The Vikings

The Vikings is a 1958 American epic historical fiction swashbuckling film directed by Richard Fleischer, filmed in Technirama, and printed in Technicolor. It was produced by Jerry Bresler and stars Kirk Douglas. It is based on the 1951 novel The Viking by Edison Marshall, which in turn is based on material from the sagas of Ragnar Lodbrok and his sons. Other starring roles were taken by then husband-and-wife Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh as well as Ernest Borgnine. The film made notable use of natural locations in Norway. It was mostly filmed in Maurangerfjorden and Maurangsnes, captured on film by cinematographer Jack Cardiff, although Aella's castle was the real Fort-la-Latte in north-east Brittany in France. Despite being derisively called a "Norse Opera" by New York Times critic Bosley Crowther, the film proved a major box office success and spawned the television series Tales of the Vikings, directed by the film's editor, Elmo Williams, which included none of the original cast or characters. Plot The King of Northumbria is killed during a Viking raid led by the fearsome King Ragnar Lodbrok. Because the king had died childless, his cousin Aella takes the throne. The king's widow, however, is pregnant with Ragnar's child. To protect the infant from her cousin-in-law's ambitions, she sends him off to Italy. By a twist of fate, the ship is intercepted by the Vikings, who are unaware of the child's kinship and enslave him.