I coltelli del vendicatore

Plot synopsis:
Vikingland, the 9th Century. On a beach, a witch reads the future to Karan (Elisa Pichelli) and her young son, Moki (Luciano Polletin). Karan is the wife of King Arald (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart), who is thought to have been killed at sea. It is Karan's hope that her husband will return to rescue them from the clutches of the evil Aghen (Fausto Tozzi) a local warlord who wishes to marry her. The witch assures Karan that Arald will return, but she also warns Karan that Aghen is near and that he has every intention of marrying her to assume the kinghsip before killing her and Moki. Their only hope is to run away and live in seculsion until he king returns.As the witch predicts, Aghen returns. Together with his band of thugs, Aghen spreads fear throughout the village the kills anybody who apposed him, He is infuriated that Karan has fled, and goes to the old witch to find out where she is hiding. The old woman refuses to assist him, and also warns that a man is approaching whi will put an end to his reign of terror. Aghen laughts this off, and sends some his men to find Karan.Meanwhile, a rugged drifter named Helmut (Cameron Mitchell) is riding though the forest on horseback and stops at a cabin to ask for some food. The cabin is Karan's new hiding place. She sends him off, as she fears he might be connected with Aghen. But Moki recognizes the mans benevolent nature and persuades him to stay. At a nearby stream, Helmut catches some fish and as he sits down to each, he hears screaming from the cottage. Two of Aghen's men have arrived and are trying to abduct Karan and Moki, but Helmut comes to their rescue. Using his signature knifes, he kills both intruders and offers to clean up the mess they have made. Karan and Moki both feel drawn to him, and so Helmut is allowed to stay.Over the next few days, Helmut acts as a substitute father for Moki, and teaches him how to fish and throw knifes. Karan grows to be very fond of Helmut, but worries that, if her husband should return, he might take offence that a stranger has taken in on their lives. Helmut confesses that he is very interested in Karan, and encourages her to explain why she is living in exile. She reveals her true identity of being a princess, and Helmut is visibly shaken. Karan then tells of how, on her wedding day, Aghen incited the wrath of Rurik, an opposing monarch, by killing his wife and child. The king, who had hoped to make an alliance with Rurik, was enraged by this and orders Aghen to leave the village for good. Neverthless, Rurik struck back that same night by slaughtering many of the villagers, including the king, and raping Karan. With the death of the king, Arald took his place and swore vengance or Rurik. At the end of her story, Karan is overcome with emotion and flees from the room. Left alone, Helmut thinks to himself. He now realizes why Karan looks familiar to him. Helmut is actually Rurik, who is traveling incognito. Following his attack on the village, he lost the respect of his people and gave up his title for a life of wondering. The only reason why Karan does not recognize him is that she has only met him that fateful night, and he was wearing a mask. Although his identity is safe, Helmut/Rurik is wracked with guilt and wonders if he could actually be Moki's real father.The following day, Helmut discovers that Aghen has returned. Helmut goes to the village to find him, but while he waits at the local inn, he sees Moki looking in at him thought the window. He leaves to take the boy home, and tells Aghens men that he will return later that evening. They catch sight of a tattoo on his arm depicting a man holding the sun on his shoulders. When Aghen is informed about it, he becomes panic-stricken for he knows that only Rurik bears such a mark. Helmut/Rurik eventually confronts his enemy, promising to tear his heart out, but Aghen escapes unharmed.The next morning, King Arald and his men return from their long voyage at sea. It has taken them five years to get back home, leading everybody to think them dead, but now that they have arrived, Arald is anxious to settle the score with Rurik. When Arald catches Helmut/Rurik at the inn, he challenges him to a swordfight. Rurik backs down, and even when Arald starts attacking him, he refuses to fight back. The scene is interrupted by the arrival of Karan who tells them that Moki has been kidnapped by Aghen. Rurik breaks away from the fight and runs to the boy's aid, with a vengeful Arald close behind.Rurik and Arald reluctantly join forces to track Aghen to a cave near the beach. Rurik appears out of the shadows, and throws a knife at Aghen, which hits him right in the heart killing him at last. With Arald reunited with his family, and his vendetta against Aghen settled, Rurik quietly leaves and rides off into the sunset at the beach.

Tags: revenge, violence

Review:
Sword And Sandal Film for Bava-Enthusiasts.
"Knives of the Avenger" (1966) is a somewhat cheesy, but doubtlessly fun 'Sword and Sandal' flick by the arguably greatest Horror director of all-time, the brilliant Mario Bava.
