Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 25-January-04
Spoiler Rating: Medium

The Vikings (1958)

"The Vikings" only recently appeared on my radar screen, seeming to be right up my alley. I love history and long-haired men with big swords more than the average person, and sometimes it feels oh, so right to give myself over to one of those 1950s, cast-of-thousands extravaganzas (so long as it doesn't feature Charlton Heston). But may Thor strike me down if I boast vainly that I remain untaken, a fortress that "The Vikings" failed to conquer.

Director Richard Fleischer clearly set out to make a film that both captures the barbarity of the Vikings and holds them up as heroes. According to the opening sequence, these mighty folk invaded England in the 8th and 9th centuries because they were "cramped by the confines of their barren icebound northlands." (It's almost worth a rental just to hear narrator Orson Welles deliver that line.) A warrior race, they craved nothing more than victory in battle and death with sword in hand so that they could join their chief god, Odin, in the afterlife. And in their long and storied history (so the movie goes), few men could rival the talent, bravery, and all-around manliness of Einar (Kirk Douglas), a golden boy with a dimpled chin, a magnificent bod, a bevy of blondes, and an adoring father, Ragnar, who happens to be chief of the clan. (Ernest Borgnine, a year younger than Douglas, plays Ragnar but sports a lot of hair to hide his relative youth). Sure, Ragnar has been targeted for vengeance by the petty English king Aella (Frank Thring), but it would take a lot more than that to stop Einar from loving his lusty life.

But lo! Out of the west comes a stranger with a past, a slave named Eric (Tony Curtis) who bears a proud spirit and an amulet that could establish his identity as a scion of both Ragnar's and Aella's houses. Wearing a skirt so short it would make Britney Spears proud, Eric takes Einar on and partially blinds him, setting up a rivalry between star-crossed brothers (and, apparently, making some kind of connection between Einar and Odin, who has only one eye). To make matters worse, after Einar kidnaps Aella's betrothed for ransom and decides to keep her, Eric steals her away to rescue her honor. It goes without saying that Eric and the maiden (Curtis' wife, Janet Leigh) fall in love, and that everybody comes together for a big Viking smackdown in the end.

The problem with "The Vikings" is that its soul wants to fly to Valhalla, but its body remains firmly in Hollywood. (Well, that, and a painfully obnoxious soundtrack.) In the DVD commentary, Fleischer mentions the historical research and attention to detail that went into the picture, but this only makes it more regrettable that the story and presentation are so rooted to the formula of their time, a formula that doesn't mesh as much with a tribal, rough-and-tumble culture as it does with, say, the Roman Empire. For every insight into the Norse way of life of 1,100 years ago, there's an overwrought scene attesting to a big-budget studio of 50 years ago. We get magnificent views of Norwegian fjords, faithfully constructed Viking ships sailing through the mist, and, of course, a flaming funeral pyre at sea, but we must also endure sexed-up attempts at rape, dialogue like "love and hate are horns on the same goat," and Leigh's ridiculously pointy precursor to the Wonderbra. (Also, the filmmakers did indulge in some historical inaccuracies, like the fact that everyone speaks the same language and the use of a 14-century castle to represent Aella's stronghold.) Even the movie's overt idolization of the Vikings smells more like cheese than sincerity; it seems to say that we should admire them because they laughed a lot, drank a lot, took what they wanted, and made dramatic exits, not because they excelled in shipbuilding, craftwork, warfare, or the like.

With the success of "The Lord of the Rings" and the recent spate of movies based on ancient and early medieval history, I wouldn't be surprised to see another Viking flick in theaters before too long. (In fact, John McTiernan gave it a crack with "The 13th Warrior" just a few years ago.) I can only hope that future attempts to illuminate the lives and legacy of these people shows the same good intentions as "The Vikings," but a greater narrative ability.

Copyright © 2004 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.