Fatihin Fedaisi Kara Murat (1972)

Adventure. Turkey. Starring Cüneyt Arkin, Hale Soygazi, Turgut Özatay, Erol Tas & Bora Ayanoglu. Directed by Natuk Baytan.

Yeni Minareci Video Casetleri (Germany). Letterboxed. Turkish language.

Another awesome Cüneyt Arkin flick. A gory and energetic adventure in which the hero Kara Murat is teamed up against the notorious tyrant, and original Dracula, Vlad "the impaler" Tepes - a folk hero for the romanians, obviously not so much for the turks... (the guy who plays Vlad is as good a villian as Cünyt is a hero!) In one unbelievable scene the young Kara Murat is forced to shop off the arms and legs of his father (Cüneyt in another Nietzsche-sized fake moustasche) who is so strong and manly he hardly moves an eyebrow! The young Kara Murat of course swors vengeance and returns to Vlad's castle some 15 years later, disguised as a christian monk... 4/5

The Norman Swordsman (1972)

Original title: La Spada Normanna

Sword. Italy/Spain/France. Starring Mark Damon & Krista Nell. Directed by Roberto Mauri.

VTC (Sweden). English dubbed. Widescreen.

Un Pirata de Doce Años (1972)

Pirate yarn. Mexico. Starring Hugo Stiglitz, René Cardona III & Christa Linder. Directed by René Cardona Jr.

DVD: DistriMax Inc. (USA). Spanish language with english subtitles. Fullscreen. Watchable quality.

Very obscure pirate flick by René Carona Jr, one of my favorite directors when it comes to stiff genre cinema. A crew of goodhearted English pirates get their ship sunken by the evil spaniards. Their bad luck continues when they are washed ashore on an island used as a Spanish military training camp. Most of the crew are quickly killed off by the spaniards until only the pirates with clear character features remain: The heroic pirate leader (Cardona-favorite Hugo Stiglitz), the kid hero (René Cardona III - aaargh, it never ends!), the Indian (good at scouting and a good listener), the one-eyed brute (good at kicking Spanish asses) and a longhaired, bearded pirate who looks like a overweight middleage hippie (he - uhm- likes to spit a lot). When the pirates realise the spaniards are holding an English noble lady and her kids and chambermaid hostage they decide to go an a rescue mission and try to escape through the jungle. With the Spanish breathing down their neck they encounter cannibals, quicksand and dangerous animals on their way to freedom. I enjoyed this flick quite a lot. The film offers lots of dated swashbuckling fun to be had and there's never long between the swordsplay, crocodile attacks or cannibal ambushs. Fans of bad models will enjoy the sinking of the model ship, Antonio Margheriti would be proud. Add some crisp photography and good locations and you have 90 entertaining minutes. 4/5

The Scalawag Bunch (1972)

Original title: L'arciere di Sherwood

Robin Hood. Italy/Spain/France. Starring Giuliano Gemma, Mark Damon, Silvia Dionisio, Helga Liné, Mario Adorf, Daniele Dublino, Lars Bloch & Pierre Cressoy. Directed by Giorgio Ferroni.

VTC (Sweden). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

Entertaining comic (non-slapstick, thankfully!) Robin Hood flick with a good cast and a likeable Gemma as Robin. 3/5

Treasure Island (1972)

Pirate. France/Italy/Spain/UK/West Germany. Starring Orson Welles, Kim Burfield, Walter Slezak, Rik Battaglia, Lionel Stander, Maria Rohm, Paul Muller & Aldo Sambrell. Directed by John Hough, Andrea Bianchi (uncredited) & Antonio Margheriti (uncredited).

Guild Home Video Ltd (UK). English language. Fullscreen.

Zambo (1972)

Original title: Zambo, il Dominatore della Foresta

Jungle adventure. Italy. Starring Brad Harris, Gisela Hahn, Daniele Vargas & Daniele Vargas. Directed by Bitto Albertini.

VCI (Greece). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Very nice jungle adventure! 4/5

Tarzan and the Brown Prince (1972)

Original title: Tarzán y el Arco Iris

Jungle adventure. Spain/Italy/Philippines. Starring Steve Hawkes, Kitty Swan & Peter Lee Lawrence. Directed by Manuel Caño.

VTC (Sweden). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

The follow-up to Zan, King of the Jungle, again starring the great screen-couple Steve Hawkes and Kitty Swan. It's a very special jungle film with some great scenes, but it's not on pair with the first film. There's a sad reason for this. Steve and Kitty were badly burned in an accident during the shooting and the producers (desperate for something to release?) decided to add a new story about a little black kid trying to prove himself to his tribe. Those sequences are not bad but takes up too much of the film's running time, needless to say there's too little Tarzan/jungle girl action. Despite its for natural reasons uneveness i'd say this is the next best spanish Tarzan ripp off (which is hardly saying much to most people). 3/5

Un Pirata de Doce Años (1972)

Pirate yarn. Mexico. Starring Hugo Stiglitz, René Cardona III & Christa Linder. Directed by René Cardona Jr.