If I was to select one all-time favorite director of mine it would quite possibly be Mario Bava, as no other director has ever been capable of combining beauty and terror and creating a haunting and overwhelming atmosphere as it was the case with the supreme master of Gothic Horror and inventor of the Giallo.
The man's repertoire includes more masterpiece than that of any other Horror director.
"Black Sunday", 1960) is doubtlessly one of the greatest Horror films of all-time, and his filmography includes so many brilliant that it is hard to pick favorites: Gothic tales like "La Frusta E Il Corpo"(The Whip and the Body", 1963), "I Tre Volti Della Paura" ("Black Sabbath", 1963) and "Operazione Paura" ("Kill Baby Kill", 1966), the Giallo-milestone "Sei Donne Per L'Assassino" ("Blood And Black Lace", 1964) or the ingenious Crime-Thriller "Cani Arrabiati" ("Rabid Dogs", 1974) are only some of the many brilliant films this man has made, and I could probably go on praising Bava forever.
This being said, "Knives of the Avenger" certainly isn't a masterpiece or must-see, and definitely ranges among the lesser films in Bava's impressive filmography.
While anybody unfamiliar with this great director's work should definitely start their journey into the fascinating world of Mario Bava with another film, this one is yet a fun little film that is recommendable to my fellow fans of the man."Knives of the Avenger" is a vengeance-themed Sword and Sandal film that was made in 1966, several years after the genre's heyday in the 50s and early 60s.
Cameron Mitchell stars as Rurik, a Barbarian (Viking?) warrior, who saves the young beauty Karin (Elissa Pichelli) and her son from the clutches of an evil warlord (Fausto Tozzi)...
Bava, as always, succeeds in giving his film a great look and nice atmosphere.
For its time and genre the film also has quite a bunch of violent and somewhat gory moments, and the hero is quite dark and vengeful.
This one's cast includes the leading men from two of Bava's greatest achievements, Cameron Mitchell (who starred in "Blood and Black Lace"), and Giacomo Rossi-Stuart (who starred in "Kill Baby...
Mitchell, who is the leading man here, is a very good actor; while this role doesn't need great acting skills, he has what it takes - a grim look.
The revenge-story isn't exactly unique, but it's entertaining enough and well-executed by Bava's skillful direction.
The film is nicely shot and supported by a cool, genre-typically heroic score.
This is a cheesy film, of course, and by no means a masterpiece.
It certainly ranges among the least important films Bava has ever made and doesn't nearly play in the same league as any of his Horror films (including the director's personal least favorite of his films, the somewhat weird "Five Dolls For An August Moon").
Yet it is fun enough and warmly recommended to my fellow Bava fans who have seen most of the man's many masterpieces..
In the ancient times, the savage and cruel warrior Hagen (Frank Ross) is chasing Queen Karin (Lisa Wagner) and her son Moki (Louis Polletin) to marry her and usurp the kingdom of her husband, King Arald (Jack Stuart).
Karin and Moki are hid in a cottage in the woods living like peasants and they are protected by a stranger, the warrior Helmut (Cameron Mitchell), who is an expert in knives.
Moki gets close to Helmut that teaches him how to hunt and fight and later Karin discloses to him that three years ago, her husband traveled in a ship to overseas to seek grains to his starving people.
Further she tells that Hagen was the responsible for the starvation since he had broken the truce between the kingdoms of Arald and King Rurik and killed his wife and son.
Thirsty for revenge, King Rurik had invaded her kingdom with his warriors and killed the people and raped the women including her in her honeymoon, but spared the life of Arald.
Helmut, who is actually King Rurik, falls in love for Karin and questions whether Moki is his son.This is the first action movie of Mario Bava that I have seen and I found it an underrated tale of revenge and redemption.
The screenplay is very well written, disclosing a dramatic story, and supported by great direction and acting and magnificent cinematography.
In the end, the viewer is never sure whether Moki is the son of Rurik or Arald but the tears of Karin might indicate that she knows the truth about the fatherhood of Moki.
KNIVES OF THE AVENGER (Mario Bava, 1966) ***.
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!)..
This is a good film, Bava & Cameron Mitchell both do good work imo, the soundtrack is excellent & there are a couple real gems in this film regarding Bava's visual strengths.
One such scene shows the bad guy galloping off linearly away from the screen zig zagging through hills descending into a valley as the soundtrack thunders & his descent has a strange visual extrapolation to it that I'm still not sure how Bava achieved, you have to see it.Another such scene is when Mitchell reveals his face from under his helmet with the burning village surrounding him, very impressive visuals!
