Help Finding a Movie about a Great Bell

[LilCerberus]

I saw this one one television back in the summer of '78.

The movie opens with a group of Greco-Roman sailors waking up on an empty beach. It appears that they have just survived a ship wreck. Their leader is a clean cut young blonde guy, and his wife/girlfriend is a brunette. Some African soldiers show up & take everyone prisoner. The men are taken before the African’s king, while the woman is sent to the king’s brothel. While in imprisoned, the blonde guy finds out that the African king is searching for a “Great Bell”.

The sailors are taken to be executed with a giant J-shaped razor blade that looks kinda like a sliding board. Apparently, the condemned are supposed to sit on this razor blade & ride it just like a sliding board. The Africans use it on one of their prisoners, but when they put the blonde guy on it, he makes an appeal to the African king insisting that the king needs his help in finding the great bell. The king agrees & decides to set sail with the Greco-Romans.

At one point during their journey, the group is trying to navigate their ship through rocks in foggy weather. The blonde guy climbs one of the masts & shouts orders. The ship drifts close to the rocks a couple of times, but the rowers use their oars to prevent a collision.

The ship eventually finds an atoll with a small stone temple. The African king enters the temple, then staggers out with a rather despondent look on his face. The blonde guy goes in to see for himself, and finds a small bell. In a fit of rage, he slams the bell into the wall. When he does this, the entire temple makes a deafening ring, and he realizes that the roof of the temple is the great bell.

They dig the great bell out of the temple & take it back to the African kingdom. As they are towing the bell through the city streets, it breaks loose & starts rolling around. Some people are killed by the big rolling bell, including the blonde guy’s girlfriend.

Ring any bells?

[Anonymous User]

Hello,

I am gonna guess that it is The Long Ships(1963).


That had a the scene with the giant blade the prisoners ride if memory serves.

[LilCerberus]

Dubal Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hello,
>
> I am gonna guess that it is The Long Ships(1963).
>
>
> That had a the scene with the giant blade the
> prisoners ride if memory serves.


Yup, that' the one!
As an eight year old kid, when first showed that "Mare of Steel", I thought it was one of those Super Fun Slides like they have at amusement parks.
Then they used it on somebody... ick, ick ick, ick, ick,

Thanks Dubal

[akiratubo]

I think I might need to see this movie.  It doesn't sound all that great but something makes me want to see it.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Having seen the film, no it is not that great. There are alot of Viking films out there that, I feel, are better than this one. "The Vikings." "The 13th Warrior," etc. I guess that's what you get, when you try to turn a cinematographer into a director. Jack Cardiff, who was the cameraman for "The Vikings" was the director on this film. If it is worth watching, it is worth watching for the cast, which includes Richard Widmark and Russ Tamblyn, as the Vikings, Sidney Poitier as the African king, and Rosanna Schiaffino, Oscar Homolka, Colin Blakely, and Edward Judd.

[Dr. Whom]

Is it anywhere explained what Sidney Poitiers wanted this bell for?

[Herodotus]

Both groups wanted the bell because it was made of solid gold.

[Scott]

It's worth viewing at least once. Saw it again a couple years ago, but remember it left a lasting memory on me when I was younger.