Product Description

Set in the 16th century Ukraine two Cossack brothers find themselves battling each other when one wants to recover land from the treacherous Poles and the other falls in love with a Polish girl. Breathtaking scenes. Academy Award Nominations: Best (original) Score.System Requirements:Running Time; 122 mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/CLASSICS Rating: NR UPC: 883904103073 Manufacturer No: M110307

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5811 in DVD
• Brand: MGM HOME VIDEO (UNDER FOX)
• Released on: 2008-03-25
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, Latin
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 124 minutes

Features

• Set in the 16th century Ukraine two Cossack brothers find themselves battling each other when one wants to recover land from the treacherous Poles and the other falls in love with a Polish girl. Breathtaking scenes. Academy Award Nominations: Best (original) Score. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: PG-13 Age: 883904103073 UPC: 883904103073 Manufactu

Amazon.com
"I will kiss the devil before my son wears a Polish collar!" declares Cossack warrior Taras Bulba, thus laying down the fundamental conflict of this epic film, based on the classic book by Russian novelist Nikolai Gogol. After the Polish army and the Cossacks defeat the Turks, the Poles betray their fierce collaborators in order to claim the Cossacks' ancestral home, the Steppes. Scattered, the Cossacks bide their time, and Bulba (Yul Brynner) sends his son Andrei (Tony Curtis) to a Polish college to learn the secrets of their culture. Though Andrei faces cruelty and prejudice, he falls in love with a Polish noblewoman, Natalia (Christine Kaufmann, a lovely German actress in one of her few English-language roles). Andrei, torn by love and loyalty to his people, risks everything in a desperate attempt to win Christine, even if it pits him against his own father. Taras Bulba is far from a great film--there are some laughable special effects, the battle scenes are confused and sluggish, and Curtis never quite loses his Bronx accent. Despite that, Curtis' star power comes through, and Yul Brynner tears up the screen with his amazing physical presence and emotional intensity; the man was truly a unique and compelling actor, who found only a few roles that suited him--this was one. By the end, Gogol's muscular plot catches you in its grip. The hypnotically gripping final scenes overcome all the cheesiness that came before. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

Rousing, Moving, Brynner/Curtis Epic
Finally, the much-loved version of Gogol's Taras Bulba has come to DVD. This grand, large-scale production manages to entertain with great action sequences while moving the viewer by telling the story of founded in love.

Taras Bulba, played by Brynner, is a great Cossack leader who fights with the Polish who continue to take more and more Cossack territory. His young son, Andrei, played by Curtis, is the only thing he loves as much as he does his people and his country. But when Curtis falls in love with a Polish girl, and sides with the Polish, he sets the stage for conflict and tragedy.

Bulba loves his son, his people, his way of life, and his country. Andrei loves his father, but also loves the Polish girl. In the midst of a great adventure story, Taras Bulba manages to be a story about love, and the great sacrifices and challenges love causes us to make.

This is a great movie, and very much deserving of a high-quality DVD release.

The Adventures of a Bronx Cossack
Taras Bulba could have been a very good film - possibly even a great one. But Hollywood values killed any chance of that. Instead, we have a reasonably enjoyable mess of a movie with two outstanding ingredients that rise above the rest - Franz Waxman's rousingly inventive music and a suitably over the top performance by Yul Brynner. As the title character, Brynner looks every inch a Cossack - swaggering and posing like a macho peacock, delivering his lines with that growling accent, and wearing his costumes as though he had lived in them all his life. Brynner was a hugely undervalued actor - a larger than life performer whose presence saved many a film. But the odds were really against him here.

Instead of focusing on Brynner, the film makes Tony Curtis, as his son, the central character. Curtis makes absolutely no effort to look like a Cossack so it is not surprising that he doesn't act like one either. While the rest of the Cossacks are swarthy, burly, scalplocked he-men, the sons of Taras Bulba look more like a couple of surfers who have wandered in from the film next door. Worse still is Curtis's love interest - the enemy girl he falls in love and betrays the Cossack Brotherhood for. She is played with wan listlessness by Christine Kaufmann in a performance so wooden it's a wonder Curtis didn't get splinters in their love scenes. Still, in real life, he must have fancied her because he left Janet Leigh to marry her.

Even with its insipid love story, Taras Bulba could still have achieved greatness through sheer spectacle. The costume department certainly did their bit - although some of the Polish uniforms are needlessly naff. The music thunders and roars - except for the obligatory love song sung by an oversweetened choir over the equally obligatory sixties montage sequence. Filming in Argentina may have been a good fiscal decision, but it doesn't help the look of the film - pampas are not steppes. Still, there are some exciting and effective sequences, notably the Ride To Dubno during which Brynner's followers grow from a handful to an army. The battles scenes are as lively as the Polish university scenes are dull. Sometimes the scale of the enterprise impresses. But you end up wanting to like the film more than you do.

Perhaps the film's uncertain tone is best illustrated by a post-production anecdote. At a pre-release screening, director J. Lee Thompson supposedly turned to Yul Brynner and said: "I still don't see why you had to shoot Tony."

Put your faith in your sword and your sword in the Pole!
One of my all time favorite movies. Functions on three important levels. A powerful love story between Yul Brynner and his two sons, a desperate love story between one of his sons, Tony Curtis, and a polish noblewoman, all against a backdrop of steppes warfare. When all three elements collide, it becomes a haunting movie whose ending will have you in tears. Huge cavalry battle scenes-the best ever portrayed on film. Cossack brotherhood sworn to avenge the betrayal of Imperial Polish invaders, this is an adventure addicts delight. Waited a long time for this one, along with Solomon and Sheba and the great El Cid...Now where's Fall of the Roman Empire and 55 Days at Peking??