The Vikings (1958) on Netflix
Viking raiders kill King Edwin of Northumbria; his widow sends her infant away. The boy grows up a slave named Eric, and he and Ragnar's son Einar both want the captive Morgana.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb7.0/1017,627 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes77%
Trailer
Plot summary
Viking longships raid the English coast, and King Edwin of Northumbria dies in one of the attacks. He leaves no children, so the crown passes to his cousin Aella. Edwin's widow Enid is pregnant, and to keep the child beyond Aella's reach she sends the infant away. The ship is taken by Vikings who do not know who the boy is, and he grows up as a slave named Eric in the household of King Ragnar Lodbrok. Ragnar's son Einar stands to inherit his throne. When the Vikings seize Morgana, a Welsh princess promised to Aella, both Eric and Einar want her.
Cast
Show all 20 cast
- Almut Bergas Pigtails (uncredited)
- Bill Cummingsas Viking Warrior (uncredited)
- Peter Douglasas Young Boy (uncredited)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Vikings (1958)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The Vikings traces back through Edison Marshall's 1951 novel The Viking to the real Norse sagas of Ragnar Lodbrok and his sons, legendary Viking figures whose stories inspired the film's plot.
- Star and producer Kirk Douglas took no upfront salary for The Vikings, gambling instead on 60 percent of the profits, a bet that reportedly earned him about $3 million.
- The Vikings' box-office success spun off the TV series Tales of the Vikings, directed by the film's own editor, Elmo Williams, even though the show kept none of the movie's cast or characters.
- The Vikings is considered the "trigger film" that set off a wave of Viking movies, including Mario Bava's Erik the Conqueror and The Long Ships, the latter made by the original film's own cinematographer, Jack Cardiff.
- Mario Nascimbene's score for The Vikings was the very first release from Kirk Douglas' own music publisher, Peter Vincent Music Corporation, a company Douglas named after his son Peter Vincent Douglas.
