The Desert of the Tartars (Italian: Il deserto dei Tartari) is a 1976 Italian film by director Valerio Zurlini with an international cast including Jacques Perrin, Vittorio Gassman, Max von Sydow, Francisco Rabal, Philippe Noiret, Fernando Rey, and Jean-Louis Trintignant.

[1] The film's striking visual style, noted for its scenery, lighting, and cinematography, was influenced by the work of Italian painter Giorgio de Chirico.

The first posting of the young lieutenant Drogo is to a remote medieval castle on the frontier of the empire, facing the empty desert of the ferocious Tartars.

In this lonely outpost, though no enemy appears, the garrison solemnly goes through all the rituals of military life.

In the end Drogo too falls ill and, put into a carriage to take him back to civilization, collapses dead.