The Vikings (DVD)

...a 1hr 51min movie from the 50s starring Kirk Douglas, available at a very low price on DVD.

Looking back in his autobiography, 'Climbing the mountain', Kirk Douglas had a lot to say about 'Spartacus'. I can see why because it was a huge movie with lots of gladiators forming an army to challenge even the mighty Romans. However, a film of his from the 50s that I loved dearly but which he hardly mentions, was 'The Vikings''. I like it ...
...back in 1958. It did the rounds of cinemas quite regularly in Birmingham in the following years which is how it was that when I was eight I found myself, wide-eyed and in awe of this movie. Why? Because the world it depicted was colourful, exciting and filled with larger than life characters. It was a world filled with raucous humour, laughing machismo, hails of arrows and battering rams. That was enough for me back then and, sitting with a bottle ... more

'The Vikings' is a 1hr 51min movie from the 50s starring Kirk Douglas, available at a very low price on DVD.

Looking back in his autobiography, 'Climbing the mountain', Kirk Douglas had a lot to say about 'Spartacus'. I can see why because it was a huge movie with lots of gladiators forming an army to challenge even the mighty Romans. However, a film of his from the 50s that I loved dearly but which he hardly mentions, was 'The Vikings''. I like it more than 'Spartacus'.

Directed by Richard Fleischer, 'The Vikings' was released when I was four way back in 1958. It did the rounds of cinemas quite regularly in Birmingham in the following years which is how it was that when I was eight I found myself, wide-eyed and in awe of this movie. Why? Because the world it depicted was colourful, exciting and filled with larger than life characters. It was a world filled with raucous humour, laughing machismo, hails of arrows and battering rams. That was enough for me back then and, sitting with a bottle of red and the house to myself, the miracle of DVD means that it's a world I can now revisit on a nostalgic whim.

Do you remember how Brad Pitt's 'Achilles' is first shown to us in 'Troy'? He's in a tent with ladies having had a threesome! Well, Kirk Douglas' character, Einar, is first seen in a similar position though only snogging someone else's wife. His credentials as red-blooded, laughing warrior thus quickly established, he races on horseback to meet his father, Ragnar, played by Ernest Borgnine. When he hurls a wine barrel, smashing it on a rock, we can see the admiration Ragnar has for Einar. 'Did any man ever have such a son?' he cries. Aged eight, in 1962, I could only wish to be like him. He was handsome; he kissed girls; he raced down hills on a horse laughing, and smashed barrels. Plus his dad liked him. What a great role model!

As the story progresses, the Vikings come into conflict with the evil King Aella played by Frank Thring. His robed and bearded portrayal of a royal villain sneers one-dimensionally so he's unmistakeably mean. Ragnar and Einar are both wild men in many ways and yet both have an utter religious conviction that a Viking can only go to Valhalla if he dies with a sword in his hand. They believe in honour which, despite their barbarity, gives them the moral high-ground in this movie. Though their adventurism is violent and wanton, they're grounded in something greater than themselves and their immediate politics.

The romantic interest is supplied by Janet Leigh, fancied by Einar, about to be forced to marry Aella, and yet also attracted to Eric! When she is unable to row because of her dress Eric rips her dress off her back. That got my attention at eight in '62 because - never mind all the swordplay - that was very daring stuff. A lady's bare back! My little eyes nearly popped out.

My research reveals that this movie was filmed in Norway in bad weather conditions. There's no getting away from the pre-battle rains as the Vikings prepare to set off for England. Not sprinklers, then... Not all of the scenes are set in bad weather though. The introduction is sunny enough as we see the memorable scenes of Viking villagers racing to meet Ragnar's boats. The children and wives flocking happily to the shore to meet their men are called by a huge horn that plays an unforgettable melody. Forty five years on I still find myself humming it and when I do I'm thinking back to the original cinema where I watched it over and over again.

Sadly, that research further reveals that the director, Richard Fleischer and Kirk Douglas had collaborated before on '20,000 Leagues under the sea' but that they fell out whilst making 'The Vikings'. It seems each man blamed the other for this film not achieving its potential. One can only wonder what they'd have achieved if they hadn't been at loggerheads because, speaking with a hindsight of almost half a century, I enjoyed it just fine and, of course, with this DVD, I'm still able to.

