The Viking (1931)

Luke, a young sailor and fisherman, who thinks he is jinx-ridden, has to be persuaded, and taunted,before he will join a sealing-expedition in the Artic; first by his sweetheart, so he can ... See full summary »

Directors:

Varick Frissell, George Melford

Writers:

Garnett Weston (story), Garnett Weston (scenario and dialogue)

Stars:

Charles Starrett, Louise Huntington, Arthur Vinton

Cast

Cast overview:
Charles Starrett	...	Luke Oarum
Louise Huntington	...	Mary Joe
Arthur Vinton	...	Jed Nelson
Bob Bartlett	...	Captain Barker (as Captain Bob Bartlett)
Wilfred Grenfell	...	Prologue Speaker (as Sir Wilfred Grenfell)

Storyline

Luke, a young sailor and fisherman, who thinks he is jinx-ridden, has to be persuaded, and taunted,before he will join a sealing-expedition in the Artic; first by his sweetheart, so he can find that he is not a jinx, and also by Jed, who has a devious reason.

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Plot Keywords:

jinx | sweetheart | seal hunt | murder attempt | 1920s | 

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Taglines:

A drama of fighting love.

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

Canada USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 June 1931 (USA)

Also Known As:

Balenieri della Viking

Filming Locations:

Northern Coast, Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

J.D. Williams, Newfoundland-Labrador Film Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

70 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Varick Frissell, cinematographer Alexander G. Penrod, and almost all the film crew were killed on 15 March 1931, when the sealing ship S.S. Viking, from which they were shooting additional footage, exploded in ice off the Horse Islands on the northern Newfoundland coast. In all, 27 people lost their lives; this is the largest number of fatalities ever incurred in the production of a film.

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Connections

Featured in Hollywood: Trick of the Light (1980)

User Reviews

Better Than Its Reputation

Viking, The (1931)

*** (out of 4)

This 1931 film has the unfortunate legacy of being the deadliest movie ever film as on March 15, 1931 director Frissell, cinematographer Alexander Penrod and twenty-five other members of the crew were killed when an explosion happened on the boat they were filming on. This tragedy certainly hangs a dark shadow over the film but apparently everyone knew the danger they were taking by trying to show the "real" world of sealers. Luke (Charles Starrett) and Jed (Arthur Vinton) are enemies in love with the same woman (Louise Huntington) but the men find themselves working on the S.S. Viking off the coasts of Newfoundland as seal season is among them. The two remain enemies until a major storm separates them from the boat and the rest of the men and they seem to be facing certain death. This film runs a rather brief 72-minutes and six minutes of that footage is an added forward talking about the tragedy that struck the film. This was the first sound movie from Canada so it's to be expected that the sound quality is rather poor and the love triangle is nothing we haven't seen countless times before but with that said, I was rather shocked to see how entertaining this film was.

What makes this film a must see is the amazing footage of Newfoundland, which includes the ship breaking through the ice, hundreds of men trying to pull the ship through ice, a rather amazing sequence of the men walking through the ice floes and even more incredible a scene with the men going up and down as they walk on these floes trying to get back to their ship. This footage is so incredible that you'll sadly be reminded or at least thinking that there's no wonder something tragic happened. Again, from what I've read everyone knew this voyage was going to be dangerous and many would say that the men died delivering what they wanted and I don't think anyone could question the amazing footage that this film has. This type of frozen adventure has been seen in recent shows and documentaries but this here is amazing stuff and easily holds up against anything that would be filmed today. The performances by the three leads isn't anything too special and some of the cinematography is in rough shape but this is certainly to be expected considering the conditions that they were filming in. The film is short enough where the plot and the somewhat bad ending doesn't hurt things too much but I think most people are going to come to this film due to the tragedy but they should also give this film more respect for what we do get to see.