Movies and Edged Weapons Pt. 2

kronckew · 31st October 2008, 11:17 AM

having been reading the kampilan thread ala bill marsh with interest, i happened to see Hollywood's 'thief of Baghdad' with Sabu, over the weekend.

there is a point where he opens a bottle, gets the traditional genie & three wishes, he then gets flown to the top of the tallest peak in the top of the world to steal the 'all-seeing eye' from a temple idol.

after arrival, he liberates a sword from a long dead skeleton, all covered in cob-webs ('conan' plagiarism?) as he cleaned off the web, it becomes obvious it's a kampilan, complete with traditional hilt wound in rattan, sinuous metal staple on one side, crocodile beak blade, etc. he then climbs the idol, and a giant spiders web with the kampilan between his teeth, kills the giant spider & unfortunately drops the sword never to be seen again....

there of course were the more common shamshir and daggers throughout.

not bad for a sixty-odd year old movie.

migueldiaz · 31st October 2008, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kronckew

... having been reading the kampilan thread ala bill marsh with interest, i happened to see Hollywood's 'thief of Baghdad' with Sabu, over the weekend ... after arrival, he liberates a sword from a long dead skeleton, all covered in cob-webs ('conan' plagiarism?) as he cleaned off the web, it becomes obvious it's a kampilan, complete with traditional hilt wound in rattan, sinuous metal staple on one side, crocodile beak blade, etc.

Thanks Kronckew.

Being a Filipino that is struck with kampilan-philia, I need to see that movie!

Also, the kampilan's appearance in that movie was mentioned earlier --

ruel
Senior Member posted 06-25-2004 04:48

Thief of Bagdad (1949): Kampilan, tachi, firangi, yataghan. Don't believe me? Go ahead, watch it...

---

tom hyle
Senior Member posted 06-25-2004 09:10

... Theif of Baghdad seems to feature some "real" weapons ... "Theif" contains one of the instances of holding a kampilan backward, which seems like it'd be obvious with a real sword ...

Thanks again Kronckew

kronckew · 31st October 2008, 11:52 PM

i shall assume they got the date wrong then and they referred to the sabu version, as the sabu version was apparently 1940. , ruel's 1949 date of their post (and tom's spelling of thief) threw me off - there have been a number of versions

while sabu carried the kampilan upside down for a while (edge up), when he was actually using it, cutting at the spider, and later when he cut it's suspension thread, he held it correctly, striking with the edge, not the back of the blade, i looked carefully

he also carried it in his mouth edge out as he apparently didn't want to cut himself

the kampilan in the movie was similar to the above, which is edge down, and the angled fork of the grip up when held, tho some kampilans in modern repos have the angled fork also down, as below.

(images from google image search)

migueldiaz · 2nd November 2008, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kronckew

the kampilan in the movie was similar to the above, which is edge down, and the angled fork of the grip up when held, tho some kampilans in modern repos have the angled fork also down, as below.

thanks kronckew!

in the meantime that i haven't seen the movie yet, i was wondering what type it was they used. so thanks for posting the above image.

regards.

Bill M · 14th January 2009, 02:03 AM

Mongol (2007)

WOW! Swords, spears, shields. Wonderful movie!

31st October 2008, 11:52 PM	#3
kronckew Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Room 101, Glos. UK Posts: 4,241	i shall assume they got the date wrong then and they referred to the sabu version, as the sabu version was apparently 1940. , ruel's 1949 date of their post (and tom's spelling of thief) threw me off - there have been a number of versions while sabu carried the kampilan upside down for a while (edge up), when he was actually using it, cutting at the spider, and later when he cut it's suspension thread, he held it correctly, striking with the edge, not the back of the blade, i looked carefully he also carried it in his mouth edge out as he apparently didn't want to cut himself the kampilan in the movie was similar to the above, which is edge down, and the angled fork of the grip up when held, tho some kampilans in modern repos have the angled fork also down, as below. (images from google image search) Last edited by kronckew; 1st November 2008 at 12:19 AM.

31st October 2008, 11:17 AM	#1
kronckew Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Room 101, Glos. UK Posts: 4,241	having been reading the kampilan thread ala bill marsh with interest, i happened to see Hollywood's 'thief of Baghdad' with Sabu, over the weekend. there is a point where he opens a bottle, gets the traditional genie & three wishes, he then gets flown to the top of the tallest peak in the top of the world to steal the 'all-seeing eye' from a temple idol. after arrival, he liberates a sword from a long dead skeleton, all covered in cob-webs ('conan' plagiarism?) as he cleaned off the web, it becomes obvious it's a kampilan, complete with traditional hilt wound in rattan, sinuous metal staple on one side, crocodile beak blade, etc. he then climbs the idol, and a giant spiders web with the kampilan between his teeth, kills the giant spider & unfortunately drops the sword never to be seen again.... there of course were the more common shamshir and daggers throughout. not bad for a sixty-odd year old movie.

14th January 2009, 02:03 AM	#5
Bill M Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: USA Georgia Posts: 1,599	Mongol (2007) WOW! Swords, spears, shields. Wonderful movie!