Oscar Video (Greece). Spanish language with greek subtitles. Fullscreen.

Very obscure pirate flick by René Carona Jr, one of my favorite directors when it comes to stiff genre cinema. A crew of goodhearted English pirates get their ship sunken by the evil spaniards. Their bad luck continues when they are washed ashore on an island used as a Spanish military training camp. Most of the crew are quickly killed off by the spaniards until only the pirates with clear character features remain: The heroic pirate leader (Cardona-favorite Hugo Stiglitz), the kid hero (René Cardona III - aaargh, it never ends!), the Indian (good at scouting and a good listener), the one-eyed brute (good at kicking Spanish asses) and a longhaired, bearded pirate who looks like a overweight middleage hippie (he - uhm- likes to spit a lot). When the pirates realise the spaniards are holding an English noble lady and her kids and chambermaid hostage they decide to go an a rescue mission and try to escape through the jungle. With the Spanish breathing down their neck they encounter cannibals, quicksand and dangerous animals on their way to freedom. I enjoyed this flick quite a lot. Even though I don't understand Spanish, the plot is easy enough to follow and the film never gets too talky for its own good. The film offers lots of dated swashbuckling fun to be had and there's never long between the swordsplay, crocodile attacks or cannibal ambushs. Fans of bad models will enjoy the sinking of the model ship, Antonio Margheriti would be proud. Add some crisp photography and good locations and you have 90 entertaining minutes. 4/5

Zambo, King of the Jungle (1972)

Original title: Zambo, il Dominatore della Foresta

Jungle adventure. Italy. Starring Brad Harris, Gisela Hahn, Daniele Vargas & Daniele Vargas. Directed by Bitto Albertini.

Wahlters Video (Denmark). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

Very nice jungle adventure! 4/5

Here's the swedish video cover from Crown Video (don't know any collector who has the actual cassette):

Les Aventures Galantes de Zorro (1972)

Zorro/erotica. France. Starring Jean-Michel Dhermay, Evelyne Scott, Alice Arno & Roger Darton. Directed by Gilbert Roussel.

Sweet Home Video (France). French language. Letterboxed.

Lover of the Great Bear (1972)

Original title: L'amante Dell'orsa Maggiore

Adventure/Drama. Italy/France/West Germany. Starring Giuliano Gemma, Senta Berger & Sybil Danning. Directed by Valentino Orsini.

Wahlters Video (Sweden). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

Unexiting adventure-drama about smugglers during the russian revolution. 2/5

Karzan: Master of the Jungle (1972)

Original title: Karzan, il Favoloso Uomo della Jungla

Jungle adventure. Italy. Starring Johnny Kissmuller Jr., Ettore Manni & Roger Browne. Directed by Demofilo Fidani.

Trix Video (Sweden). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

"Karzan" starring "Johnny Kissmuller (!)" - Ha, who do they think they're fooling!? I hope that many familys got suckered into renting this cheap and extremely dumb Tarzan-ripp off during the early days of video. Directed by hack Demofilo "let's make a shitty spaghetti western" Fidani with his usual attention to detail and logic. In short: very entertaining trash! 3/5

Karzan: Master of the Jungle (1972)

Original title: Karzan, il Favoloso Uomo della Jungla

Jungle adventure. Italy. Starring Johnny Kissmuller Jr., Ettore Manni & Roger Browne. Directed by Demofilo Fidani.

Tamline TY (Finland). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

"Karzan" starring "Johnny Kissmuller (!)" - Ha, who do they think they're fooling!? I hope that many familys got suckered into renting this cheap and extremely dumb Tarzan-ripp off during the early days of video. Directed by hack Demofilo "let's make a shitty spaghetti western" Fidani with his usual attention to detail and logic. In short: very entertaining trash! This tape is no longer in my collection (found the swedish tape). 3/5

Pirates of Blood Island (1972)

Original title: La Rebelión de los Bucaneros

Pirate yarn. Spain/Italy. Starring Stelvio Rosi, Carlos Quiney, Maria Pia Conte & Antonio Mayans. Directed by José Luis Merino.

Sunrise Video (Greece). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Excellent pirate yarn! 4/5

The Norman Swordsman (1972)

Original title: La Spada Normanna

Sword. Italy/Spain/France. Starring Mark Damon & Krista Nell. Directed by Roberto Mauri.

VCI (Greece). English dubbed. Fullscreen.