Michael the Brave/Mihai Viteazul (Film 1970) | The Battle of Călugăreni (Part 1-ENG SUB)

Michael the Brave (Romanian: Mihai Viteazul) is a Romanian historic epic film, directed by Sergiu Nicolaescu and starring Amza Pellea in the leading role. Audio in Romanian with English subtitles (Click on CC).

Part 2: https://rumble.com/v4earvl-michael-the-bravemihai-viteazul-film-1970-the-union-part-2-eng-sub.html

The film is a representation of the life of Wallachia's ruler Michael The Brave, and his will to unite the three Romanian principalities (Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania) into one country. The film was released in 1970 in Romania, and worldwide by Columbia Pictures as The Last Crusade.

The film has two parts and was shot in several locations, such as Istanbul, Prague and Călugăreni, but also the Danube, the Black Sea, Alba Iulia, Carpathian Mountains, Bucharest, Sibiu, Sinaia, and Miraslau.

At the end of the 16th century, Wallachian ruler Prince Michael the Brave overcame the adversity of the Ottoman and Austrian Empires to unite Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania into one country.

Cast & Characters:
Amza Pellea as Michael The Brave
Ion Besoiu as Sigismund Báthory
Olga Tudorache as Michael The Brave's mother
Irina Gardescu as Contessina Rossana Viventini
György Kovács as Andrei Báthory
Sergiu Nicolaescu as Selim Pasha
Nicolae Secăreanu as Sinan Pasha
Ilarion Ciobanu as Stroe Buzescu
Aurel Rogalschi as Rudolf II
Ioana Bulcă as Doamna Stanca
Septimiu Sever as Radu Buzescu
Florin Piersic as Preda Buzescu
Klára Sebök as Maria Cristina de Graz
Mircea Albulescu as Popa Stoica
Emmerich Schäffer as Giorgio Basta
Colea Răutu as Sultan Murat III
Constantin Codrescu as Alexandru The Evil
Alexandru Herescu as Ionică
Corneliu Gârbea as General Baba Novac
Alexandru Repan as Earl Viventini
Jean Lorin Florescu as Archduke Maximilian

The film had initially been intended to be an American-Romanian superproduction, with Columbia Pictures proposing actors such as Charlton Heston, Orson Welles, Laurence Harvey, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, or Kirk Douglas. But at Nicolae Ceauşescu's intent, the production was approved only with Romanian actors.

The story is historically less authentic, but is full of grand battle scenes, political plots, betrayals and family drama. To reenact the battles that Mihai Viteazul fought against the Turks, some 5,000 soldiers of the Romanian army were brought to the set.

The film was released in Romania in 1970 and ran in the cinemas for several years. Worldwide, it was distributed by Columbia Pictures, under the name The Last Crusade. The film debuted outside of Romania in July 1971 at the 7th Moscow International Film Festival and in East Germany, and in March 1972 in Finland, in June 1972 in West Germany and in April 1973 in Japan.