That music from the great horn that mingled with the orchestral music lifted the spirit. Watch this movie and go with determined Vikings into battles where arrows fill the skies like rain. See hand to hand combat and warriors crushed in their mad charge with a huge ram. See Kirk Douglas make drunken machismo merry and attractive! Witness axe-throwing skills and acrobatics in the style of Burt Lancaster, and see how to make a great entrance through a closed window in a tower using nothing but a grappling hook and a long rope.

There's an important plot thread concerning who Eric really is and how the significance of that fact eventually becomes apparent.

Is it very likely that events would have happened as they're depicted? No.

Does it matter? No, because the feud between Tony Curtis' and Kirk Douglas' characters drives them on and leads the action forward to an exciting conclusion. The storyline relies on coincidence and the threads of circumstance meeting at the end in a Hardyesque manner which, I suppose, is the weakness here. However, this isn't fodder for the academic. This is an exciting joy-ride through clashing swords and men, steely-eyed and willing to fight to the death for their leaders. Hoorah!

There's a lot of humour in this movie. Kirk Douglas' Einar is a gung-ho, impulsive warrior who laughs in the face of danger and yet who can also harbour brooding resentment. The Vikings know how to party and he's knocking them back with the best of them, dancing on the extended oars of a longship and hooting with laughter when he nearly falls in, marching along the tables at a feast making ribald jokes about Janet Leigh's character. He's full of energy and yet he's a dangerous and emotionally driven warrior.

As the often repeated theme that began with the horn blowing to celebrate Ragnar's return at the beginning of the movie plays for a funeral at the end of it. (I wont' say who died or how or why...), archers fire arrows into the air from the hills at night to set it alight. Now, I'm not saying that Kirk Douglas wasn't marvellous as he saw his baby and learnt that it was free at the end of 'Spartacus', or that the scene wasn't a classic. I'm just saying that the spectacle of that funeral and those fire-arrows combined with that superb tune swelling all around, held me entranced as a child and, even after forty five years, still does so.

The quality is very good and even after all this time does nothing to detract from the enjoyment of the movie when translated onto DVD. Though the makers couldn't have conceived of digital media in the 50s, their films had to have enough information recorded to project onto huge cinema screens. Especially when seen on a television, this is more than enough to produce suitably clear images. Turn up the mono sound and get ready to charge Aella's castle. You should see Kirk Douglas' way of sorting out the drawbridge! It's worthy of Jackie Chan!

Although I've found out that the Region 1 version of 'The Vikings' on DVD has a good extra feature in the form of Richard Fleischer explaining how the film was made as a voice-over to a photo gallery, my Region 2 version has only got a very old trailer to the movie. This might make a potential buyer who has a multi-region DVD player in the UK consider ordering from somewhere like:

http://www.dvdempire.com/

where a quick search for 'The Vikings' will show the Region 1 version is available (as I write) at $10.79 plus delivery.

Why this featurette with Richard Fleischer has been missed off the UK version is a mystery to me but there it is: if you buy the Region 2 version it isn't there. You do, however, get a super old movie filled with the clashing of swords and the splashing of mead, and a short advertising trailer for it from the 50s.

Amazon here in the UK do this movie at £4.97 which is a brilliant price in my opinion. It's not sophisticated but it's a lot of fun, sometimes gripping and sometimes very sad. The main thing, I've always thought, is that there's lots of laughter and sword fighting. Of course, these days that makes it "PG (General Viewing but some scenes may be unsuitable for small children)". So, if you don't want your children to make their garden shed into a Viking HQ filled with wooden swords and armour made from cardboard held together with wool as I did, you might want to keep them away from role models like the young Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis. I'm serious. I nearly lobbed a home-made bamboo spear through our neighbour, Mrs Jackson, once whilst playing at being Kirk Douglas' Einar the Viking and I wasn't even aiming at her. So, really - not one for impressionable children, I think! 

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