The Viking Queen (1967)

To honour her father's dying wish, Queen Salina shares the rule of Icena with Justinian, a fair and just Roman. This displeases the bloodthirsty Druids on one side and the more hard-line ... See full summary »

Director:

Don Chaffey

Writers:

Clarke Reynolds (screenplay), John Temple-Smith (from an original story by)

Stars:

Don Murray, Carita, Donald Houston

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Don Murray	...	Justinian
Carita	...	Salina
Donald Houston	...	Maelgan
Andrew Keir	...	Octavian
Adrienne Corri	...	Beatrice
Niall MacGinnis	...	Tiberian
Wilfrid Lawson	...	King Priam
Nicola Pagett	...	Talia
Percy Herbert	...	Catus
Patrick Troughton	...	Tristram
Sean Caffrey	...	Fergus
Denis Shaw	...	Osiris
Philip O'Flynn	...	Merchant
Brendan Matthews	...	Nigel
Gerry Alexander	...	Fabian

Storyline

To honour her father's dying wish, Queen Salina shares the rule of Icena with Justinian, a fair and just Roman. This displeases the bloodthirsty Druids on one side and the more hard-line Romans on the other. As Salina and Justinian fall in love their enemies start to plot, and blood soon stains the green hills of Britain.

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Plot Keywords:

celtic | ancient rome | hot | sex scene | sexy | 

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Taglines:

No man could tame her savage passions!

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Genres:

Adventure

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

The storyline is very loosely based on the Iceni queen Boudica's revolt against the Roman colonisation of Britain in 60-61 AD.

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Goofs

When the queen is being flogged on the wagon tongues, as she is released she just lets go of the ropes and you can see her hands are no longer tied to them.

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Quotes

Maelgan: [examines King Priam] He is very near to death, my lady.
Salina: He must live to complete his wish.
Beatrice: It would be better if he died.
Maelgan: It is written in the clouds that the King shall sign such a will and that you
[points to Salina]
Maelgan: will wear armor and carry a sword in your right hand. It has been - written!

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Alternate Versions

The original UK cinema version was cut by the BBFC to heavily edit shots of Salina being stripped and flogged, and scenes of caged prisoners being lowered into a fiery pit. The 2006 Optimum DVD is uncut.

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Connections

Featured in The Props That Hammer Built: The Kinsey Collection (2012)

User Reviews

Middle-of-the-woad.

When Don Chaffey directed the historically ludicrous and rather camp dinosaur epic One Million Years B.C., he cleverly distracted viewers from the film's sillier aspects through the use of stunning stop-motion creature effects, and Racquel Welch's even more stunning chest. The result was a completely daft, but thoroughly entertaining piece of schlock cinema.

With The Viking Queen, an equally silly and factually inaccurate sword and sandal movie, he once again uses 'big breast diversion tactics'—only this time with less successful results. Perhaps Chaffey should have thrown caution to the wind and chucked in a T-rex or two!

Beautiful, pillow-chested model Carina plays Celtic Queen (yes... Celtic!) Salina of the Iceni, who is forced to pick up a sword and fight the Romans, despite the fact that her lover, Justinian, is their leader. Carina sure is gorgeous, but even her breath-taking looks and marvellous physique are not enough to prevent one from noticing her wooden acting, the dreadful script, and plodding direction.

Stay the course, and you will be treated to a couple of unintentionally hilarious scenes (of which the lowering of Romans into a fiery pit was my favourite), a smattering of partial nudity (nipple tassles spoil the fun), and a silly battle with Boudicca-style warrior women in chariots (with blades on the wheels) attacking Romans with glee.

But even these enjoyably dumb moments cannot stop The Viking Queen from being a merely mediocre effort.

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 August 1967 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Viking Queen

Filming Locations:

Powerscourt Estate, Enniskerry, County Wicklow, Ireland

Box Office

Budget:

GBP471,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hammer Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min 80 min (censored)

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1