The Vikings
by Richard Fleischer
List Price:
Our Price: $7.70
You Save: $7.28 (49%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $4.47 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Ernest Borgnine, James Donald, Janet Leigh, Kirk Douglas, Tony CurtisDirector: Richard Fleischer
Brand: Sony
Cinematographer: Jack Cardiff
Producer: Jerry Bresler
Producer: Lee Katz
Writer: Calder Willingham
Writer: Dale Wasserman
Writer: Edison Marshall
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 116 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-05-07
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: MGM
DVD Reviews of The Vikings
DVD Review: could have been a classic epic
Summary: 4 Stars
This film exhibits a curious blend of meticulous attention to detail in presenting historical accuracy and gross historical inaccuracies and anachronisms. According to the director commentory on my DVD, the Viking ships were constructed as authentically as possible. The horses were genuine fjordland horses, distinctively small to survive in that habitat.
The Viking village was built according to our information. The bounding from oar to oar as the ship entered home port was said to be a real Viking tradition.
Perhaps the most glaring anachronism to the casual viewer is that Norman-style castles, such as the restored fort La Latte, where the action takes place late in the film, didn't exist in Britain until after the Norman invasion, several centuries after this story takes place. No doubt, this anachronism was ignored because this Norman castle provided a visually much more dramatic structure and setting for the final confrontations than anything actually in Britian in this historical time frame.
The historical Vikings this story is based upon were from Denmark, not Norway. No doubt Norway was chosen because of the dramatic fjord scenery and because Americans tend to associate Vikings with Norway, ancestral home of Eric the Red and kin.
When Tony Curtis(Eric) was staked at the ocean shore to drown at high tide, he should have died of hypothermia long before drowning. A striking brunette, such as Elizabeth Taylor, would seem a more attractive prize princess than the blond Janet Leigh, to these Vikings, surrounded by blonds. The dramatic, if misogynistic, incident where Prince Einar cuts off, with thrown axes, the pigtails of a wife accused of adultery is (of course) pure historical hokum, if entertaining(especially since the audience knows that the womanizing Einar has been bedding this comely woman). The victorius Vikings are portrayed as spending most of their spare time in drunken orgies, in competition with some of the classic pirate films and the Roman orgies in some of the historical spectacles of this period. Nothing is shown of the farming, animal tending, fishing, and weapons and clothing making that occupied most Vikings when not on raids.
There is the question of why Einar held off killing Eric when Eric's sword broke during their duel. Only Einar knows for sure, but the obvious possibilites include 1)He was not clear if Eric was his half brother 2)He decided a hateful queen Morgana(Janet Leigh) was not worth killing Eric for 3)He was afraid of the sorceress's prophesy that he who killed Eric would be cursed. Perhaps a blend of all these considerations caused Einar's fatal hesitation.
The script would appear to have pretentions of Shakesperian greatness, with one(Eric) of 3 rivals for the hand of Princess Morgana being a mere Viking slave, but unknowingly by birth, having a claim to the thrones of both the English principality of Northumbria and the Viking settlements ruled by Einar, after his father's death. The former rulers of each kingdom vanquished and his true heritage revealed, Eric now represents the potential amalgam between the various prior settlers of the British Isles and the encroaching Vikings, who not only loot the English, but also establish settlements and petty kingdoms, culminating in the Norman invasion of 1066. As I see it, the greatest failing of this film as an epic story is the failure to exploit this symbolism after the funerary rites for Einar. In the parting scene, Morgana appears to be wearing the same crown that the previous queen wore, suggesting she is queen and presumably Eric is king of Northumbria. If so, this change is status happened unbelievably quickly, before Einar's funeral! It would have been much more definitive if we had observed Eric's successful campaign to convince the powers that he was the rightful king of Northrumbria, if not also the Viking settlement he was a former slave in, and to witness his conversion to Christianity(if he was not already a Christian) to fit in better with his queen and English subjects and to symbolize the potential union of northmen and English. In the absence of this extension, this film is merely an elaborate swashbuckler tale.
Description of The Vikings
VIKINGS - DVD MovieBestsellers in DVD
![The Story of Jeremiah [VHS] Image](/images/noimg.gif)
The Story of Jeremiah [VHS]Vision Video; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Wresting With God [VHS]by Vision Video
Vision Video; Published: 1990-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
Study Bible Video with Workbook [VHS]Spring Arbor Distributors; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
Tempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops:
Tempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/ Party Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
![Strike the Original Match [VHS] Image](/images/Strike-the-Original-Match-VHS-0001374079-X.jpg)
Strike the Original Match [VHS]New Liberty Films; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
![Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS] Image](/images/Medjugorje-The-Miracles-and-the-Message-VHS-0001373293-X.jpg)
Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS]JPN Film Production; Release date: 1995-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.99
Mayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008by Mayo
DVD
Price in other shops:
Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single Userby Oakstone
DVD
Price in other shops:
Cost Accounting [VHS]by Charles T. Horngren, George Foster, Srikant M. Datar, Howard Teall
Pearson Canada, Toronto; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
KhartoumRelease date: 2002-05-07; DVD
Best price: $26.37
El Cid (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition)Wellspring Media INC; Release date: 2008-01-29; DVD
Best price: $16.26
Price in other shops:
Prince ValiantFox; Release date: 2004-05-11; DVD
Best price: $4.29
Price in other shops:
Taras BulbaTWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2008-03-25; DVD
Best price: $6.72
Price in other shops:
IvanhoeWarner Brothers; Release date: 2005-01-11; DVD
Best price: $5.75
Price in other shops:
UlyssesDOUGLAS,KIRK; Release date: 2009-08-04; DVD
Best price: $6.96
Price in other shops:
The Long ShipsSony; Release date: 2003-06-24; DVD
Best price: $6.98
Price in other shops:
Quo Vadis (Two-Disc Special Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2008-11-11; DVD
Best price: $7.04
Price in other shops:
The Fall Of The Roman Empire (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (The Miriam Collection)Genius; Release date: 2008-04-29; DVD
Best price: $13.98
Price in other shops:
SpartacusDOUGLAS,KIRK; Release date: 1998-03-31; DVD
Best price: $8.98
Price in other shops: