There are so many two-strip Technicolor features lost (Laurel and Hardy's The Rogue Song (1930) comes to mind) or just partially intact, that it was a pleasure to see one that seems not only intact (with no black and white inserts) but also as beautiful as originally released. This film is not colorized, as is often done with early black and white films; it was filmed in color, but without the yellow component that was added in the mid 30's that most of us know as Technicolor. As a result, the reds, blues and browns look pretty good, but you will notice the yellows and greens look a bit off color. Still, it is a great example of the process and worth seeing for that reason alone. But there are also some good action sequences that are sure to please lovers of that genre. I also enjoyed the backdrop of the plot; that of Leif Ericsson sailing west to discover America in the 12th century.
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Art-2214 March 1999
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xerses1322 November 2010THE VIKING (1928) is a well made actioneer from the 'swan song' of the 'Silent Era'. Like most late silent films it had a synchronized soundtrack which featured music, sound effects and muffled voice overs. The most salient feature of the film is its brilliant Technicolor, using the new, Process Three (3) two (2) color Technicolor. The print shows strong cleaning and restoration and the soundtrack is quite clear with little distortions. The acting is natural as per the late 'Silent Era' and the title cards informative without being intrusive. This is a independent production by the Technicolor Corporation released through M.G.M. The basic plot is one of exploration and the conflict between the new accepted belief of Christianity and the older Pagan ones.
DONALD CRISP (1882>1974) leads the cast as Leif Ericsson with Pauline Starke, Helga Nilsson the main feminine interest. The other male lead was LeRoy Mason, Lord Alwin, Helga's eventual love interest and mate. Mason after this film confined his acting too 'B' Westerns with various 2nd tier and 'Poverty Row' studios. Like-wise Ms. Starke career all but ended after Silents. As for DONALD CRISP, he looked fit and authoritarian in this picture. Mr. Crisp handled his action sequences well, no surprise since he had done so before in DON Q; SON OF ZORRO (1925) a Douglas Fairbanks production. After a successful career both in Acting and Direction during Silents, he went on too triumphs in Sound as a character actor. A career that spanned 1908>1963. Winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY (1941).
There are several other points of interest of this film. At the end there is a specious claim that a 'Watch Tower' in Rhode Island was of Viking origin, built by Leif Ericsson. Dating has shown it to be no earlier then the 17th Century. Some of the coastal exteriors appear to be shot at the same location as Douglas Fairbanks THE BLACK PIRATE (1925). Which the Technicolor Corporation provided its expertise and technology. Then finally two (2) of the supporting actors. Richard Alexander, Sigurd went on to more notable fame as PRINCE BARIN in the first two (2) FLASH GORDON serials. Uncredited Frank Shannon appeared as a Viking in Eric The Red's 'Kings Hall' in Greenland. He is better known as Dr. Alexis Zarkov in all three (3) FLASH GORDON serials.
THE VIKING moves along at a good quick pace and has little padding, running at only 90". It is worth watching just for the Historical value as one of the earliest complete Technicolor features, but does not cheat in either action and acting. True the music and staging appears to come via a Richard Wagner opera, but there is nothing wrong with ripping off the best. A good all around watch. -
marcin_kukuczka11 November 2013THE VIKING of 1928 still appears to be, in a way, a strikingly absorbing picture. Although it seems that any commitment to viewing this movie may be a privilege of some little group of film scholars, claiming that it leaves no impression whatsoever would surely belittle the significance of silent cinema along with its unique appeal. Obviously, it could not stand a chance against many modern 'pseudo-epic adventures' that heap us with cheap effects which, at moments, cross dangerous borderline placing us at risk of being deprived of imagination. With that in mind, its two strip Technicolor effects would merely appear laughable for some but, paradoxically, renewing for others. Yes, some of its awe-inspiring charm that initially contributed to its adventure merit, still remains.
