I saw this one in a grand old cinema back in 1958, and it sure was nice to project it on my own widescreen. It stars Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. Curtis is a slave of the Vikings, who causes Douglas ( the son of the Viking leader) to become facially scarred. Since the Douglas character was so proud of his pretty face, he wouldn't hide it with a beard, he gets kinda angry at Curtis. We later learn that in reality, Curtis and Douglas are brothers. This came about during one of the Viking leader's ( Ernest Borgnine) rape , pillage and burn outings. Janet Leigh is the kidnapped future bride of an evil English King, and she despises Douglas and loves Curtis ( after all they were married in real life at the time) but Douglas won't take no for an answer. Curtis escapes with Leigh and after that bloody hell breaks loose, all leading up to a fantastic fight to the death between Douglas and Curtis.
Sound is plain old mono, but the picture, which was photographed in 70 mm Panavision, is mostly gorgeous. The Norway scenery is breath-taking at times. But I found that during some of the brightly-lit scenes, fleshtones seemed somewhat washed out. But for a 44 year old film, it looks darn good.
Lots of good old fashioned action before CGI, so some of the stunts ( many done by Douglas ) were pretty daring. If you happen to buy this baby ( it was only $15 CDN ) be sure to watch an interesting making of documentary by the director.
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Sound is plain old mono, but the picture, which was photographed in 70 mm Panavision, is mostly gorgeous. The Norway scenery is breath-taking at times. But I found that during some of the brightly-lit scenes, fleshtones seemed somewhat washed out. But for a 44 year old film, it looks darn good.
Lots of good old fashioned action before CGI, so some of the stunts ( many done by Douglas ) were pretty daring. If you happen to buy this baby ( it was only $15 CDN ) be sure to watch an interesting making of documentary by the director.
My Homepage!
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