The Sword of the Barbarians (1982) User Reviews

Below average Sword and Sorcery romp

[HaemovoreRex · 4/10 · 6 June 2005]

Ah...what have we here....yet another Conan The Barbarian rip off do I see?

Yes indeed and sadly not one of the better ones I might add.

Following the enormous success of the aforementioned pinnacle of the genre, it was inevitable that the market would be flooded with cheap cash-ins.

Now if there's one country in the world that seems to always be the fastest to leap onto any given cinematic band wagon, then it surely must be Italy.

And not just the fastest either, the Italian movie industry, especially in the late 1970's and early 1980's, was probably also one of the most prolific and could churn out seemingly hundreds of films on any given theme (the theme being usually dictated by what happened to be successful in Hollywood at the time) Take for instance the success of George A Romero's Dawn Of The Dead (which was released in Italy as 'Zombi') Within no time at all, enterprising Italian producers had released a whole slew of cheaply made (but often rather watchable) virtual copies of the film.

And so it came to pass (damn! - I sound like a Sword & Sorcery movie narrator now!) that with the remarkable success of Conan, Italian film producers, true to form, released numerous clones of their own.

Universally, all were woefully inferior to the original in pretty much every way and yet, one can't deny that there was a certain (cheesy) charm to many of them such as Joe D'Amato's, 'Ator The Fighting Eagle' starring one time Tarzan, Miles O'Keeffe.

Sadly Sword Of The Barbarians, whilst not totally without its merits, is hardly a particularly memorable entry in the genre.

There are all the usual trappings to be found here as in the other films of it's ilk i.e. topless maidens, torture and violent battle scenes (some of which are pleasantly gory) but overall this film feels distinctly lifeless.

It's a sad reflection in fact, that whilst watching this I found myself continuously looking at the video counter to see just how much more running time was actually left, as I was becoming increasingly bored with the unfolding on screen events.

Even the climatic battle between the hero and the main villain was handled in a rather hopelessly lacklustre manner.

Still, if you're a fellow fan of the Sword & Sorcery genre, then you'll no doubt want to see this and make up your own mind.

It's certainly not exactly a complete stinker of a movie (in fact it's quite amusing in a B-Movie sort of way), but it certainly doesn't warrant repeated viewings.

Oh, well...

[japa · 3/10 · 19 September 2001]

Phew, I watched this film last weekend and boy, it was pretty awful, but still, perhaps it was awful in a funny way. Last time I had seen this film was in the 80's and I thought it would be kind of nostalgia trip. I didn't expect anything great, but still it was a kind of disappointment! I remembered this film was pretty violent, but there wasn't even a hint of blood showing when the barbarians slewed one another. And their swords were pretty much like toys!! Fighting scenes were hilarious but not in a good way. Well, the final battle between two men was okay. Of course, acting was horrible, but I didn't expect anything else. But it was fun to watch and it took me back to my childhood for a hour and a half so I guess it is always positive thing.

But for those who seek no nostalgia, don't watch this!!

BARBARIAN MASTER (Michele Massimo Tarantini, 1982) **

[Bunuel1976 · 4/10 · 15 April 2011]

Having basically grown up with them, I admit to being a sucker for the cheesy sword-and-sorcery flicks of the early 1980s. However, this was one I had never heard of before coming across it – nor am I familiar with the work of its director, since he mostly dabbled in vulgar comedies…though I am sure some have nevertheless tried to build a cult around his resume' in view of his surname being similar to that of a certain American film-maker!

