The Vikings
Einar and Eric are two Viking half-brothers. The former is a great warrior whilst the other is an ex-slave…
- Director: Richard Fleischer
- Genre:Action / Adventure / History
- Runtime:111 minutes
Cast
Kirk Douglas : Einar
Tony Curtis : Eric
Ernest Borgnine : Ragnar
Janet Leigh : Morgana
James Donald : Egbert
Official Site:-
The King of Northumbria is killed during a viking raid led by the fearsome Ragnar (Ernest Borgnine). Because the king had died childless, his cousin Aella (Frank Thring) takes the throne. The king’s widow, however, is pregnant with what she knows is Ragnar’s child, and 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. The boy grows into a young man named Erik (Tony Curtis).
His parentage is finally discovered by Lord Egbert (James Donald), a Northumbrian nobleman opposed to Aella. When Aella accuses him of treason, Egbert finds sanctuary with Ragnar in Norway. Egbert recognizes the Northumbrian royal sword’s pommel stone on an amulet around Erik’s neck, placed there by Erik’s mother when he was a child. Egbert tells no one.
Erik incurs the wrath of his half-brother Einar (Kirk Douglas), Ragnar’s legitimate son and heir, after the former orders his falcon to attack Einar, taking out one of his eyes. Erik is saved from immediate execution when the tribal shaman Kitala (who loves Erik as a son) says that Odin will curse whoever kills him. He is left in a tidal pool to drown with the rising tide “Let the CRABS be cursed by Odin!” exclaims Ragnar, but after Erik calls out to Odin, the wind shifts and forces the water away, saving him. Egbert then claims him as his slave. Egbert hopes to find an opportunity to take advantage of Erik’s unknown claim to the Northumbrian kingdom. Read more
