Sandokan The Great [DVD]

A good Steve Reeves film in full 16.9 Widescreen. as the other review guy states there is still a slight squeeze on the picure. Those with the DVDO gadget will be able to correct this. Though to most people it probably look ok. Nice color. The print as damage in places,but not to much. Wonderful to see this in Widescreen. Worth the money.

With great characters and a very good revenge story.Geneviève Grad is excellent as The female lead actress. Geneviève Grad reminds me of keira knightly in pirates of the Caribbean. The only difference is Geneviève Gradis a MUCH better actressSandokan the Great has some really good visual images including a clan of sri lankan head-huntersSome of the scenes do jump and cutThe colours seem vibrant.It's an old film but i enjoy watching it on DVD/ digital formatWorth buying and worth renting

I'm very fond of the old Steve Reeves films and when I heard they were re-releasing "Sandokan the Great" I was very pleased,however,this release is really nothing special.On the box it says that it is "digitally remastered",well I hate to think what it was like before being remastered.The quality of the print is quite poor,there is obvious print damage and scratches throughout the entire film.On the plus side,the movie is released in widescreen 2.35:1anamorphic,however,as wide as it is,it still looks like it should be wider,making everyone look very narrow.The correct ratio is probably closer to 2.55:1.Anyway what can we say about the film itself.For a Steve Reeves movie this one is a little bit lack-lustre,while the locations are visually impressive,the shots of wild animals good and the tribe of headhunters add weight to the production,we cannot get away from the fact that this is really quite a dull movie.There is endless traipsing through the Malay jungle and swamp.The action is very tame and there just is'nt enough of it.The interactionbetween Reeves and the rest of the cast is good and well-humoured and is possibly the only saving grace in what is really a very disappointing movie.

Sandokan and his rebels launch a surprise attack on British army general Lord Guillonk's villa. With the intent on freeing his father, however after the battle, Guillonk has fled and the only survivor is his niece Mary Ann. So Sandokan with his remaining rebels decide to flee with Mary as their prisoner with the British army hot on their tails.American muscle man Steve Reeves teams up with Italian genre director Umberto Lenzi for this action packed take on Emilio Salgari's 11 novels which where first published in 1883. This was the first of the brief craze of these Sandokan movies which appeared in the 1960's in Italy.We are treated to numerous action scenes, featuring ambushes, fist fights, battles sequences and even a bit of tiger wrestling as well. I did however think the machine gun wielding climax here was actually improved for the sequel in where Reeves puts a machine gun to a mining cart and rides out gunning down hundreds of British soldiers.Umberto Lenzi's direction is faultless, he keeps the film moving at a fast pace and at one point Sandokan and his pirates suspect that one of the group is a traitor and throughout the entire film I thought it was pretty obvious who it was, but I was completely wrong. The only thing I didn't like was the silly love story between Sandokan and Mary Ann (played by the beautiful Genevieve Grad). Andrea Bosic plays Sandokan's British ally Yanez who was once his brother in law but now fights against his own people since they murdered his wife. Rest of the cast includes Rik Battaglia as a rebel and Leo Anchoriz as the bad guy Guillonk.Giovanni Fusco score is great, featuring powerful trumpets and drums.Overall a great film that was followed by Sandokan The Pirate of Malaysia with Reeves reprising him in the role of Sandokan and two more films where made in 1964 with Ray Danton taking over as the lead.The spanish dvd has superior quality and it also features a English Audio track.

Not a great film but still an engaging enough adventure story and one I enjoy watching now and again. After my old VHS tape gave out, I was happy to see the film had been issued on DVD; unfortunately the picture and sound quality are worse than the version I taped off TV years ago.

MUY SATISFECHO

Great movie. Timely delivery.

Great picture quality & true widescreen, the color is bright & vivid & the sound is also good. Many complain about D.V.D.-R burns but everything I have gotten from Warner Archive is top quality. I had a discussion with a friend of mine that formerly worked for a company that did D.V.D.-R burns & since he was no longer a employee had nothing to gain, I asked him if they were much inferior & he stated they should last as long as official pressings or burns & that they were all subject to scratches causing damage but that the materials were of equal quality & the only problem I might run into is based more on how a player reads the disc. As far as this movie goes' it ranks up there with the best of Reeves stuff. Steve's two appearances as Sandokan offer everything you might be looking for in a exotic action movie, the flora & fauna are beautiful & make a wonderful back drop for this great period piece! During Steve Reeves short career he managed to cover a lot of theme's he was a cop in "Jail Bait", The Trojan hero Aneas in "The Trojan Horse" & "The Avenger's", the son of the famous freedom fighter Spartacus in "The Slave" Two showings as Hercules in "Hercules" & Hercules Unchained", The notorious Pirate Captain Morgan in "The Pirate Morgan" A humble generous thief in "The Thief of Bagdad" A Roman Christian avenger in "The Last Days of Pompeii" & Mike Sturgis a cowboy out for revenge in "A Long Ride from Hell"& a tribal freedom fighter in "The White Warrior" adapted from a Leo Tolstoy novel & A enraged wood cutter bent on vengeance in "Terror of the Barbarians" & One of the twins that founded Rome in "Romulus & Remus" !!! Yes Steve was a busy man!! His portrayal of Sandokan in both "Sandokan the Great" & "Sandokan, Pirate of Malaysia" are great additions to his list of heroic characters. A must have for Steve Reeves fans. Stuck working for Italian producers in what would be labeled Spaghetti films don't look for any Academy Award worthy films in Steve Filmography but you are guaranteed family fun & excitement!!!

Wie habe ich mich gefreut, diesen alten, für mich besten Sandokan überhaupt, Film zu bekommen, noch dazu im Englischen Original! Und das Bild wurde zusammengefügt!Das war es aber auch schon, es knistert und rauscht, die Risse sind mehr als deutlich zu sehen und im Schluss meine ich, dass auch nicht richtig zusammengeschnitten worden ist, der Kampf wirkt nicht stimmig.Es gibt keine Extras, auch nicht die Deutsche Spur, mehr als schade!Ich finde, man hätte diesen alten Film deutlich besser aufbereiten können! So bleibt es bei 3 wohlmeinenden Sternen für einen alten Film im Original und vor allem Steve Reeves, aber hier wäre wirklich mehr drin gewesen!

Even though he's supposedly a pirate, the movie starts off by the shore, but from then on it's on foot the rest of the movie. Other than that I really enjoyed the movie, color & brightness were superb. I would highly recommend it for any Steve Reeves fan.