Again, the music & Bava's commanding sense of visual style come together for a moment of perfection.This is really Shane redone as a Viking film & it's actually quite good.
I recommend it however not to neophytes of Bava, there are other obviously more well known titles in his filmography that one should start with.At some point every Bava fan should see this film.
I need to see Eric the Conqueror, that one I still have not seen, I think Bava did 3 Viking themed films.
BTW he was the special effects director for Steve Reeves original 'Hercules' film!.
Cameron Mitchell and his stunt double take on the Viking hordes in this cheaply made Mario Bava film that carries a little more emotional weight than usual.
This film cost $75,000 to make, which is surely really cheap even for 1966?The story is this: jerk Viking Hagen has just returned from exile to his home town to claim the throne from himself, as the previous King, Arald, has seemingly drowned at sea.
The only way Hagen can become King is to marry Arald's wife, Karin, but she has gone into hiding to get away from him, hiding with her son in a remote cottage.
Hagen has his men scour the land looking for her, and ignores the prophecy of a strange old woman that a man is on his way to kill Hagen.One day, hunky Cameron Mitchell turns up at the cottage looking for shelter and some food, and ends up saving Karin from two of Hagen's men in a rather violent fight.
Turns out Cameron is a drifter who offers his services to Karin and starts training her son to be a fierce fighter, but also falls in love with Karin and sees the kid as some sort of surrogate son.
This is all heading somewhere!Everyone has a past and it's the past that comes back to haunt the characters in this film, as Cameron seeks both revenge and redemption and is actually quite believable as a man torn between his conflicting emotions.
He's also hard as nails and takes down quite a few of Hagen's men with his throwing knives, even if his stunt double has a totally different colour of hair.You can tell this was made cheaply, due to the limited sets, most of the action on the beach taking place in the one area, and a general sparse feel to the whole film, but then again you've got Mario Bava behind the camera, so everything looks better than any big budget film made last week with the most hi-tech CGI you can imagine.
Plenty of action too, mainly Cameron taking on gurff Viking types.
He also gets a good performance out of Cameron Mitchell, who is prone to hamming it up in most of his roles.
Boring Viking film from Mario Bava.
I generally can find something to like about all the big cult film subgenres; but the one exception to that is definitely the 'sword and sandal' film.
I tuned into this one simply because it has the great Mario Bava at the helm; however, it turns out that Bava is just as bad as Fulci when it comes to films like this, and Knives of the Avenger is heinously boring.
What we basically get is a bunch of people that are supposed to be Vikings (I think) running around in silly costumes.
Anyway, this basically goes on for about eighty five hours...sorry, I mean eighty five minutes and then the film ends.
Mario Bava made his name in the horror genre and his directorial style lends itself to the genre so well as Bava is brilliant at creating atmosphere.
This film does actually feature some decent camera work and Bava does create a few good atmospheric scenes.
However, that's really the only good thing I have to say about this film.
Before seeing Knives of the Avenger, I had Dr Goldfoot and the Bikini Bombs down as Bava's least fine hour; but now I'd say it's a tie between the two.
Lesser Bava movie - for die-hard fans.
****)Poorly paced Viking epic about Mitchell, who comes to protect the wife of a dead king from an usurper, unaware that she has reason to exact vengeance on him.
Score, photography, acting is quite nice, but, to reiterate, sluggish story-telling diminishes the effect.
Stick with OPERAZIONE PAURA, LISA E IL DIAVOLO, CANI ARRABBIATI or CINQUE BAMBOLE...Afterword:In the liner notes, Bava historian Tim Lucas considers this film "the genre's last hurrah" and sees it as a "distinct forerunner of the sword and sorcery genre".
Cameron Mitchell stars in this Viking film that essentially is a traditional western plot but set in the Middle Ages.
Mitchell plays the hero--a guy who comes to town and finds that a local baddie is tormenting folks.
So, being a noble sort of guy, he comes to the aid of a woman and her son--not realizing that she is a queen living in hiding.
Despite Mitchell tossing knives about and acting manly, it's pretty dull.
Considering the zillions of Samson/Hercules/Machiste Italian films (most of which were terrible), I assumed this dubbed film would be just horrible.
Perhaps having the talented director Mario Bava (known for horror films) helped a bit.
Knives of the Avenger (1966) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Mario Bava directed this viking tale about a Queen (Lisa Wagner) and her son on the run from a ruthless warrior (Frank Ross) but a stranger (Cameron Mitchell) comes to their rescue.
