"The Viking" is a very important movie. It was, according to IMDb, the first Canadian* talking picture. It also has the infamous distinction of having the most crew members killed in the production of the film! Apart from all this, it has lots of amazing footage of the frozen North. However, unfortunately, it also is an incredibly dull film and is very dated--particularly when it comes to the sound quality.The film begins with Luke (Charles Starrett) being discovered by Jed (Arther Vinton) freezing to death in the snow, so he brings Luke back to town and saves him. However, soon the film looks like a Popeye cartoon**, as both guys want the same girl and Jed sure looks and acts a lot like Bluto! So, when the two guys go off to sea later on a sea hunting expedition***, you KNOW that sooner or later, the pair will end up beating the snot out of each other to win the hand of Mary Joe. Unfortunately, in the interim, there is snow, snow, snow and more snow--as well as footage of the expedition. It's MILDLY interesting from a historical standpoint but dramatically, it's deadly dull. How will it all end? And, more importantly, will you even care?! I sure know I didn't. And, it's a shame so many people died to make such a dull film.*Although the production was Canadian and it was filmed in Canada, it's odd that all three of the leads were Americans.**Yes, I know that the first Popeye cartoon did not appear until two years later. It just SEEMED a lot like Popeye and I think having Luke pop out a can of spinach and wailing on Jed would have been a billion times better than the way the film really went.***Yes, seal hunting isn't politically correct and PETA-types will no doubt be offended. But it was 1931, dang it!

This 1931 film is the first talkie produced in Canada. The sound is just plain awful. About half the dialog is impossible to decipher, but that's not a bad thing since the dialog is awful anyway.This Canadian film, shot in Newfoundland and Labrador, stars Charles Starrett (the future cowboy star) as bad luck Luke, who sails on "The Viking" on a seal-hunting expedition. His rival and enemy (Arthur Vinton) does everything he can to make the voyage a misery. They are rivals for the hand of Mary Jo (Louise Huntington). The love story is not well done and we've seen it a hundred times before.What is remarkable about this film is the location shooting among the ice floes and bergs. The film takes on a documentary feel as we watch the men battle the ice, scamper across the floes, and wander for miles searching for seals. The plot finally gets interesting after the seal slaughter when the two men are left behind and the ship sails for home. They then have to battle the elements as they walk back to St. Johns.The film was co-directed by veteran George Melford and young Varick Frissell in his only feature film. The cinematography is grainy but is so astonishing, THE VIKING was mentioned in Kevin Brownlow's masterpiece Hollywood.

Viking, The (1931) *** (out of 4)This 1931 film has the unfortunate legacy of being the deadliest movie ever film as on March 15, 1931 director Frissell, cinematographer Alexander Penrod and twenty-five other members of the crew were killed when an explosion happened on the boat they were filming on. This tragedy certainly hangs a dark shadow over the film but apparently everyone knew the danger they were taking by trying to show the "real" world of sealers. Luke (Charles Starrett) and Jed (Arthur Vinton) are enemies in love with the same woman (Louise Huntington) but the men find themselves working on the S.S. Viking off the coasts of Newfoundland as seal season is among them. The two remain enemies until a major storm separates them from the boat and the rest of the men and they seem to be facing certain death. This film runs a rather brief 72-minutes and six minutes of that footage is an added forward talking about the tragedy that struck the film. This was the first sound movie from Canada so it's to be expected that the sound quality is rather poor and the love triangle is nothing we haven't seen countless times before but with that said, I was rather shocked to see how entertaining this film was. What makes this film a must see is the amazing footage of Newfoundland, which includes the ship breaking through the ice, hundreds of men trying to pull the ship through ice, a rather amazing sequence of the men walking through the ice floes and even more incredible a scene with the men going up and down as they walk on these floes trying to get back to their ship. This footage is so incredible that you'll sadly be reminded or at least thinking that there's no wonder something tragic happened. Again, from what I've read everyone knew this voyage was going to be dangerous and many would say that the men died delivering what they wanted and I don't think anyone could question the amazing footage that this film has. This type of frozen adventure has been seen in recent shows and documentaries but this here is amazing stuff and easily holds up against anything that would be filmed today. The performances by the three leads isn't anything too special and some of the cinematography is in rough shape but this is certainly to be expected considering the conditions that they were filming in. The film is short enough where the plot and the somewhat bad ending doesn't hurt things too much but I think most people are going to come to this film due to the tragedy but they should also give this film more respect for what we do get to see.

A DVD combo-pack on adventurer/photographer Varick Frissell, who died in an explosion on the eponymous seal hunting ship. WHITE THUNDER is a bio that barely lives up to its fascinating subject, but nicely sets up the paired early talkie. THE VIKING is officially directed by George Melford, an A-list silent director who faded fast with sound (his swansong, EAST OF BORNEO/''31, is an unintentional riot). But Frissell must have taken charge of all the Newfoundland location shooting which is so filled with extraordinary footage of sealers, churning ice floes, full-rigged ships, sea & sun that you'd gladly put up with twice the cornball "two guys & a gal" hokum so mechanically delivered by the talent-challenged cast.