The Vikings
Directed by Richard Fleischer
Written by Calder Willingham; adapted by Dale Wasserman from a novel by Edison Marshall
1958/USA
Bavaria Film/Byrnapod S.A./CurtLeigh Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Ragnar: Look how he glares at me… If he wasn’t fathered by the black ram in the full of the moon my name is not Ragnar.[/box]
First you have to get past the casting of Ernest Borgnine, Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis as Vikings …
The story is set at the time Vikings were marauding off the coasts of England. Ragnar (Borgnine) is the king of the Vikings. He and his lusty and vain son Einar (Douglas) – the only Viking not to wear a beard – are cut from the same barbaric mold. One day Einar is out demonstrating his skills at falconry when the slave Eric (Curtis) bests him at the sport. Before Einar can take revenge, Eric tells his bird to kill and the bird tears out Einar’s eye, putting him in a very bad humor. He spares the slave’s life in order to prolong his intended misery.
The rivalry between Einar and Eric intensifies when both men fall for the kidnapped Princess Morgana (Janet Leigh), who is pledged in marriage to the evil English King Aella . Eric finally flees to England with Morgana, intending to force Aella to release her from her pledge. Einar and Ragnar set out in pursuit. They are foiled however when fog sets in. Here, Eric has the edge thanks to a mysterious stone that always points North.
Eric rescues/kidnaps Ragnar when his ship founders and takes him to England. Einar eventually catches up with Eric. A lot of fighting, both between the English and Vikings and between Eric and Einar, ensues. With James Donald as a traitor and Alexander Knox as a priest.
This did not seem like it would be my cup of tea before I even put the disc in the player. It is basically a sword and sandal epic moved northward. My readers may wonder why I bother but I am nothing if not a completist. I also think that movies like this one give a feeling for the times.
The plot was too complicated to be predictable exactly but did not engage me. Nothing felt real to me. The production values are outstanding, however, and this is spectacle on a grand scale. The film also has a nice score.
Trailer
I saw this within the last year or so and I remember liking it a lot more than I thought I would. Ernest Borgnine is HILARIOUSLY miscast, but he’s so amusing and so entertaining that it seems intentional.
And Janet Leigh is always a wonder. Every time I see her, I’m kind of amazed at how well she adapts to whatever kind of movie she’s in. She’s the reason The Naked Spur is my favorite of the James Stewart/Anthony Mann collaborations. (They’re all great.) (Well, maybe Winchester 73 is my favorite. I saw that just a few weeks ago and I’d forgotten how sublime it is. But The Naked Spur is pretty awesome!)
Have you seen Safari? It’s a 1956 film with Victor Mature as the big game hunter. (You’re already dying to see it, aren’t you? No matter how bad its reputation might be? Because this is such a great role for Mr. Mature’s peculiar talents as an entertainer.) And Janet Leigh is the dingdong rich girl on a safari because it’s trendy or something. But then there’s the Mau Mau uprising!
I don’t know what its reputation is because I’ve never heard anyone talk about it, but it’s fairly silly and rather carelessly written and directed, but I found it to be very exciting and highly entertaining the whole way through because of Victor Mature in super-hammy mode and Janet Leigh treating it all so seriously but also realizing that her character is a total dingdong who should probably be given up to the Mau Maus for the safety of the rest of the group.
It was probably rushed into production on the coattails of Mogambo, which I’ve never seen. I assume Mogambo is the better movie, but I doubt very much that it’s more entertaining.
The Vikings does have its delicious camp elements I will admit! I have somehow missed Safari. I actually think Victor Mature is underrated! He had some good performances in noir. Have you seen I Wake Up Screaming? Mogambo is actually pretty darned entertaining. I had low expectations going in and ended up really liking it. Ava Gardner is great in this one and usually I don’t gel with her, other than to enjoy her stunning beauty.
I Wake Up Screaming is good but I love Kiss of Death. I also think he’s really good in Million Dollar Mermaid, a criminally under-rated movie from the 1950s. And it’s also my favorite movie with Victor Mature.
Mature is also really good in After the Fox, a Peter Sellers movie from the 1960s. Mature plays a washed-up American actor bumming around Europe and getting work where he can. He’s hired for a fake movie that’s being produced as part of a criminal plot to steal a government gold shipment. He’s not in on the plot, he thinks he’s making some arty French movie. It’s a fun movie all around but the best scenes are Mature following the fake director’s instructions. I suspect the makers of After the Fox were poking fun at the French New Wave.
I’ll see Mogambo eventually. Because Grace Kelly!
I’ll look forward to After the Fox! Mature is good in everything but all those sword and sandal epics but I am biased since I don’t like those in the first place.
I was a little dubious about The Robe because I’m not such a fan of big-budget bible movies. (Some of them are good (I love King of Kings, for example).) But when you get into a bad one, it can be heavy sledding. Like David and Bathsheba. So bad.
But I’ve come to trust Victor Mature in just about anything. I make fun of his acting, but he was a wonderful performer! And I love all his bible movies! Samson and Delilah is wondrously silly, with magnificent performances from Mature, Hedy Lamarr and … Angela Lansbury!
The fault for these things was never Victor’s. I lay a lot of the blame on Cecil B. DeMille.
Base on the pictures this looks very off.
I was once involved in a stage production of the revenge of the sons of Regnar Lodbrog. It ended with the gruesome death of king Ælla and had my brother as Einar. He is no Kirk Douglas, but he is 2,13 m tall and look the part. The best part was the stage. It was a reconstructed longhouse on the site of an ancient viking fortress (Fyrkat).
I hadn’t realized this was from a saga. I’m sure the stage production beat this movie to a pulp. What’s the name of the fortress? I’d like to look up a picture of it.
Not much to see anymore. It is called Fyrkat and is located just outside of the town of Hobro