Anyway, this (originally intended as a sequel to Franco Prosperi's GUNAN, KING OF THE BARBARIAN released earlier that same year) is pretty much standard fare though marked by a couple of excesses that make it unintentionally hilarious. Upfront is the intermittent narration, which is so utterly downbeat and gravely-spoken to boot that I swear the speaker was on the verge of tears at times! The other is the sheer display of histrionics by the villain who frequently – and not always with good reason – takes to shouting out the hero's name at the top of his lungs; incidentally, his beef with him is merely because the latter has killed a number of his priests-cum-minions, thus thwarting an onslaught on a neighboring village…so I wanted to yell back at him: "Get over it already"! As usual, the protagonist is muscle-bound yet thoroughly bland: at the beginning of the film, he survives the obligatory extermination of a peaceful tribe; eventually, he leads the remaining members of the clan to a promised land (along the way to which, some have begun to despair and almost turn against him – sounds familiar?!); as if that were not sufficiently Biblical, the hero is named Sangraal which, literally, means "Holy Grail"!

He has a blonde girlfriend but soon also sets his sights on the daughter of the people he defended; conveniently, another assault sees the former killed…which the hero is forced to watch from afar while strung up (crucified, get it?). Rather than start life anew with his other girl and make life easier for all of us, he determines to bring the dead woman back to life (yep, they keep coming!) and seeks out a hermit-like sage with the help of an Oriental archer who comes out of nowhere but subsequently breaks our balls by incessantly spouting Charlie Chan-type aphorisms! Pilfering yet another fashionable mystic source, the villain and his men worship a topless goddess who lives inside a fire a' la SHE (just as bloodthirsty and constantly threatening her disciple when his every ruse to dispatch the hero inevitably fails!).

Later on, the protagonist and his two companions are attacked by blind creatures that live in caves and sport webbed fingers – maybe their tatty 'costumes' were borrowed from Sergio Martino's ISLAND OF THE FISHMEN (1979)? – before stumbling upon a secret weapon, an unwieldy arrow-shooting contraption that barely sees service thereafter! Eventually, hero and villain engage in a one-on-one by the sea, with the latter ending up impaled on his own dagger! Mind you, in spite of my disparaging remarks, one cannot really hate this type of juvenile (nudity and gore notwithstanding) fare too much – in fact, on the strength of this, I acquired two other minor efforts (albeit from American exponents) in this vein i.e. Jack Hill's SORCERESS (1982) and THE WARRIOR AND THE SORCERESS (1984), though I probably will not be getting to them just now...

Forgettable

[botan_k · 1/10 · 14 April 2007]

This movie stunk. The English dubbing was horribly amateur, like some video company wanting a release in North America hired a bunch of high-school teachers to dub the film and did it in one try to save money at the recording studio. Ignoring the dubbing, the acting was completely off-key. Sometimes the characters looked like they were trying to get their lines over with after practicing a dozen times in front of the mirror, other times they were over-acting, it was the typical acting style you see in high-school dramas.

The choreography was a joke, not only can you tell it's totally fake with the lack blood and the bad acting, but what makes it funny is that they try to make it look real by moving the camera angles in such a way to hide the fact that they thrust the sword to the side of the opponent or to cover up the fakeness. The directing and photography is equally bad, the camera work is shaky, sloppy, and even out-of-focus at times.

The film shots were poorly set-up. They were at bad angles, frames, and positions. I'm sure the director knew this during editing, but they probably were operating on a miniscule budget, so they couldn't afford enough film and decent filming equipment. You can tell the budget is so small by the fact that they lacked enough decent props and backdrops, didn't have any special effects besides camera tricks, and had micro "villages" and settings that had the camera always close-up to hide this fact. Lastly, the music was completely cheesy, like it was made and composed for an electronic keyboard.

To sum things up, this movie is a completely forgettable, straight from film to VHS, watch-on-a-Sunday-afternoon-when-nothing-else-is-on-TV flick.

Novelty nil, special effects weak, chances slim

[lor_ · 30 January 2023]

My review was written in September 1983 after a Times Square screening.

"The Sword of the Barbarians" is a chintzy Italian imitation of "Conan the Barbarian", one of dozens of pasta fantasies ground out recently. Cannon pickup (released independently, not part of the MGM-UA distribution deal) is minus the novelty of fantastic special effects which could earn it much of a following theatrically.