A misleading assumption lies in a viewpoint that solely two strip Technicolor (for which the movie is most famous) makes THE VIKING worth seeing. Of course, it is impossible to miss this point when even mentioning this movie. Nevertheless, what strikes me most about this film is its storytelling and the fact that it evokes the courage of the Vikings no less than their cruelty. Meanwhile, it does not fall into temptation of reducing them to sheer savages from a purely subjective standpoint of 'baddies.' So to say, such an early achievement becomes authentic and, at the same time, gains realistic targets. It is not only executed in the character of Leif Eriksson (Donald Crisp) who travels towards the new shores but, even, in Erik the Red (Anders Randolf), his father. The sophisticated nature of his character is prompted by contrast within him. On the one hand, his axe is used against his political and religious enemies, even his own son when he discovers his new faith. One the other hand, he draws a very humane conclusion in a memorable scene: 'Leif is my son after all.
THE VIKING with no great stars of the time (being an MGM production), contains all the pictorial elements that we find in cinema of any decade. It substantially depicts love, revenge, fight. We have a Northumbria context of Alwin (LeRoy Mason), taken as a slave, we have a beautiful prototype of female warrior, Helga played by Pauline Starke (of course, a blonde beauty as it is a movie about the Vikings after all), we have kings of two opposing policies, we have this eternal conflict between Christian faith (represented by King Olaf of Norway and his followers, including Erik Leifsson) and pagan cults (represented by Erik the Red, Leif's father, the king of Greenland). Predictably, the Christians are depicted as loving, understanding and forgiving while the pagans are cruel. Yet, there is some nobility in both groups (again with reference to a more psychological approach). Their confrontation, however, is one of the most authentic moments of the theme ever found in silent cinema. Finally, we have the theme of new land, promised land, America (yes, long before Columbus) so much appealing to the audiences of the late 1920s.
But the film is no serious stuff and it should never be treated like one. It is, first and foremost, adventure and entertainment. Just to recall some scenes that have truly stood a test of time and are no less entertaining than they must have been in the late 1920s, including the depiction of Greenland, Vikings' feasts (less savage than in 1958 Fleischer's film), love plot between Alwin and Helga, Egil/Alwin vibrant fight. On the subject of Helga, the beautiful warrior blonde, much credit to Pauline Starke's inspiring performance. The idea of such a female character was not new in this period of silent films. We should remember the lost film QUEEN OF SHEBA and the famous chariot race of the queen and princess Vashti. Nevertheless, Starke's portrayal must have occurred revelatory as early as in 1928 combining appeal and authenticity.
I agree with the opinion of those viewers who praise this film and recommend others to seek it out. Perhaps, it is flawed historically; surely, it is no towering entertainment for viewers used to most dazzling spectacles of our decade. Nonetheless, I believe that anyone may find something for themselves in this early Technicolor treasure and find its reasonable running time fruitful and memorable. -
avalonrock29 April 2014I enjoyed this fun movie and for the most part it was historically correct until the ending. SPOILER: The Vikings did NOT build the stone tower in Rhode Island which was built in 1700s. Proof of the Viking settlement came in 1960 (over 30 years after movie, 1928). Archaeological diggings of Vikings were found at northern tip of Newfoundland, Canada, at a now famous site called "L'Anse aux Meadows". Viking voyage to Newfoundland was in year 1,000 AD approx. After several years fighting with Indians and almost freezing to death, the Vikings gave up their North America venture. I saw Viking tools a few years ago on display in museum in St.John's in Newfoundland. SPOILER - there is no evidence that Vikings wore horns on their heads (although Helga makes a fashion statement with her head-dress). As Hitchcock famously said over a mistake an actor made - "it's only a movie".
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Doylenf22 November 2010THE VIKING is a film I happened to come upon on TCM the other night, immediately recognizing DONALD CRISP as Leif Ericsson. I was very impressed with the female lead, PAULINE STARKE as Helga, whose lovely face, high cheekbones and steady gaze withstood all those color closeups in fine style. She also happened to be well cast at the headstrong heroine who takes a wealthy nobleman for her slave.
But what really amazed me is the quality of the Technicolor photography, at least ten years before Hollywood was making use of color photography in some of its major films.
The TCM print featured some incidental sound effects and background music. At times, I forgot I was watching a silent film and the use of title cards was minimal.
