Review: The Vikings

Kirk Douglas plays Einar, the Viking prince son of King Ragnar (Ernest Borgnine, actually slightly younger than Douglas in real-life). On one of their typical Viking raids, Einar captures Welsh princess Morgana (Janet Leigh), who is to be wed to the sinister, imperious English King Aella (Frank Thring). Morgana has no interest in either men, in fact she would rather be with slave Eric (Tony Curtis), whom Einar has a great distaste for. James Donald plays the aptly named Egbert, an English Nobleman with no love for his King, and who has been providing intel for the Vikings in secret. Alexander Knox plays Father Godwin, who knows a secret about Eric that will also impact Einar (A secret that Egbert is also aware of).

 

One of the shortest but best classic Hollywood historical epics, this 1958 adventure flick from eclectic director Richard Fleischer (“Fantastic Voyage”, “Mandingo”, “Red Sonja”) is just about the manliest movie ever. It’s even narrated by Orson Welles for crying out loud. However, I think it works best of all for teenage boys, 13 year-old me certainly loved this movie to pieces. 40+ year-old me still has a lot of fun with it, too.

 

We start off with an animated prologue narrated by Welles, and to be honest I wouldn’t have minded a full-length version of it. It’s really cool and the animation is interesting, basically mimicking the drawing style of ancient scrolls/cave drawings. Meanwhile, the music score by Mario Nascimbene (“Alexander the Great”, “Solomon and Sheba”) is absolutely terrific and majestic. Yes it’s pretty much repeating a few basic notes, but it’s really stirring stuff. The colour cinematography by Jack Cardiff (“Black Narcissus”, “The African Queen”) is mostly outstanding, but Cardiff occasionally gives the night-time scenes a little too much blurry fog for my liking. Still, there’s some truly stunning images here and there.

 

The performances are mostly brilliant, with an energetic yet embittered Kirk Douglas leading the way. Playing a not especially likeable protagonist Viking warrior Einar, dimple-chinned Douglas obviously doesn’t look much like your stereotypical Viking, but he’s a lot of vigorous – yet bitter and twisted – fun. The film is stolen however, by the great Ernest Borgnine who seems born for the role of rowdy Viking patriarch Ragnar. Having said that, Borgnine’s innate likeability makes Ragnar seem a lot more likeable than he really should – the guy is a rapist after all. They all are! Douglas’ Einar is practically begging Janet Leigh to put up a fight when he makes advances on her, but she refuses because she wants it to weigh on his conscience – if he has one. Einar, one of the most complex and twisted characters in this genre remarks ‘If I can’t have your love, I’ll take your hate!’. The man is a bit messed up. The film actually offers up a pretty dark, harsh view of Vikings even though they’re essentially the chief protagonists. It’s quite surprising for 1958 I think. You’re mostly on their side because the other side is ruled by the Machiavellian, clearly untrustworthy – and just as lustful – Frank Thring. You just can’t root for any side headed by Frank Thring. Ever. It’s impossible. Aussie character actor Thring didn’t get a lot of roles overseas, but when he did it was usually eyebrow-arching villains like this one. He’s terrific as the hypocritical, lustful English ruler Aella, an evil snobby bastard if ever there was one. Whether you like the Vikings or not, you can’t wait for this guy to get his just desserts. Einar may be arrogant, but Aella is just plain evil.

 

We also get solid character work by Alexander Knox, and especially the always sturdy James Donald. Playing perhaps the most interesting character in the film – an Englishman who doesn’t like his King and has a fairly tenuous working relationship with the Vikings, Donald brings his usual quiet decency, nobility, and intelligence to a film mostly full of rowdy thugs and creepy, greedy, pious authoritarians. Janet Leigh, although the furthest thing from Welsh, is perfectly fine as the object of Aella’s and Einar’s lust. The weakest performances come from Tony Curtis, and especially a hammy, thoroughly grating Eileen Way as the token mystic/soothsayer of the Vikings. She’s eye-rolling and just too much. Curtis isn’t terrible – he has some OK moments with Janet Leigh, but is pretty poorly miscast in these surrounds. As was the case with “Spartacus”, this kind of stuff just isn’t Curtis’ thing.

 

A rowdy good time with some vivid performances (a couple less-so), good-looking and great-sounding, it’s great fun for young and old. Borgnine’s final scene in particular is a classic bit of machismo. Must-see. The screenplay is by Calder Willingham (“One-Eyed Jacks”, “The Graduate”, “Little Big Man”) and Dale Wasserman (“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”), from a novel by Edison Marshall.

 

Rating: A-