Starring Tony Curtis, Kirk Douglas, Janet Leigh, Ernest Borgnine, Frank Thring, James Donald, Alexander Knox, Orson Welles (narrator)

(8-Exceptional Film)

Spectacular. Exciting. Engrossing.

The Vikings seems influenced more by comic strips and pulp novels than actual history but that’s certainly not a complaint; not from me. Set around the 9th century, a group of plundering Vikings, led by Ragnar (Borgnine), and his handsome but vain son, Einar (Douglas), prepare to invade England. Tony Curtis plays Eric, a slave with a mysterious but powerful origin, and Janet Leigh plays English princess, Morgana, the object of the male leads’ desire. Beautifully, vibrantly photographed by Jack Cardiff, The Vikings is a spirited adventure film with many surprises and a corny but appealing romance. Douglas and Borgnine relish their scene-chewing roles, while Curtis and Leigh ground the picture and have great chemistry.

-Walter Tyrone Howard-

(743)