Well worth watching as a curiosity, but not for historical accuracy. -
JoeytheBrit4 May 2020A handsomely staged silent epic created to showcase the new 2-strip Technicolor process. All the male leads fall for Viking maiden Helga (Pauline Starke, looking exceedingly fetching in her Viking outfits), but there's little doubt about which of them will claim her heart. Worth catching for the sight of a young Donald Crisp looking like a drummer in some early 1970s prog rock band.
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"The Viking" is a very old fashioned film, though at the time audiences must how been wowed since it was made using the Two-Strip Technicolor process. This created color...of a sort. These films tend to actually looks more green-orange because those are the two colors that are overlayed to create a sort of color look. However, while other studios were converting to sound, MGM chose to make this epic as a silent--which, along with the rest of the film, is pretty old fashioned in its view of Vikings.
True Vikings did not wear the horned-helmets or hawk winged helmets you see throughout this movie. Their costumes also were far more practical than the silly outfits worn in "The Viking". What gives? Well, the costume designer actually was designing vikings according to how Wagnerian operas portrayed them. It was 100% wrong--but fit the image that Wagner was trying to create in his crazy operas. So, the film is sort of like a Wagner story without the music!
As for the story, it's actually seemingly true in some ways. Eric the Red really did have a son named Leif who apparently was among the first white folks in North America. Interestingly, however, back in the 1920s. That's because the only 'proof' of this voyage were the Viking sagas--stories sung to celebrate the feats of the Vikings but have no real proof to them. This proof did not come until more recent years when Norwegian expeditions were able to find some artifacts in Canada that must have been brought by Vikings.
So is the film any good? Well, the plot involving a captured slave who captures the heart of a Viking girl is pretty silly. The part about Ericsson and his voyage is a bit more exciting however, and makes up, a bit for the silly romance and dumb costumes.
Overall I say you'd be much better off watching the 1958 film "The Vikings". It's more historically accurate, much more exciting and has just about everything you could want in such a film. -
Jon Kolenchak21 July 2001Donald Crisp was an extremely prolific actor in sound films. What many people don't know is that he made even more silent films (as actor and director) than sound films. In The Viking, he plays Leif Ericsson, who plans his greatest adventure, to go beyond Greenland and explore for new lands.
A strikingly handsome LeRoy Mason plays Lord Alwin, an English noble. His castle is attacked by the Vikings early in the film, his family scattered, and he is made a slave.
The lovely Pauline Starke plays Helga Nilsson, who is a spunky Nordic gal who is loved by Leif, Alwin, and... well let's not give away too much of the story here.
What makes this film charming and somewhat unique is that it came at the end of the silent era, when camera technique was at its height. It is also filmed in primitive technicolor. The early technicolor process did not render true color as we know it today. The muted shades of the film actually help to make the historic subject matter of the film more remote, as though one were actually watching something that happened long, long ago.
The version of this film that I saw had sound effects, and a symphonic musical score that mixed new music with lots of Richard Wagner at climactic moments. It all worked very well.
It's amazing to me that this very entertaining film is almost unknown today. -
rogerskarsten6 July 2007I attended a screening of THE VIKING last evening at the Silent Movie Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Yes, the 2-strip Technicolor is lovely, and I agree with one of the other reviewers here who stated that the muted colors serve to emphasize the film's setting in the distant past. However, if you're expecting any degree of historical authenticity, forget about it.
Anyone who knows something about Viking history, including the figures of King Olaf of Norway, Leif Ericsson, and Eric the Red, will have to work hard to suspend disbelief. The story is preposterous, the costumes straight out of 19th-century productions of Wagner's RING cycle, and the synchronized soundtrack also depends heavily on Wagner's music for many of the film's themes. In this sense, the film is very much a product of 1928 and the way the Viking era was envisioned in the popular imagination and by film-makers of the time.
