Mannaja

Mannaja
Directed by	Sergio Martino
Produced by	Luciano Martino
Written by	Sergio Martino Sauro Scavolini
Starring	Maurizio Merli John Steiner Sonja Jeannine Donald O'Brien Philippe Leroy
Music by	Guido & Maurizio De Angelis
Cinematography	Federico Zanni
Editing by	Eugenio Alabiso
Studio	Devon Film Intes Corporation
Release date(s)	Italy 1977  France 1980  Norway 1983/84 (video)
Running time	101 minutes
Country	Italy
Language	Italian

Mannaja (also known under the English title A Man Called Blade, USA) is an Italian western film from 1977 directed by Sergio Martino. The main role, Blade, is played by Maurizio Merli. Other central roles are played by John Steiner, Sonja Jeannine, Donald O'Brien, Philippe Leroy and Martine Brochard.

Mannaja is a western with strong influences from drama and thrillers.

Plot

Man hunter Blade (Maurizio Merli) arrives at the mining town of Suttonville with the lawless Burt Craven (Donald O'Brien) as his prisoner. He gets noticed when he uses a tomahawk in their fight against an outlaw. After a short time, Blade's reputation becomes grater, and he comes to the attention of the city's wealthy and crippled mayor, McGowan (Philippe Leroy) and his corrupt lackey Voller (John Steiner), hired to find the mayor's daughter (Sonja Jeannine) who has disappeared. Blade is not aware that she has been kidnapped by Voller, who secretly works for a gang that regularly plunders coachloads of silver from the mayor's silver mine. After a while, Blade is imprisoned, beaten up, and left to die as part of a plan by Voller and his men. However, against all the odds, he survives. Blade prepares for the final battle, but not only against Voller and his gang. He also wants revenge against those who killed his father when he was small.

The film was released on DVD in 2002 (Region 2).

About the film

Mannaja is an unusual spaghetti western, in that it contains some symbolism and emotional scenes that give the viewer the feel of an adventure or horror film, particularly in the opening scene in the swamp, and the scene in the cave. Mannaja has been compared to a contemporaneous film called Keoma (1976). Like other spaghetti westerns it is sometimes rather brutal, and contains fairly graphic depictions of murder with an axe. It was banned in Sweden.

Starring

(utvalg)

• Maurizio Merli: Blade (Mannaja)
• John Steiner: Theo Woller
• Sonja Jeannine: Deborah McGowan
• Donald O'Brien: Burt Craven
• Philippe Leroy: Ed McGowan
• Martine Brochard: Angela
• Salvatore Puntillo: Johnny
• Antonio Casale: Dahlman
• Enzo Fiermonte: agente del governo
• Rick Battaglia: padre di Mannaja
• Aldo Rendine: uomo derubato
• Enzo Maggio: vecchietto
• Sergio Tardioli: barista
• Sophia Lombardo: Lucy

References

External links

• Mannaja at the Internet Movie Database
• Eccentric cinema (review and pictures, English)
• Swedish video cover from 1982

Internet TV

• Film trailer
• Opening scene