BY THE SACRED BLOOD OF ODIN!

It's hard to classify director Richard Fleischer as an auteur. None of his films have ever struck me as having a distinctive cinematic style or common thematic concerns. But even if he was largely a hired gun, especially for 20th Century Fox in the 1960s, Fleischer nevertheless produced an astounding body of work over the course of more than forty years in the business. 

His earliest success came in the films noir he helmed in the '40s and '50s, among them BODYGUARD (1948), TRAPPED (1949), FOLLOW ME QUIETLY (1949), THE CLAY PIGEON (1949), ARMORED CAR ROBBERY (1950), HIS KIND OF WOMAN (1951), VIOLENT SATURDAY (1955) and his masterpiece (and one of my all time favorite noirs), THE NARROW MARGIN (1952). 

Fleischer stepped up his game considerably when he was hired by the Walt Disney Studios to helm the incredibly ambitious 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA (1954). The film proved to be both a critical and box office success and let studios know that Fleischer was capable of working with larger budgets on bigger productions. Working at 20th Century Fox in the 1960s, Fleischer directed the Biblical epic BARRABAS (1961), the science fiction adventure FANTASTIC VOYAGE (1966 and another one of my all time favorite movies), the Best Picture Oscar nominee (but financially disastrous) DOCTOR DOLITTLE (1967), the compelling true crime drama THE BOSTON STRANGLER (1968), and WWII epic TORA! TORA! TORA! (1970), which faithfully and accurately depicts both the American and the Japanese players in the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. Fleischer returned to science fiction for the cult classic SOYLENT GREEN (1973), and helmed two sword and sorcery adventures, CONAN THE DESTROYER (1984) and RED SONJA (1985), both of which were inspired by characters created by Robert E. Howard. 

Fleischer's first big budget, historical epic was THE VIKINGS (1958), a handsomely mounted production that benefits greatly from a good cast and breathtaking on location cinematography in the fiords of Norway. Kirk Douglas, all dimpled chin, flashing white teeth and wavy blond wig stars as Einar, son of Viking chieftain Ragnar (Ernest Borgnine). In real life, Borgnine was actually two months younger than Douglas but hey, this is the movies after all. 

Einar and Ragnar, aided by British traitor Egbert (James (THE GREAT ESCAPE) Donald)  come up against foppish and swishy King Aella (Frank Thring), who has something both of the horny (pardon the pun) Vikings want, the beautiful Morgana (Janet Leigh). Slave Eric (Tony Curtis), who is really Ragnar's other son (courtesy of a rape that appears at the start of the film), gets in the way, claiming his love for Morgana and his vow to fight Einar to the death, after defeating Aella, of course. 

Beautifully shot by ace cinematographer Jack Cardiff, THE VIKINGS is deliberately paced and shows signs of padding here and there. It appears as if the producer of the film (Kirk Douglas), was determined to get every cent he invested in the project up there on the big screen no matter what. The film could stand a bit of judicious editing and could easily lose a good ten or fifteen minutes of its' 116 minute running time and still deliver an exciting adventure. 

And exciting it is, especially in the third act siege of Aella's fortress castle. It's a well orchestrated sequence (filmed on location in Brittany) that climaxes in a spectacular swordfight between Eric and Einar atop the castle's tower. That's really Douglas and Curtis in the majority of the shots in this scene and the whole thing looks incredibly dangerous for them, the camera operator and any other crew members that were on that stony stair stepped roof. 

THE VIKINGS was the third of five films that Curtis and Leigh made while married. I had the honor of meeting Ms. Leigh at a monster movie convention in Washington D.C. in 2000. She was a delightful, classy lady. Got her to sign her book about the making of PSYCHO and she was gracious enough to pose for a photo with me. 

Douglas swore he'd never do another historical epic after THE VIKINGS but he changed his tune and appeared with Curtis again in Stanley Kubrick's SPARTACUS (1960). The success of THE VIKINGS inspired several other films about Norsemen and their adventures including Mario Bava's ERIK THE CONQUEROR (1961)  and THE LONG SHIPS (1964). 

The opening narration by the great Orson Welles adds to the luster of the production but perhaps the greatest honor to be bestowed upon THE VIKINGS is that it was featured in a comic book, Dell's FOUR COLOR #910 in June, 1958. 

THE VIKINGS is definitely worth a look, especially if you enjoy old fashioned Hollywood historical epics. Hell, it's worth seeing just for that final sword fight. 

Absolutely incredible.