Story has Sangral (Peter MacCoy), son of Ator, uniting his tribe of peaceful plains people in prehistoric times with Belem's tribe, alfter saving Belem's foxy daughter Aki from an attack by nasties belonging to evil Naluk's tribe, Naluk is protected by the Golden Goddess, Rani (Sabrina Siani), to whom he makes human sacrifices, officiated by his set of hunchbacked priests. Rani, who periodically appears via cheap special effects behind the altar fire, has declared war upon Sangral, and in one skirmish Naluk's men kill Sangral's beautiful, platinum blonde wife Leni.

Strictly copying the format of the "Conan" film, Sangral vows to bring his wife back to life, and accompanied by Aki and an oriental friend Lee Wa Twan, he treks to visit a black magician Rudak to obtain the secret of rebirth. Rudak can't help but sends him instead on a mission to the Ark of the Templars, from which Sangral extracts a laughably oversize crossbow which shoots three arrows at once. Dull climax has Sangral dutifully wiping out Naluk and even the goddess.

Director credited as Michael E. Lemick tries to stretch his minimal budget with over-use of low-angle and wide angle shots but to no avail. Underpopulated picture features beasts that are actors in cheapest makeup imaginable and virtually none of the promised sorcery. It's just hand-to-hand battle nonsense in the vein of the Hercules and Maciste films of over 20 years ago. Peter MacCoy has the right muscleman build for the lead role and has appeared in several other local items including two "Gunan" features. Judging from the opening narration, his character here is apparently a descendant of the Miles O'Keeffe "Ato", though no family tree of prehistoric Italian schlock heroes has yet been charted. As the evil goddess, Sabrina Siani, also a vet of many of these pics, is an alluring personage, resembling the young Claudia Cardinale.

Yay!

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 3 December 2020]

Known in Italy as Sangraal, la spada di fuoco (Sangraal, the Sword of Fire), this is the first of two barbarian movies that Michele Massimo Tarantini made. For a director better known for his commedia sexy all'italiana films, this is pretty decent. By that, I mean that you have to have an affinity for Italian sword and sorcery. If you haven't figured out that I do, well, now you do.

This also has the alternate name, Barbarian Master, which is a very metal movie name.

Sangraal (Pietro Torrisi, who started his career in peblum movies like The Ten Gladiators and ended it in sword and sorcery movies like Gunan, King of the Barbarians) is Sangraal, whose father's kingdom has been decimated by the evil warlord Nantuk (Mario Novelli, Warriors of the Year 2072, Amok Train, Eyes Behind the Stars). He leads his people to a new land which is ruled by Belem (Luciano Rossi, whose career hits all of the Italian trends, from westerns like Django to the Eurospy Killer 77, Alive or Dead to giallo sich as Death Carries a Cane and Death Smiles at a Murderer and poliziotteschi, war films and exploitation in Salon Kitty).

Nantuk has become a king, yet the Goddess of Fire and Death (Xiomara Rodriguez) demands more. Sangraal must die or Nantuk will lose everything. So he does what any madman usually does and crucifies our hero - hello, Conan the Barbarian - and forcing him to watch everyone in the village be killed*, including the Goddess personally murdering his wife. He's saved by the archer Li Wo Twan (Haruhiko Yamanouchi, the only actor I know who has been in both Joe D'Amato and Wes Anderson movies) and Belem's daughter Ati (Yvonne Fraschetti, Demons 2).

This movie actually has something to say about love, loss and grief, as a wizard tells Sangraal that he must give up on the memory of his dead wife and keep on living if he wants to defeat Nantuk, who is devoted to killing him. Then again, as you deal with these issues in your life, I doubt you will ever battle an evil king. That said, perhaps you'll find something in this to help you.

