That Welles got the role in Man in the Shadow was fortuitous as the part was originally slated for Robert Middleton, a popular screen heavy, both in his roles and girth, of the 50s. Without this film, we may never have had Touch of Evil. Equally coincidental is that Welles got the Shadow part because he needed $60,000.00 for back taxes. Welles had originally anticipated getting the needed amount for directing Tip on a Dead Jockey for MGM. The deal fell through, and Jockey was directed by MGM house director Richard Thorpe, who in 1961 directed Welles in The Tarters.

The Tarters is bad, but at least it’s hilariously bad. The film is about Asian Tarters and Scandavian vikings, but as an Italian-Yugoslavian coproduction, has a cast with no one who looks convincingly like either. Dressed totally unlike any other viking, Victor Mature virtually prances around in a cape and hot pants, as the viking leader. There is also a scene with Welles, as the Tarter chief, presiding over a feast with his underlings. With the camera pointing in long shot towards the tent entrance, you expect the obligatory dancing girls to appear. What we get are dancing boys, well men actually, waving swords and doing back flips. While these dancers are genuinely talented and athletic, there is almost as much homoeroticism as in the title song dance from Thorpe’s earlier Jailhouse Rock.

Both stars ham it up, with Mature over emoting, while Welles cocks his eyebrows and glares, as if to show his general contempt for the film. The wigs are obvious, the costumes threadbare, and the six credited script writers came up with something begging to be hijacked by Monty Python or Mystery Science Theater. In other words, The Tarters is the kind of film that make you glad you get cable tv.