Vichinghi e popoli del Nord

I VICHINGHI

(The Vikings)

1958, regia di Richard Fleischer

Scheda: Nazione: USA - Produzione: Brynaprod S.A. - Distribuzione: Dear, MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc., United Artists - Soggetto: dal romanzo The Viking di Edison Marshall, adattato da Dale Wasserman - Sceneggiatura: Calder Willingham - Fotografia: Jack Cardiff - Montaggio: Hugo Williams - Musiche: Mario Nascimbene, Gérard Schurmann - Formato: Technirama Technicolor - Durata: 114' (82').

Cast: Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Ernest Borgnine, Janet Leigh, James Donald, Alexander Knox, Maxine Audley, Frank Thring, Eileen Way, Edric Connor, Dandy Nichols, Per Buckhøj, Almut Berg, Orson Welles (voce narrante).

Trama e commenti: pacioli.net - kataweb.it: «Nel X secolo i Vichinghi, guerrieri e pirati della Scandinavia, per anni hanno attaccato le coste inglesi. Durante un'incursione, il capo Ragnar uccide il re e usa violenza alla regina di Northumbria. Nasce un bimbo che, dopo mille disavventure, diventa re dei Vichinghi, sposa Morgana, assicurandosi la corona inglese. Trascinante film d'avventure percorso da una forza d'immagini spesso brutale e da un lirismo potente. Girato con larghi mezzi ha esaudito tutte le ambizioni di un regista che si è avvalso dell'opera di professionisti come Jack Cardiff per la fotografia e Mario Nascimbeni per la musica. Tratto dal romanzo The Viking di Edison Marshall, sceneggiato da Calder Willingham. Nell'edizione originale la voce narrante era di Orson Welles. I disegni animati (dell'UPA) che aprono e chiudono il film sono ispirati a una tappezzeria di Bayeux. Superbo K. Douglas, anche coproduttore».

Plot Summary, Synopsis, Review: IMDb - entertainment.msn.com - tvguide.com: «Viking warriors led by Borgnine raid the English coast, raping and plundering. In one small kingdom, he kills the king and rapes the queen. The child who is born as a result of that assault grows up to be Curtis, a Viking slave who knows nothing of his parentage. He and Douglas, Borgnine's legitimate son, take a dislike to each other and fight a duel, during which Curtis' falcon claws out one of Douglas' eyes. Enraged, Douglas orders the slave tossed into a pit of giant crabs. Curtis is saved when Donald, who was banished from England and is planning his return with Viking help, recognizes an amulet Curtis wears which proclaims his true identity. On another raid, the Norsemen carry off princess Leigh, and Douglas decides he wants her, although she has fallen in love with Curtis. Leigh and Curtis escape one night, and when Douglas and Borgnine chase them, the pursuing boat crashes on the rocks in the fjord and sinks. Borgnine is pulled aboard by Curtis and taken to England as a gift for evil king Thring. Thring orders the old Viking chieftain thrown to their more civilized variation of the giant crab pit--the ravenous wolf pit. Thring laughs when Borgnine asks to die like a Viking, with a sword in his hand, but Curtis takes pity and cuts his hands free and gives him his own sword. Borgnine almost gleefully jumps into the pit with a shout and manages to take a few wolves to Valhalla with him. Thring is outraged, mostly at the loss of his precious wolves, and orders that Curtis' hand be chopped off and he be set adrift in the North Sea. The boat, of course, drifts straight back to Norway where Curtis tells Douglas the fate of his father, and the two decide to put aside their mutual hatred to seek vengeance on Thring. They sail to England and attack the castle, and Douglas then frees Leigh and proposes marriage. She tells him she loves Curtis and, when Douglas vows to kill him, she reveals that they are half-brothers. Curtis shows up and the two fight a duel on the battlements of the castle. Douglas gets the upper hand and is about to kill Curtis, but he hesitates, apparently reluctant to kill his own kin. Curtis knows nothing about any blood ties and uses Douglas' moment of indecision to drive his own blade into his foe. The film concludes as Douglas is given a Viking funeral, set adrift on a burning longship...».

Approfondimenti: Movie Review1 - Movie Review2

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Conosciuto anche con i titoli: Les Vikings; Die Wikinger; Los vikingos; Viikingit; Vikingerne; Vikings, os Conquistadores.
 

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