Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

MissSimonetta Nobody comes to The Viking (1928) for the plot, at least no one I know of-- it's all about that two-strip Technicolor. Compared with the later three-strip process, two-strip color is more subdued, dominated by greens, blues, and reds, but that gives the images a dreamy watercolor quality. It also helps when your leading lady has a flaming mane of red hair, as the beautiful Pauline Starke does here.The story is a standard love triangle, with a Viking lass caught between the English captive she loves and the older Viking captain who wants her to marry him. There are also conflicts between pagan and Christian culture which figure big time into the plot... or what there is of it. To be honest, it's quite predictable, though the cinematography is lovely and the action scenes are rousing. However, I will have to concede with reviewer planktonrules: you're better off with the much kitschier but much more fun 1958 film The Vikings, which has Ernest Borgnine and Kirk Douglas chewing the scenery like starved men. Still the 1928 film is still worth viewing at least once.

MartinHafer "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.

wes-connors "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

Arthur Hausner 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.