KNIVES OF THE AVENGER was apparently started by a different director but it was going so badly that Bava was brought on to clean things up.
From what I've read, he pretty much re-shot the majority of the film and that's a good thing because once again his talent is head and shoulders above the rather standard screenplay.
After the success of THE VIKINGS nearly everyone was throwing in these types of stories and the one being told here is rather bland and doesn't really stand out against the others.
I watched this with my young son and he was confused as to why these vikings didn't have ships but I wasn't about to open up a conversation about budgets.
For the most part the film remains entertaining thanks to the technical genius of Bava as well as Mitchell.
Now I'm not going to sit here and say that Mitchell turned in a great performance but as a fan of his, it was rather fun seeing him in this role.
Ross is also very good in the role of the villain, although leading lady Wagner was a bit too stiff for her own good.
There's some nice cinematography throughout the film and there's one brilliant sequence where we're in the dark, a man goes through a wall and then we're in the bright outdoors.
How this was filmed and shot is certainly the highlight of the picture.
KNIVES OF THE AVENGER has a pretty standard and boring story but it's brought to life by the positive aspects so fans of Bava will want to check this out..
Bava Takes on the Vikings.
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.Although a certified fan of Mario Bava's work (particularly his horror films), what actually got me interested in watching this was Giacomo Rossi-Stuart.
And this is a shame -- Italy has its share of stars, and Rossi-Stuart is one of them.He is not top billed here (Cameron Mitchell is), but still attracts notice.
it is pretty good, but not a genre I feel confident making strong judgments about..
*****SPOILERS******Italian "epic" of revenge provides for lots of viking combat with axes and swords.
Mitchell makes a surprisingly good viking despite the ridiculous costume and directionless story (the villains are supposedly searching for the supermodel mom and son but can't find them even though they seem to live just outside of town).Nice atmospheric lighting and colors in classic Bava style.
Not as good as "Hercules in the Haunted World" or Bava's horror and suspense films, but worth seeing for fans of 60s Italian muscleman films..
Noble Viking warrior Rurik (a strong and credible portrayal by Cameron Mitchell) vows to protect the fiery Karin (well played by the lovely Lisa Wagner) and her spunky son Moki (the charming Louis Polletin) from the vile clutches of the savage Hagen (a perfectly hateful Frank Ross) and his army of nasty brutes.
Director/co-writer Mario Bava takes a welcome break from his usual horror fare to deliver a surprisingly complex and low-key, but still occasionally exciting period action drama that's essentially a thoughtful and inspired variant on the classic Western "Shane." Bava relates the absorbing story about revenge, betrayal and loyalty at a steady pace and stages the down'n'dirty fight scenes with considerable brio (a protracted confrontation between Rurik and Hagen in a tavern rates as a definite thrilling highlight).
The cast all give sound performances: Mitchell excels in one of his best roles, with sturdy support from Wagner, Ross, and Jack Stuart as Karin's gallant husband Harald.
A fun film..
A typically dark and brooding Norse saga from Mario Bava, who had previously successfully contributed to the costume adventure genre with 1961's ERIK THE VIKING (and also uncredited on the same year's LAST OF THE VIKINGS).
Although this is a small-scale film lacking in the spectacular battle sequences which highlighted many other European adventure films of the period, KNIVES OF THE AVENGER is nonetheless a powerful, human-focused drama with complex characterisation and a great visual look.
Bava inserts lots of footage of the lonely and desolate countryside which gives the movie a really good setting and plenty of atmosphere, enhanced by some lush music.The numerous fights in the movie are invariably suspenseful and well-staged, with a cat and mouse battle in a tavern being particularly suspenseful.
Bava wrings above average performances from his cast, in particular Mitchell once again as the would-be "hero" of the film, who has a dark and deadly secret in his past this time.
Mitchell undeniably bears traces of Eastwood's Man With No Name and Nero's Django with his mysterious stranger on horseback character and his performance strengthens the film as a whole.
Giacomo Rossi-Stuart also makes a dashing Harald, King of Norway.Bava tends to keep the gore to a minimum in the film (aside from a couple of shocking severed heads) but has fun with some minor moments, like a playful scene in which a dog hides and whimpers under a table when the villain enters the room.
KNIVES OF THE AVENGER is an intense and gripping saga worth seeking for fans of the costume adventure film, Mario Bava addicts, or just simply those looking to see lots of bad guys being killed by having knives thrown at them.