The standout performer here is Pauline Starke as Helga, who with her flowing blonde hair, perfectly chiseled cheekbones and Nordic facial characteristics, is the living personification of Arthur Rackham's drawings of Brunnhilde and the other Valkyries. She of course is accompanied by Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" on the soundtrack every time she approaches a horse. Helga finds herself in a love quandary as the object of desire of not two but three men. Starke is a compelling performer, steely-eyed and fierce as nails, but also soft and ravishing.
This is a film that I am hard-pressed to recommend, because I can't get past the absurdity of its story. Yet for those who can accept it on its own terms, it is indeed a lovely film, and even oddly fascinating in the sort of way that bad films can sometimes become cult classics. -
wes-connors27 November 2010"A thousand years ago, long before any white man set foot on the American shore, Viking sea rovers sailed out of the north and down the waterways of the world." "These were men of might, who laughed in the teeth of the tempest, and leaped into battle with a song." "Plundering - ravaging - they raided the coast of Europe - until the whole world trembled at the very name "THE VIKINGS!"
"Looking out upon the North Sea from the cliffs of England, stood the castle of young Lord Alwin, Earl of Northunbria." Here, good-looking young LeRoy Mason (as Alwin) and his subjects hope their Christian faith will protect them from Viking marauders - but the Lord has other plans for this group (and, you'll know what God has in mind when you see the placement of Christian crosses in North America). The looting and killing Vikings ravage Mr. Mason's English castle. Valuables are taken to Norway, where able-bodied men and women are sold into slavery.
Mason is purchased, for three pieces of silver, by beautiful red-haired "sea rover" Pauline Starke (as Helga Nilsson). The comely Viking lass is obviously buying slave Mason with sexual pleasures in mind, and throws him some lusty looks. Mason proves to be too spirited and independent for Ms. Starke to control, and he is given to guardian Donald Crisp (as Leif Ericsson), the famed Viking leader. A courageous Christian-converted warrior, Mr. Crisp hopes to claim Starke as his bride. But, handsome Harry Lewis Woods (as Egil the Black) is also in love with Starke.
This love quadrangle goes on Crisp's great seafaring adventure to discover, and claim, the "New World" for European conquerors - at the risk of falling off the edge of what they thought might be a very flat Earth. "The Viking" (it should have been titled "The Vikings") is briskly directed by R. William Neill, with moderate action throughout. Either he or Starke should be complimented (or condemned, if you will) for the movement of her character's legs, upon introduction; you don't see this often - and, it's IN COLOR!
Specifically, "Technicolor" - which is this film's mail calling card. While not perfect, the color is strikingly well-preserved. As a bonus, it was made during the "silent film" era, and survives with its original synchronized sound effects score. This level of coloring was painstakingly produced, and was quite expensive. "The Viking" represents a peak in the art of color filmmaking.
******** The Viking (11/2/28) Roy William Neill ~ LeRoy Mason, Pauline Starke, Donald Crisp, Harry Woods -
mjneu5913 January 2011The distinction of being the first all-Technicolor feature can't save this silent melodrama from being the tongue-in-cheek relic it now is, but of course there hasn't yet been a Viking saga made that was able to avoid the booby-trap of built-in silliness. Even so, this tempestuous (and ridiculous) Norse romance stretches credibility to the limit, boldly revising history to introduce Lucky Leif Eriksson as an early disciple of Christianity, defying his father's pagan beliefs and planting the cross of Jesus on the shores of a New World (said to be Rhode Island), where he promptly begins converting the natives to the One True Faith. Somehow the textbooks not only missed this fact, but also overlooked the passionate love quadrangle between Leif, a beautiful young Valkurie he secretly loves, a handsome young English slave, and a sinister sea captain. The novelty of color was not enough to turn audiences away from the far richer treasures of black and white film; like 3D in later decades, color was not, in the 1920s, something to be regarded seriously, and on the evidence of lively hooters like The Viking it's easy to see why.
