User reviews

This is one of the most authentic Nord historic fantasies you'd ever see. It does not romanticize the period, 9th century. Shows that most people of that time are rough and respect only sword. But it also takes you on quite an adventure from Russia and all over North Europe.

I agree with previous comment that this movie has many weak points, poor film quality, but, this IS NOT the main idea. It has been and remains until now my favorite movie of all what i saw since i first saw this movie when i was 12 years old. First of all, it is Excellent historical reconstruction, not like all these Hollywood attempts like 1950's "Vikings". These old times were not like pages from Edda, the life of people was rather simple and this movie, as it seems for me, reconstructs it most closely than one could make it. So it is REALISTIC, and not fantasy-style like many films about Vikings. And because i have passion for Viking age, i love the film so much. As if i transfer from my time and place to the times and places, "when there was no Norway and Russia, but there were lands and people, who would later call themselves Russians and Norwegians" -- the lands and the times i would prefer to the time and land i live now. I do not know how about international versions of the film, but in original Russian version all Norwegian speech is kept in Norsk so you can clearly hear native Scandinavian speech, which, i believe, is very beautiful language. Pity that too little people know about this movie and good DVD copy is hard to obtain. However, all this are my personal thoughts, maybe i am the only one to have such strong love for this film

The movie is based on Yury Vronsky's novel "Miraculous Adventures of Kuksha of Domovichi". The movie (as well as the novel) is excellent, it's a pity Rostotsky is not alive now, he was one of the best Soviet directors… I liked this movie in my childhood, I like it now. The best viking movie I have ever seen and one of the best historical movies. One can see the plot in summary and I will just admit some of my expressions. Vikings' dresses, armor and weapons show the nice picture of their way of life. Rumbles are quite good, but – alas! alas! - without too much blood (what a pity for guys who watch stupid cheap action films with brain sparks and disemboweling)! The movie is both for the children and adults. There is a nice and not sickly-sweet love story in the movie: beautiful Petronella Barker's Signu (no doubt the best character in the movie) and Alexandr Timoshkin's Kuksha. Two very interesting characters: Torir and Sigurd. Nobleness, friendship, self-sacrifice – one can see all those in "Dragens fange". The quality of a film (22 years old – suppose) is not a problem if you watch the digitized copy.

Early medieval Norway as seen through the eyes of a young Slavic man captured by vikings and taken to the north. Vikings are tough and cruel, main female character is charming, landscapes of Norway are beautiful and the story is interesting and twisted. Adventures, love, battles, intrigue... Viking longboats carefully reconstructed. One of fighting scenes shows what a berserker can do in a melee.

Recommended to viking fans!

Why do they stage viking battles, if the actors/stuntmen don't know how to fight? But except for the battles (or lack thereof) the movie give an authentic view of the viking's everyday life, even thou the costumes show that these vikings must be extremely successful.

But when the main conflict is uninteresting and the acting sparkless; I'd rather see "Den hvite viking" (1991) everyday to the end of time than see this one again.

Not bad, not good, just mediocre.

I saw this movie, in a Moscow theatre, when it was released in 1985. I was entranced, even though I could not understand the language. This is an authentic and fabulous historical movie.......

I didn't like the film at all. As far as I know, Scandinavian people were always racists, so I couldn't imagine that they have ever taken a stranger and treated him like a friend. Besides, this boring love story... I can't believe that Nordic girl could fall in love with a stranger. The acting is without a spark; as for the main character he is extremely inexpressive, lacks of charisma. Signu... yeah, she is beautiful & SO stupid!!!!!!!! I think Nordic girls are more severe, not so tender as she was. But nature, rocks, rushing sea, trees, the grey sky, animals, some funny fighting scenes - they deserve 10. But I can give only 5 because of the plot.

Norwegian film industry is known for terrible movies. When it teams up with Soviet film industry the result is already given. The movie is about a Russian boy who gets kidnapped by Norwegian vikings. The vikings think he means good luck and after some time he sort of becomes one of them. The main plot is this boring love story between him and a girl. They can't have each other because she is meant to marry someone else etc.etc. But the funniest thing about this movie is the complete lack of directing, complete lack of acting skills, and the artificial way ALL the dialog is spoken. The battle scenes are just hilarious. It looks like the actors are just doing what they feel like, and that they have been given no instructions at all. For example there is a scene where a character gets hit in the back with a sword, but since he is not meant to die there, absolutely nothing happens!

In the movie Ed Wood, Johnny Depp as Ed Wood says "Perfect!" after every scene shot, even when there are a lot of errors in the scene. That must be exactly the way this movie has been made. If you want a really fun time: Watch this and laugh!!