The trailer for 1962's Taras Bulba boldly proclaims, "Now, add a motion picture to the wonders of the world!" While "wonder" isn't a word I'd use on this panoramic tale of 16th century Russian warriors conquering in battle and in love, it's suitably impressive drama - and somewhat entertaining (at least in the first half), despite being served up with equal amounts of spectacle and cheese. Thanks to Kino Lorber's Studio Classics repackaging of films from the MGM/United Artists catalog, people can revisit this sword-and-hoofs epic in sparkling 1080p widescreen.

Taras Bulba stars Yul Brynner and Tony Curtis as, respectively, a resolute army commander and his headstrong adult son. Against the 16th century spectacle of Russian Cossacks attempting to reclaim their Ukrainian homeland from invading Polish armies, Brynner's Taras Bulba faces the indignity of Curtis's Andrei falling in love with a Polish noblewoman - the daughter of the man who once double-crossed him and his fellow Cossacks! Exiled to the Russian countryside by the devious Prince Grigory (Guy Rolfe), Taras Bulba and his wife (Ilka Windish) raise their two sons, Andrei and Ostap (Perry Lopez) to be strong and intelligent. Sent to study at Kiev University to learn the ways of the Poles, the brothers get persecuted by the priests running the school and fellow students alike. After Andrei falls for the beautiful Natalia Dubrov (Christine Kaufmann) and kills her brother in self-defense, the Bulba boys are driven out of Kiev. Meanwhile, Taras has amassed an army large enough to take over Prince Grigory's stronghold at Dubno. The Cossacks' violent siege of the city unleashes an epidemic of starvation and plague, which prompts Andrei to sneak into the fortified community to rescue Natalia. Once inside, however, he winds up getting captured and coerced into joining the Poles against his own father. For the bullish Taras Bulba, it is seen as the ultimate betrayal.

Although its Medieval Russian setting is something of a novelty, most of Taras Bulba is typical epic stuff, with gargantuan outdoor battle scenes (filmed in the Argentinian pampas) alternating with studio-bound dramatics which veer from compelling to cheesy. Producer Harold Hecht spared no expense with the South American sequences, rounding up seemingly every guy who could ride a horse and furnishing the action with a lavish Franz Waxman score. Despite too many instances of jarring, shoddy looking matte paintings and back-screen projection, there are a few memorable set pieces. After insulting a fellow Cossack in a tavern brawl, Tony Curtis is challenged to a competition to see who can who can steer their horse the furthest over a deep, dangerous chasm in the countryside. Like a weird, kitschy variant on Rebel without a Cause's chicken game, the scene is a tense highlight - but its serves as a mid-point capper for a movie that becomes increasingly turgid and dull as it goes along. Director J. Lee Thompson, who also helmed the 1962 Cape Fear, does well with the film's stirring action scenes, yet the bellowing drama and moony romantic passages come straight out of cliché-ville.

Another thing somewhat "off" about Taras Bulba is the casting. If your sole exposure to Yul Brynner is in The King and I, he does basically the same schtick here - glares that could cut through stone, hands-on-hips stances, the occasional cackle directed at the sky. Competent enough, not too surprising. Tony Curtis, however - sheesh. Apparently the actor decided to do Andrei with some playfulness, but here it comes across as smarmy and not appropriate at all for the story. It boggles the mind why he was cast in any historic roles. As Curtis' love interest, Christine Kaufmann comes across as a gorgeous blank slate, why Sam Wanamaker has a few fun moments as a fiery Cossack soldier who threatens to break away from Brynner's chain of command.

Personally, one of the most unexpected aspects of Taras Bulba came with how it employed the talents of voice actor Paul Frees. While the name may not be immediately familiar, Frees had his fingerprints on tons of things in the '50s, '60s and '70s, most famously voicing Boris Badenov of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show and the "Ghost Host" in Disneyland's iconic Haunted Mansion. For Taras Bulba, Frees did the stentorian narration and dubbed in the voice on an actor playing one of Yul Brynner's Cossack buddies.

The Blu Ray:

Video

Taras Bulbas' Panavision cinematography gets nicely showcased on Kino Lorber's Blu Ray edition, its especially clean-looking print presented in letterboxed 2.35:1 format. Detail is sharp without looking too processed, while the color is pleasant, vivid and natural. A few scenes sport a thicker film grain and somewhat blurry photography, while instances of dust and scratching are surprisingly small. Going by the visuals alone, this is one handsome looking movie.

Audio

The film's mono soundtrack makes up for its limited dynamics with a pleasant mix that places equal emphasis on clear dialogue and Franz Waxman's evocative scoring. In an improvement over the Olive Films releases, optional English subtitles are provided.

Extras

Besides a hyperbole-filled Theatrical Trailer, there are no extras.

Final Thoughts

Decent time-filler for fans of the genre, the historic epic Taras Bulba filled out its widescreen vistas with all the stampeding Cossacks money could buy. Kino Lorber's Studio Classics Blu Ray edition serves this humungous production well, although most viewers will be fatigued by the endless battle scenes, a wedged-in romantic subplot, cheesy special effects, smirking, miscast Tony Curtis, and too much of … everything. Rent It.

Matt Hinrichs is a designer, artist, film critic and jack-of-all-trades in Phoenix, Arizona. Since 2000, he has been blogging at Scrubbles.net. 4 Color Cowboy is his repository of Western-kitsch imagery, while other films he's experienced are logged at Letterboxd. He also welcomes friends on Twitter @4colorcowboy.