Review by Gary Tooze

Production:

Disc:

Video:

Audio:

Subtitles:

English (SDH), none

Extras:

• Exclusive new video interview with film historian Sheldon Hall (32:54)
• A Tale of Norway (28:16) A featurette about the making of the film, presented by director Richard Fleischer
• Original theatrical trailer (3:26)
• PLUS: A booklet featuring the words of Richard Fleischer; a poster gallery and rare archival imagery

Viking half-brothers Douglas and Curtis fight it out for the throne of Northumbria. Plenty of pillaging, axe-throwing, hearty quaffing of ale, storming of castles, heroic jumping into wolf pits, and manly talk about the glories of entering Valhalla with sword in hand. Handsomely shot by Jack Cardiff, and directed with muscle and verve by Fleischer, this thoroughly entertaining historical epic stands up to umpteen viewings.

Excerpt from TimeOutlocated HERE

The Vikings was based on the novel The Vikings by Edison Marshall, and adapted into a screenplay by Dale Wasserman and Calder Willingham, the latter of whom collaborated with Douglas and Stanley Kubrick on Paths of Glory (1957). Never one to back down from an epic effort, Kirk Douglas was the true shepherd of the project through his own independent company Bryna Productions. Richard Fleischer, who directed Douglas's production of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), called the shots behind the camera. Given the difficulty of the shoot, The Vikings needed Douglas' strong, assured hand and rock-hard ego to guide it. The projected $2.5 million budget doubled with the leasing of an entire Norwegian fjord, the construction of a full-scale Viking village, and design and production of a fleet of authentic longships copied from reproductions in museums. Further ballooning the budget were the transportation costs incurred from shuttling cast and crew to and from the remote set by a fleet of 17 PT boats.

Then there was the weather. Of the 60 shooting days in Norway, 49 were rainy and dark. (Douglas asked a Norwegian boy playing a part in the picture, "Does it always rain here in Norway?" The boy answered, "I don't know. I'm only eighteen."). But the biggest blow to the production was when the entire Norwegian crew of oarsmen - the ones driving that fleet of longships - surprised Douglas by going on strike for more money. Douglas was infuriated, especially since he was under the impression the local participants were content with the terms of their service on the film. Instead of giving in to their demands, Douglas turned the tables on the strikers and left to finish shooting in Munich, having decided that he had obtained sufficient footage of Norway and her people.

Gary Tooze

October 19th, 2017