You have to give it to the servants of Nantuk. When Sangraal challenges our antagonist to a duel to the death by the traditional rules - with no interference - they refuse to help, even when their leader demands they kill our hero. And then, they just let Ati go at the end.

This movie has taught me that goddesses can be killed, if you have a magic crystal crossbow.

Also - and perhaps most importantly - Sabrina Siani (who is pretty much the queen of these movies, thanks to appearances in The Throne of Fire, Ator the Fighting Eagle and, most importantly, her turn as Ocron in Conquest) is in this as the Goddess of Gold and Life.

This is why I watch movies, to be battered into happiness by Italian barbarians battling half-naked and fully naked evil beings.

*If you're watching this and wonder, "Have I seen this village get destroyed before?" You're right. It's the exact same footage that is in The Throne of Fire.

An EXTRA Movie!!!

[nico18 · 10/10 · 26 April 2002]

I've seen yesterday on a local Tv this movie and i can say that it is superb. It's better not only than Ator flicks,but also than Conan curse. Sangraal has got a lot of violence,action,fights;it hasn't got the absurdities of "Blade Master"(The ultra-bow has more sense than the hang-glider) and has got a lot of superb BREASTS SHOTS! I can say that Tarantini has made the better finish for this type of flicks. With the exclusion of Red Sonja, the entire group of sword an sorcery movies say on the finish the hero leave the heroine alone,refusing their love with the stupidest phrases that you can hear in your life ; well,in these situation the hero in question saves the girl(who seems like Caroline Munro) from collapse of the cave ,bringing her to safety. Sangraal DOES NOT cover girl's breasts and begins to kiss with her! And finally the hero shares his new horse with her(probably to go to make love otherwhere,so the heroine remains with nude breasts)!! I'm serious but this finish is the best that i have never seen for this genre of movies!!Brilliant,brilliant,brilliant! There aren't the massacres that we can see on other flicks,and this can make the happiness of those who love action movies with many survivors. I'm sad only for the death of Hal Yamanouchi... But i give to SANGRAAL 10 stars out of 10!! It's indefinitely better also to Deathstalker!

Could be better, but worth watching

[alucinecinefago · 7/10 · 30 May 2020]

The following review is an extract from the book "Sword and sorcery in cinema: Conan and other barbarians: A filmic guide", which is now available on Amazon.

"Sangraal is a mediocre but entertaining barbarian-exploitation that takes as its model the Conan of Milius. The script is quite dull and inconsistent; you can tell that it was written in a hurry and probably on the fly, without any intention of deepening the story (many subplots are started and then abandoned, for example the potentially interesting story of jealousy between Lenna and Aki is very much wasted).

Both the dialogues and the tiring voice-over of the narrator result in several unintentionally comical and even ridiculous moments: "The Forces of Evil only beget evil, but Good puts good before", the narrator solemnly explains. Another absurd and hilarious example is when Wang introduces himself to Aki and Sangraal. When the girl tells him her name, the Asian comments: "Aki, I like it; it's like sweet music" (!?). Wang's character, who with his "oriental wisdom" always has a "Chinese proverb" at hand, is a clear imitation of Conan the Barbarian's Subotai. Aki and formerly Lenna, brunette one and blonde the other, act as Sonja.

(...) Soon new challenges and missions appear: nothing less than finding "the Templar's Ark" (!??) - Let's not forget that this film is set in a magical and prehistoric time, long before our era.

Besides the armies of Nantuk, Sangraal and his comrades will have to face some "reptiloid" beings (it is never possible to see them clearly) in some underground tunnels and some primitive monkey-men (Cannibals?) in the thickness of the jungle.

In its Spanish version the film is called "La espada salvaje de Krotar" ("The savage sword of Krotar"), but this Krotar does not appear anywhere. He is only mentioned on one occasion very early on by the narrator (it is the king who expelled the people of Sangraal from their original lands). No doubt that misleading title was an idea of the Spanish distributors, who somehow wanted to associate the film with the popular comic book collection of "The savage sword of Conan".

