I Pirati della Malesia [The Pirates of Malaysia] ** (1964, Steve Reeves, Jacqueline Sassard, Mimmo Palmara) – Classic Movie Review 7967

The 1964 film The Pirates of Malaysia stars Steve Reeves, who fights back as Malaysian rebel Sandokan with a group of renegade pirates of Malaya, in this moderate but very tolerable sequel to his 1963 historical adventure epic hit Sandokan the Great.

Director Umberto Lenzi’s 1964 I Pirati della Malesia [The Pirates of Malaysia] stars Steve Reeves, who fights back as Malaysian rebel Sandokan with a group of renegade pirates of Malaya, in this moderate but very tolerable sequel to his 1963 19th-century historical adventure epic hit Sandokan the Great.

This time the English are plotting to overthrow King Hassim to establish British rule instead, and it is up to Sandokan to stop the British General trying to force the King out.

It is even cheaper and more unsophisticated than before, but it still looks pretty good in the Technicolor and Techniscope filming on Singaporean backdrops.

Jacqueline Sassard, the star of Jospeh Losey’s 1967 Accident, co-stars as Princess Hada. Also in the cast are Mimmo Palmara, Andrea Bosic, Nando Gazzolo, Franco Balducci and Leo Anchôriz.

It is a film adaptation of the popular 1896 novel of the same title by Emilio Salgari, with the screenplay based on a screen story by Ugo Liberatore.

It was first released in Italy on 16 October 1964.

But it was the first Steve Reeves film unreleased in UK or US cinemas. In the US it was first released on video 1980s and in the UK it was first shown on ITV from 1 October 1988 to 30 September 1995.

Reeves played Sandokan in just the two films, both directed by Umberto Lenzi: Sandokan the Great (1963) and The Pirates of Malaysia (1964) for pay per film of $250,000. After a long gap, in 1968, he appeared in his final film, the spaghetti Western I Live For Your Death! [A Long Ride From Hell]. He recalled: ‘I ended up with an ulcer. That was my last.’ His kind of films had gone out of fashion, plus he was stressed and injured. He retired to a ranch and bred horses.

Legend has it that he turned down the James Bond role in Dr No (1962) and the Clint Eastwood role in A Fistful of Dollars (1964).

It is also known as Sandokan and the Pirates of Malaysia as well as Sandokan: Pirate of Malaysia, and Pirates of the Seven Seas.

It is followed by Sandokan to the Rescue (Sandokan alla riscossa) aka Sandokan Fights Back (1964), starring Ray Danton (directed by Luigi Capuano) and Sandokan Against the Leopard of Sarawak (Sandokan contro il leopardo di Sarawak) (1964) aka Return of Sandokan (1964), starring Ray Danton (directed by Luigi Capuano).

Italian author Emilio Salgari Sandokan created the fictional late 19th-century pirate as the hero of 11 adventure novels first published from 1883 onwards.

The first two Sandokan films were made in 1941 in Italy with Luigi Pavese as Sandokan: Pirates of Malaya (I pirati della Malesia) (directed by Enrico Guazzoni) and The Two Tigers (Le due tigri) (directed by Giorgio Simonelli).

Then followed the 1963-1964 series of four Italian-made films, two with Reeves and two with Ray Danton.

Sandokan and the Pirates of Malaysia [Sandokan: Pirate of Malaysia] [I pirati della Malesia] is directed by Umberto Lenzi, runs 110 minutes, is made by Filmes, Euro International Film, Ocean Films, Lacy and La Société des Films Sirius, is released by Euro International Film (Italy) and MGM (US), is written by Ugo Liberatore, Víctor Andrés Catena and Jaime Comas Gil, based on a novel by Emilio Salgari and a screen story by Ugo Liberatore, is shot in Technicolor and Techniscope by Angelo Lotti and Federico G Larraya, is produced by Solly V Bianco, is scored by Giovanni Fusco, and is designed by Arrigo Equini.

The cast are Steve Reeves as Sandokan, Jacqueline Sassard as Hada, Andrea Bosic as Yanez, Mimmo Palmara as Tremal Naik, Pierre Cressoy as Captain, Leo Anchóriz as Lord Brook, Franco Balducci as Sambigliong, Giuseppe Addobbati as Muda, Dakar as Kammamuri, Rik Battaglia as Sambigliong, Nando Gazzolo as Clinton, George Wang as Sho Pa, and Nazzareno Zamperla (credited as Nick Anderson) as Durango.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7,967

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