One of Roger Corman’s least regarded films (especially by himself) is up on the net on the AMCTV website. It’s actually not too bad – I don’t think Corman has ever made an out-and-out bad film – although stories about Vikings don’t lend themselves to low budget filmmaking.
From the beginning of his career Corman showed an interest in female protagonists and this is no exception: the plot is about some viking women who go looking for their men, who went out on an expedition a few years ago and haven’t come back – that’s not a bad idea for a film. Neither is the idea they wind up in a foreign country where the architecture gives hints that maybe the Vikings are around. Sure enough they are there – kept as slaves.
This has some good looking women in viking outfits and impressive photography. It’s also quasi-feminist, with women Vikings beating up various men – one even beats the effeminite local prince in an arm wrestle. Sometimes the low budget hurts – the crappy back projection sea monster at the beginning and end, rather sparse banquet halls, poor acting, and sometimes the actors look plain silly in their outfits. Structure-wise the last ten minutes feel added on – the film feels like it should end when they escape and havet the baddy at their mercy. But they let him go, enabling him tohave a funeral for his son then chase after them.
But there’s plenty of action – there’s always someone running around, either on horseback or throwing a punch, a burning at the stake. There’s also a funeral where they throw a live woman on to the pyre to keep the dead prince happy (the prince was killed by a bolt of lightening) and a bit where the goddies pray for rain and it comes.
Susan Cabot adds some star quality as a priestess viking tempted to betray her people and Abbey Dalton is pretty. The men aren’t much – Cormon seemed to have a lot of bland blonde leading men around this time, the king of the Vikings is one he looks like a footballer called Chad.
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