Despite the film's many shortcomings, its soundtrack is more than acceptable; it has highly epic airs, no doubt inspired by the Carmina Burana."

italian CONAN

[IsmaRubio · 9/10 · 23 June 2002]

Pietro Torrisi again doing of barbarian type CONAN. As in THRONE OF FIRE or THE INVINCIBLE BARBARIAN. Possibly this movie is the best of all the led ones for him. It is not bored nor kept woman. Simply they are adventures through, like CONAN'S comic-book. The script is not bad but much leaves that to wish, the actors not estan badly in I make concrete the protagonists' trio (the girl and the Chinesse) and SABRINA SIANI's brief appearance , typical in appearing in all the CONAN'S Italian developments (here she works out nake integral). The sets, makeups, wardrobe are pesimos (them same that italianadas as ATOR, GUNAN, THRONE OF FIRE ...) The battles are absurd and badly done, though they have something of gore and blood, in I make concrete and probably the better(best) of the movie, the scene in which the trio protagonist gets into a dark cave and they face men serpent (style WARHAMER FANTASY ROLGAME) well caracters , in a slightly bloody battle. Slightly boring, senseless of the humor and very serious. Only for fans of CONAN.

One of the better more rounded cash-ins.

[amesmonde · 20 February 2022]

Seeking new land for his people a swordsman's wife is murdered by followers of the evil Goddess Rani. He vows vengeance upon the cult and journeys to the Ark of the Templars for a magic crossbow to exact his revenge.

Director Michele Massimo Tarantini's Sangraal The Sword of the Barbarian(s), Barbarian Master, la spada di fuoco (1982) is one of three swords and fantasy films to feature both lead Pietro Torrisi and also Sabrina Siani. The other two are Francesco Prosper's Gunan il guerriero, Gunan King Of The Barbarians or The Invincible Barbarian (1982) and Il trono di fuoco, The Throne of Fire (1983).

Here again, Torrisi looks uncannily just like live action He-Man as Sangraal. He does a more than competent job in the leads role, sadly he never gets a meatier script to test him. Blonde beauty Sabrina Siani's role is small but pivotal. Both blonde Margareta Rance as Lenna and Brunette Yvonne Fraschetti's Ati, daughter of a village leader fill the void. Xiomara Rodriguez is notable playing Rani, Goddess of Fire and Death, beautiful, vengeful and bloodthirsty who demands human sacrifice. Rani inexplicably needs to be topless, despite having a wonderful costume. Mario Novelli offers weight as evil warlord Nantuk. Sabrina Siani gets to give a wacky brief cameo performance as the temptress Goddess of Gold and Life in the final act.

Tarantini's basic story, Piero Regnoli's clunky screenplay with Ted Rusoff as dialogue supervisor features more of the same issues synonymous with the Italian produced sub-genre films. Editing, dubbing, sound design etc. That said, the costumes and props are well crafted, the locations especially the caves offer some credence to the production. The visual effects are bare minimum. Mostly smoke and mirrors. There's voiceover, horses, swords, nudity, skeletons snakes, severed limbs and sacrifice as Sangraal and Ati, joined by Hal Yamanouchi who plays an archer Li Wo Twan go about getting their revenge. Sandstorms and plenty of spear and sword action ensues as they tackle blind cave dwellers, morse code 'man monkeys' and other dangers.

Pasquale Fanetti's cinematography offers atmosphere. Alessandro Lucidi's editing is quite tight. Franco Campanino's dramatic music is fitting. Despite much of the poster art being misleading for this offering, those familiar with the genre will notice it's nothing new. To Tarantini's credit it's well put together compared to his Italian contemporaries of the sub-genre.

Ultimately, while the journey story isn't as fantasy filled as The Throne of Fire, it's one of the more rounded efforts of the Italian produced Conan, He-Man type swords and sorcery cash-ins.