The Viking

As the first Canadian sound film, "The Viking", is one of the most important films in the history of Canadian Cinema. That's kind of ironic considering that it was shot in Newfoundland (then owned by Britain) with an American cast and an American crew. Sure the producer, writer, and co-director Varick Frissell spent a lot of time in Canada, but he was still an American. So why does this film feel so Canadian? Well it's badly acted, thinly plotted, yet beautifully photographed. What could be more Canadian than that? Ok, ok not all Canadian films are that bad, but "The Viking is". That's not Frissell's fault, he fought to keep out the love/jealousy story that ruins the film. But all joking aside, I think the reason "The Viking" feels so Canadian (even to us Canadians) is unfortunately because it has all the stereotypes of our country that American audiences expect: cold, barren landscapes, lots of snow, and rugged, but jovial people.

"The Viking" is kind of a testament the hold America has over us. Even though we know that Canada is not like that all year round, we buy into the fact when we see it on the screen. Although Newfoundland winters are exactly as shown in the movie, (American) audiences will not understand that it is only in the winter time when things look like this. The film can't be faulted entirely though. Like I mentioned before, it is stunningly photographed, and without the current story, and with more emphasis on the seal hunting (the way Frissell intended), it could have been a very good film. One that I would have been glad to call Canadian no matter where it came from.

This 1931 film is the first talkie produced in Canada. The sound is just plain awful. About half the dialog is impossible to decipher, but that's not a bad thing since the dialog is awful anyway.

This Canadian film, shot in Newfoundland and Labrador, stars Charles Starrett (the future cowboy star) as bad luck Luke, who sails on "The Viking" on a seal-hunting expedition. His rival and enemy (Arthur Vinton) does everything he can to make the voyage a misery. They are rivals for the hand of Mary Jo (Louise Huntington). The love story is not well done and we've seen it a hundred times before.

What is remarkable about this film is the location shooting among the ice floes and bergs. The film takes on a documentary feel as we watch the men battle the ice, scamper across the floes, and wander for miles searching for seals. The plot finally gets interesting after the seal slaughter when the two men are left behind and the ship sails for home. They then have to battle the elements as they walk back to St. Johns.

The film was co-directed by veteran George Melford and young Varick Frissell in his only feature film. The cinematography is grainy but is so astonishing, THE VIKING was mentioned in Kevin Brownlow's masterpiece Hollywood.

I just found this (as "The Viking") on YouTube - the US$67 DVD ("White Thunder: The Story of Varick Frissell and the Viking Disaster") is a bit pricey for me - but the YouTube channel "Fascinating Horror" has an interesting 10 minute mini-documentary on this, entitled " White Thunder: The Story of Varick Frissell and the Viking Disaster".

Note that "White Thunder" was rereleased as "The Viking" to capitalize on the notoriety of the disaster.

As mentioned by other reviewers, it's the scenery and historical importance that holds interest, not the cartoonish love story, which I would give 3 stars.

Of course, Varrick Frissell never got the chance to film the even more dramatic shots he was planning on, but it's still interesting.

Viking, The (1931)

*** (out of 4)

This 1931 film has the unfortunate legacy of being the deadliest movie ever film as on March 15, 1931 director Frissell, cinematographer Alexander Penrod and twenty-five other members of the crew were killed when an explosion happened on the boat they were filming on. This tragedy certainly hangs a dark shadow over the film but apparently everyone knew the danger they were taking by trying to show the "real" world of sealers. Luke (Charles Starrett) and Jed (Arthur Vinton) are enemies in love with the same woman (Louise Huntington) but the men find themselves working on the S.S. Viking off the coasts of Newfoundland as seal season is among them. The two remain enemies until a major storm separates them from the boat and the rest of the men and they seem to be facing certain death. This film runs a rather brief 72-minutes and six minutes of that footage is an added forward talking about the tragedy that struck the film. This was the first sound movie from Canada so it's to be expected that the sound quality is rather poor and the love triangle is nothing we haven't seen countless times before but with that said, I was rather shocked to see how entertaining this film was.

What makes this film a must see is the amazing footage of Newfoundland, which includes the ship breaking through the ice, hundreds of men trying to pull the ship through ice, a rather amazing sequence of the men walking through the ice floes and even more incredible a scene with the men going up and down as they walk on these floes trying to get back to their ship. This footage is so incredible that you'll sadly be reminded or at least thinking that there's no wonder something tragic happened. Again, from what I've read everyone knew this voyage was going to be dangerous and many would say that the men died delivering what they wanted and I don't think anyone could question the amazing footage that this film has. This type of frozen adventure has been seen in recent shows and documentaries but this here is amazing stuff and easily holds up against anything that would be filmed today. The performances by the three leads isn't anything too special and some of the cinematography is in rough shape but this is certainly to be expected considering the conditions that they were filming in. The film is short enough where the plot and the somewhat bad ending doesn't hurt things too much but I think most people are going to come to this film due to the tragedy but they should also give this film more respect for what we do get to see.

Was born wholly bereft of a heart! Come on, this was adorable and wonderful and everything that makes life worth living as it touches on all universal connections and much much more, thus this is a triumph - not to mention the terrible tragedy that ensued during the making of this - poor poor people that lost their lives... No matter how great of a masterpiece no human life is worth a work of art, nothing is worth that, but yet these people put their lives in danger to make this a fine very fine film and they did, their memories will not be forgotten...

I highly recommend this, a wonderful beginning, a nice middle and a terrific ending! A must see for all generations , on the tenacity of the soul!