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Hollywood's major studios had used Technicolor Corporation's color technology for a number of years in the 1920s, but had limited its expensive use for just short segments within their feature films. Besides Douglas Fairbanks's 1926 "The Black Pirate," no studio went full bore in adopting the technology for its motion pictures. Technicolor had produced three films on its own to demonstrate its processes, including 1922's "The Toll of the Sea." By 1928, the company was prepared to unveil its latest color system, labeled 'Process 3' film. Among its highlights was the realistic flesh tones of its actors as well as an increase in vibrancy in colors from the previous processes. Added to its wow factor was be an embedded audio track able to play a springy musical soundtrack along with special sound effects. Its end result was the November 1928 release of "The Viking."
Viewers could readily see Technicolor's years of diligent work to get the skin tones just right: actress Pauline Starke as Helga, demonstrates the perfection of the hues with her low-cut costume exposing a ton of flesh. The abundant shots of clear blue skies and the equally aqua ocean capturing a Viking ship's journey to North America were designed to show its richer blues. The narrative was secondary to the visuals. Since the company had to have a plot within the movie, it adapted the script from Ottilie Liljencrantz's 1902 novel 'The Thrall of Leif the Lucky.' Critics complained about the lack of battle scenes, but "The Viking's" purpose was to sell the new vibrant colors to Hollywood and international film studios.
"The Viking's" plot involves Earl of Northumbria (LeRoy Mason) captured in a Viking raid. He's bought by Helga, whose guardian is Leif Ericsson, to be her slave. She falls in love with him despite the coupling being against the Norse code. Several sub-plots unfold, including the influence of Christianity on Leif Ericsson (Donald Crisp) while he and his colleagues butt heads against those who stand with the traditional paganism, a friction that plays into the Vikings' approach to North America.
Irving Thalberg, head of MGM's production, was so enthralled with the look of "The Viking" he convinced his studio to distribute the movie. The film didn't exactly light up the box office, but it did establish a working relationship between Technicolor and MGM, revolutionizing cinema in the coming years.
"The Viking's" conclusion claims the Ericsson colonization of North America took place in what is now Newport, Rhode Island, as evidence by a large tower the Danes erected there. The mysterious "Newport Tower" was later determined to be the remains of a 1650s windmill. But in 1837, a Danish archaeologist suggested it was constructed by the Vikings because he believed a Norse settlement existed from the evidence derived from the nearby Dighton Rock. In fact, Henry Longfellow wrote a poem, 'The Skeleton in Armor,' about the tower's Norse origins. The speculation has since been disproven. -
Michael_Elliott9 February 2011Viking, The (1928)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Leif Ericsson (Donald Crisp) sales off in hopes of going West of Greenland looking for uncharted land. Along the way he battles with viking queen Helga (Pauline Starke) as well as a slave (LeRoy Mason) she bought. If you're looking for a history lesson then I'd recommend you get a book because there are certainly many liberties taken with the "truth" here. However, at the same time, I've always said that you shouldn't come into a movie expecting a history lesson because a movies main goal should be to entertain you and for the most part THE VIKING is an entertaining film. It is somewhat historic because it was an all-color production that has some of the best looking 2-strip Technicolor that you're going to see. Coming at the end of the silent era we're also greeted with a soundtrack as well as several sound effects. I don't think there's any question that the main reason to see this is for the Technicolor, which is certainly very beautiful and there's also no question that MGM went all out to make sure there were plenty of colorful items in front of the camera. The look of the costumes, sets and ships are certainly beautiful to see in color and you can tell that the studio pumped up the look so they could show off all the colors. The beautiful blues of the seas were a major highlight as was the bloody red that actually happens during some of the more violent scenes including one man get stabbed as well as another getting an ax in the head. The sound effects are mainly crowd noises such as cheers but there are still enough of them to make you forget you're watching a silent movie. The actual story being told is rather weak because there's a love triangle that really goes no where and some of the alterations to history are a tad bit funny and I don't think the filmmakers were wanting you to be laughing. The three leads are decent in their roles but I'd be lying if I said any of them really stood out. There are some rather wild moments including a brief bit where the men believes there's a witch and ghost below decks and another violent fight where the Pagans go after the Christians. Fans of Technicolor will certainly want to check this out as will silent film buffs but I'd be willing to bet that the rest will find themselves bored. THE VIKING isn't perfect and it's too flawed to be a good movie but there's some entertainment to be had.