian Video Presentations (????) (Canada) (VHS) (as "Viking Massacre") (dubbed)
• Raro Video/Nocturno (2006) (Italy) (DVD)
• Videoline Productions Inc. (1985) (Canada) (VHS)

Also Known As:

Viking Massacre (Canada: English title) (video title)
Bladestorm
Knives of the Avenger
Raffica di coltelli

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:12 | Canada:G (Quebec) | USA:Not Rated | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Titanus Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Sider Film

Trivia:

Director Mario Bava was brought in to salvage the troubled production after the original director was fired. Bava wound up scrapping most of the footage that had already been shot, threw out the old script, and rewrote and reshot virtually the entire film in six days.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Keoma (1976)

KNIVES OF THE AVENGER (Mario Bava, 1966) **1/2

The last of Mario Bava’s various peplums for the silver screen – although he would still have a couple more stabs at the genre for Italian TV – is also the last of four films (one of them in an uncredited capacity) he made with second-tier Hollywood star Cameron Mitchell. It seems rather incredible to me now that Italian producers were still trying, at this late stage, to emulate the commercially successful formula of THE VIKINGS (1958) – even down to dyeing their leading man’s hair blonde like Kirk Douglas’.

The film starts atmospherically enough with a witch on a sandy beach waxing metaphysically about the doom-laden future lying in wait for a vanquished Queen (the rather wooden Lisa Wagner) and her treacherous pursuer (Fausto Tozzi, a forceful if decidedly one-note portrayal). Despite the expected bouts of lively action, the film is surprisingly intimate for this director and genre; in fact, an even stronger influence is that of SHANE (1953), complete with adulating kid – an aspect which is further reinforced by the various scenes of horsemanship and showdowns in dark taverns. Besides, even the action sequences rarely involve more than a couple of characters (including the climax set inside a cave), and the fact that it employs flashbacks (which help render the two male leads – the stoic and, decidedly, ambivalent Mitchell and the rugged Giacomo Rossi Stuart – more rounded than is par for the course) is largely a departure for this kind of film.

On the debit side, one must certainly note the sluggish pace. All in all, even if still perhaps his best peplum, this is a lesser Bava film – which I rather enjoyed more the first time around (ironically, watched via a pan-and-scan print on Italian TV!).