NOTES: Number 5 at the U.S./Canadian boxoffice for 1959. The movie did even better in the U.K. where it came in at Number 3. In Australia, however, the movie did virtually no business at all. Quite likely, it actually lost money after deducting advertising expenses, print costs and distribution overheads.Ever since Edison Marshall's 1951 novel hit the bestseller's list, it had been considered prime film material. In 1952 Mike Todd and Edward Small planned a joint venture in producing a film of the bloodthirsty actioner, but it remained for Kirk Douglas' Bryna production company to set the project into expensive actuality. (At the time Douglas was labeled Kirk von Stroheim for his seeming budgetary excesses on The Vikings.) Filmed in Technicolor and Technirama, with location work in Brittany and along the coast of Norway, and Viking ships and village replicas built at Fort La Lotte in Dinard, France, The Vikings cost nearly four million dollars, but grossed $6.049 million in distributors' domestic receipts.COMMENT: Most reviewers have been facetious in dealing with The Vikings, referring to it as a "Norse Opera" and commenting that the great expense and effort spent on the historically accurate sets and costumes is at variance with its probable audience, i.e., the juvenile trade, and admirers of gore and violence on the screen. Provided he is willing to tolerate the banality of the story, the history student will find much to catch his eye, beginning with the film's credit titles. These were designed by the UPA studio, and give animation to figures suggested by the Bayeux tapestry, setting up the historical background of the story. The interiors of the film were shot in the Geiselgasteig Studios in Munich, and the exteriors were shot in Norway and on the coast of Brittany. All this visual grandeur was magnificently color photographed by Jack Cardiff, soon to become a director himself. Some of his shots, especially scenes of the Viking ships in fjords, are mystically beautiful.

This classic ¨The Vikings (1958)¨ by Richard Fleischer packs a big name cast as Kirk Douglas , Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis . Very well-done adventure movie following the exploits of a group of Vikings sailing on Dragon ships like serpents on the sea , the terrible Northmen led by Ragnar , Einar and Eric . All of them shouting a battle-cry to their awesome god of war , Odin ! This enjoyable picture packs adventures , thrills , good action scenes and being very amusing . But then a slave (Tony Curtis) and a Viking prince (Kirk Douglas) fight for the love of a captive princess (Janet Leigh) and assault an impregnable fortress . Adventure movie full of impressive battles , noisy action , fencing and breathtaking exteriors . Kirk Douglas is pretty good , he gives a nice performance as leader of a band of Vikings driving his ship sets sail for the unknown land in search of Britanny kingdom . Top-drawer cast as Tony Curtis , Ernest Borgnine and Janet Leigh and colorful British and Hollywood secondary casting such as Alexander Knox , Maxine Audley , Frank Thring , and James Donald . Furthermore , as narrator the great Orson Welles . Although full of stupid historical errors and unbelievable events , the film results to be really entertaining and overwhelming . Great location footage with sweepingly photography by the magnificent cameraman Jack Cardiff . Shot on location in Fort La Latte , Côtes-d'Armor, France , Brittany , France , Walchensee, Bavaria , Germany Hardanger , Norway and Lim Fiord , Croatia . Thrilling and evocative musical score by Mario Nascimbene . Well set , in fact screenwriters , producers spent some years researching the Norse civilization in preparation for doing this movie , this included the actual designs for the Viking ships they used and the breed of horse that they rode . The picture was handsomely shot and directed with verve and muscle by Richard Fleischer . Rating : Good , fine battle scenes and wonderful cinematography and locations make the movie a standout . This throughly amusing historical epic stands up to teens and adults viewings . Don't miss for Kirk Douglas fans .This basic costume epic belongs to Viking genre , such as : ¨Eric the conqueror¨ (1961) by Mario Bava with Cameron Mitchell , ¨The long ships¨ (1963) by Jack Cardiff with Sidney Poitier and Richard Widmark ; ¨ ¨The Viking queen (1967)¨ by Don Chaffey with Don Murray and Andrew Keir ; The Norseman (1978) ¨ by Charles B Pierce with Cornel Wilde and Mel Ferrer ; ¨The Viking sagas (1995)¨ by Michael Chapman with Ralph Moeller , among others .

"The Vikings" won't give you historicity per se, but it will sum up all the typical viking archetypes as they were seen a while ago, for you. And more."More", in this case, is Kirk Douglas. The guy's all over the place in this movie being, finally, without nuances and over-exposed. And yet, Douglas does a director's dream of a job - you just can't squeeze more performance out of an actor (apart for what is asked of Divine); He runs and jumps, he drinks, he rapes, he fights and generally hogs the whole set for himself. But why, oh why did he had to look like Kirk Douglas instead of an archetypal viking, I don't know. Maybe he was such a selling ticket at the time that the producers wouldn't go for a beard or some hair. The result was, for me, about as distracting as if the filming crew has been left working in the background, here and there."Hot pants" Curtis was about as jarring, but at least he went for a beard and was able to deliver his performance with more subtlety. Borgnine, for his part, clearly had all the fun and manages to stand out even in scenes heavily-laden with Kirk. And Leigh's beauty shines even through the dubious fashion of the flick's era.When I can get past all that over-abundance of Kirk, what I like about this movie are the sets, and that graceful boat. The last scene is quite something to behold, too. In conclusion, in spite of all the Kirk, "The Vikings" still pack some very enjoyable "wild 50s" charms, such as a fast pace and lots of boyish fighting action.

THE VIKINGSYeah... another Sunday morning movie. I only recorded this off of the TV because it had the legendary Ernest Borgnine in it. I met Ernest a few years ago, and he was one of the nicest actors I have met so far. A really big character. He has made so many great movies and I watched him in various things whilst growing up. I felt very privileged to have met him.This film is not bad... but not great.Lots of Vikings, lots of violence and lots of sword fights. There were some really good scenes.The cast list was very impressive. It stared Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis. Ernest Borgnine and Janet Leigh. It is unbelievable how much Kirk Douglas looks like Michael Douglas in this film. Michael definitely got his looks from his Dad.Kirk played a great character. He was a Viking who had an awesome scar across his face. He looked really good. Tony Curtis played a slave that was actually the rightful King but didn't know it. Kirk had a score to settle with the slave as it was him that gave Kirk that scar.This film, like a lot of other old movies, was a bit harsh on the animals. I don't think any animals got seriously hurt in it. There is one scene where Tony Curtis was holding a Hawk. The Hawk was clearly tied to Tony's hand... but when Kurt kicked Tony in the chest and knocked him down... that poor bird definitely took a tumble. I just remember thinking to myself "There is no way Hollywood could get away with that now.". And not that they would need to... special effects are so good these days that they can make it look like an animal has died, where really there was no animal at all.Anyway, this film was OK. A pretty good story, not the greatest acting from everyone, but not too bad. Clearly Kirk, Tony, Ernest and Janet did brilliantly... just some of the supporting cast were not that good. Some of the death scenes were comical.I will give this film 6 out of 10.Not a bad daytime movie. For more reviews, please check out my Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ordinary-Person-Movie- Reviews/456572047728204?ref=hl