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Description:
Mario Bava's second and last Viking picture is a landlocked tale of treachery, ancient sin, and atonement for past wrongs. Cameron Mitchell stars as a coastal wanderer whose wicked gift for throwing knives saves a woman and her son from barbarian thugs. Falling for the beautiful woman, he becomes a sort of foster father and macho mentor to the boy. Think of Shane in leather tunics and iron helmets, with Italian beaches and inland forests standing in for the Scandinavian landscape. Mitchell makes a thoughtful action hero burdened by the sins of his past, but his reddish-blonde bleach job is about as convincing as the slipshod dubbing, and his odd gracelessness makes him more convincing as a brawler than a marksman. It's a handsome-looking film (would you expect less from former cinematographer Bava?) with a complicated legacy of war and murder and other unspeakable crimes at the core of the tale. Apart from the dark pasts of the main characters, however, there are few surprises, despite the efforts to give a mythical dimension to this story of revenge and redemption. The DVD features a lush, widescreen transfer but only the clumsy English-dubbed soundtrack, with a photo and poster gallery and a collection of Mario Bava trailers among the supplements. Extensive liner notes and a director biography are provided by Bava historian Tim Lucas. --Sean Axmaker
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