The Vikings (1958)

Director:

Richard Fleischer

Writers:

Edison Marshall (novel)
Dale Wasserman (adaptation)

Release Date:

28 June 1958 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure

Tagline:

Mightiest Of Men... Mightiest Of Spectacles... Mightiest Of Motion Pictures!

Plot:

Einar and Eric are two Viking half-brothers. The former is a great warrior whilst the other is an ex-slave...

Plot Keywords:

Warrior | Princess | Viking | Funeral Pyre | Stabbed In The Chest

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

US TV Schedule:

Sun. Nov. 22

10:00 PM

TCM

Cast

Kirk Douglas	...	Einar
Tony Curtis	...	Eric
Ernest Borgnine	...	Ragnar
Janet Leigh	...	Morgana
James Donald	...	Egbert
Alexander Knox	...	Father Godwin
Maxine Audley	...	Enid
Frank Thring	...	Aella
Eileen Way	...	Kitala
Edric Connor	...	Sandpiper
Dandy Nichols	...	Bridget
Per Buckhøj	...	Bjorn

Also Known As:

:The Vikings: (USA) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 (re-rating) | Norway:16 (original rating) | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | West Germany:16 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Brittany, France

Company:

Brynaprod S.A.

Trivia:

Stuntmen had practiced for weeks for the oar walking scenes. Kirk Douglas told director Richard Fleischer that he could do it and did several times. At one point when he did fall in the icy water he calmly swam over to the camera boat and asked if they had gotten good shots. He then swam back to the Viking longboat. Fleischer noted they were watching and filming an activity that had not been done in a thousand years.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Erik rescues Morgana and her maid they get into a rowboat with the two men near the bow and the two women in front of them. There is even a whole sequence when Erik rips the back of Morgana's dress open. A few seconds later they have switched positions and the women are near the bow of the boat with the men in front of them.

Quotes:

Einar: Take your magic elsewhere, holy man!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Queen of Hearts (1989)

A great film but two things bother me

Many thanks to vaughn.birbeck for giving us the historical background of "The Vikings." It is great to know that the film has a basis in fact right down to the names of the main characters. I first saw "The Vikings" on a raw Saturday afternoon in February of 1959 with my brother and my best friend, Buddy. When the show was over, we ran home full of excitement. My brother and I burst into our house to find the Hall family was visiting. Catching our breath, we choked out, "We just saw the greatest movie of all time! It's The Vikings! It had Vikings and knights and they were sailing across the poison sea and attacking the castle and shooting arrows and throwing axes and chopping off hands with slashing swords......"

When Mr. Hall retorted, "Now don't you think it is unfortunate that people can't find other ways to settle their differences?" I felt, "Oh, boy! I hope I never get so old that I think like him and can't enjoy 'The Vikings'."

It was the thrill of my brother's life as an adult to ask Kirk Douglas on a New York studio talk show, "Did you actually jump across the moat to grab onto the axes in the drawbridge door, or did a stunt man do that?"

Kirk's answer was, "I wanted to do it but the insurance company wouldn't let me."

Even now I love the film but two things about it bother me. Great actor that he is, Kirk Douglas is just too nice of a guy and too good looking to be convincing as Ainar. Edison Marshall's book "The Viking" on which the film is based portrays him by the name of Hastings more like the character of Barnes as played by Tom Berringer in "Platoon." In "The Vikings", Ragnar introduces his son Ainar as someone who is "so vain of his beauty, he scrapes his face like an Englishman." Hastings is not charming or vain but tough and so cruel and even sadistic that after Eric's hawk tears up his entire face (not just his eye), Hastings delights in the horrifying effect his facial scars has on the victims he kills and rapes. The women scream, his facial scars dance as he laughs at their horror, the women scream even more in horror.... Hastings, like Barnes in "Platoon" clearly is a guy other Viking warriors hold in awe and whom Eric really wants to see dead. But in the film, Ainar is just a good looking, charismatic, fun guy we actually pity when after crossing the poison sea, storming the castle, jumping over the moat, climbing the tower, and crashing through the stain glass window to get to the love of his life, Morgana tells him he isn't her type.

The other thing that bothers me about "The Vikings" is the miscasting of blond, buxom Janet Leigh as the Welsh princess, Morgana. Eric and Hastings were used to having blond, buxom Scandinavian women around them all the time. It was the novelty of the cute, demure, petite, brunette Welsh Morgana that captivated them and motivated them to engage in an adventure that involved scores of ships sailing the Mediterranean before they finally engaged in their showdown at high noon with crossed swords.