The Vikings (1958)

This is the second movie with Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis that I have watched this winter, and it is excellent.

The film opens on an animated Bayeux tapestry (not strictly about the Vikings, mind you, but an ancient work that tells the story of battles fought and won), followed by an immediate, full-blooded depiction of rape, fire and pillage. There are no punches pulle don that account--the Vikings were all about getting in, wrecking havoc, and goinf home.  The Icelandic word 'ransack' means to investigate.  They put a pleasant spin on an ugly business.

The characters and plot are extensively fictionalised, though they are based on a Norse saga about the possibly-real eighth or ninth century Viking lord Ragnar Lodbrok and the probably-real Northumbrian king Aella (died 867). The film revolves around two fictional sons of Ragnar (Ernest Borgnine), the long-lost Eric (Tony Curtis) and the party-hearty Einar (Kirk Douglas).

One of the film's big surprises is that it actually looks quite authentic and fressh, despite it's age. Production design gets points for the fact that neither horned helmets nor drinking out of skulls is in evidence, though Kirk Douglas does sport a fetching hat with a bronze hawk on it, and there is quite a lot of hardcore boozing from non-cranial vessels. The locations – including some lovely fjords – are spectacular, even if a pedant might point out that medieval castles weren't built pre-ruined. The longships look terrific, and there's a very authentic funeral.  The musical score includes some terrific horn blowing (and some impressive animal horns) that are praised by Middle Age music folks as being well done.  Best of all, as epics go, this one is enjoyable.