Customer Reviews

The Viking Queen

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm a bit surprised at some of the low reviews for "The Viking Queen;" I've watched it three times now and my appreciation for this 1967 Hammer flick has increased with each viewing.

The biggest criticism is that Salena is a Celt and the movie should therefore be titled "The Celtic Queen." Yet this is explained right at the beginning of the story: Her father chooses her to reign after his death and says, "Like your mother you shall be called 'the Viking Queen.'" So, Salena is the Viking Queen simply because her mother was of Viking ancestry.

One may argue that the Vikings didn't exist for another 700 years (the story takes place shortly after the time of Christ) but "Viking" is simply a collective designation of Nordic people -- Danes, Swedes and Norwegians. And even IF the word "Viking" didn't exist at the time of the film's setting, so what? Just imagine Salena's father saying, "You shall be called the Nordic Queen."

Another major gripe is that the Druids improperly pray to Zeus, a Greek God. Although this is a legitimate beef, the filmmakers obviously chose to do this because the Druids lacked a recognizable deity. This problem is rectified by simply supplanting the word "Zeus" with the Druid deity of your choice when hearing the Druids pray in the film (Bet you can't think of ONE Druid deity, can you?).

The story is roughly based on the historical Boudicca, queen of the Iceni, a British tribe. Her impressive revolt against the Roman occupants included the sack of London (then Londinium) and the death of some 70,000 Romans (!). The Roman governor of Britain ultimately destroyed Boudicca's force; in despair, she killed herself by taking poison in 60 AD.

In "The Viking Queen" you'll certainly get a good glimpse of what this era was like. The story is ultra-serious and the actors perform their roles accordingly. Salena is played by Carita, who, although very beautiful, is completely believable in the role. Be on the watch for her in a breath-taking purple mini-skirt near the end (speaking of such, be on the lookout as well for Salena's super-cute sister Talia, played by Nicola Pagett). Needless to say, it's too bad this was Carita's sole excursion into acting terrain.

The locations (Ireland), costumes and sets are all of the highest order.

One other complaint is that it is unbelievable that Salena falls in love with the Roman govenor (played by Don Murray) and vice versa, yet isn't it realistic to assume that more than one Briton babe fell in love with a Roman occupant, particularly if he was in a command position? Besides, the tragic ending is emotionally compounded by this love story.

FINAL WORD: "The Viking Queen" is a film in the vein of "Braveheart," "Gladiator" or "Attila." If you're a fan of such films you'll enjoy "The Viking Queen" immensely. Personally, I feel "Braveheart" is way overated and I'd pop in "The Viking Queen" before "Gladiator" any day.

If, like me, this film inspires you to research the true history of Boudicca, then the filmmakers have accomplished far more than mere entertainment. Enough said.

Viking Queen is a low budget 60's film, with some great costumes, great dialog, and little historical accuracy.

Why did I give it a high rating? Viking Queen, is simply a hell of a lot of fun!

Carita stars as Celtic Princess, Selena, who must liberate her people, the Iceni tribe from the brutal control of the romans. Torn between her love for a roman general, and the needs to help her people, Carita dons a skimpy warrior's costume and leads her people into battle.

Historical purists steer clear of this one, but everyone else might enjoy this film. Be warned, there is a fair amount of gratuitous nudity and violence in this film, it may not be appropriate for all viewers.

This is a thinly-veiled retelling of the real-life story of Boudicca, the British/Celtic Queen who led a failed rebellion against Roman occupying forces in the mid-1st century AD. Yes, thinly-veiled, with the names changed to protect the innocent.

This is b-grade movie sap at it's finest, complete with an unbelievable love story, fine British overacting, and... well, it's just plain silly. For instance: Blue-woaded bandits, looking like extras from a Caveman flick; Scythe-wheeled chariots, which neither the Celts, nor anyone else for that matter, ever used in real life; this whole "Viking queen" title -- what's up with that? This film has nothing to do with Vikings, who were Norse raiders starting in the 700's AD; Highly-trained Roman soldiers who let themselves get run down by the aformentioned chariots; And of course Selena, the "Viking Queen" herself, with that out-of-place German (?) accent and Xena-esque corselet... ah yes, the stuff of dreams... On a positive note, the equipment and armor of the Roman Troops are handled fairly well, considering the level of research available at the time the film was made. Not perfect, but not as bad as the rest of the movie!

So if it's so bad, then why do I give it such a high rating? Sentimentality. When I was a kid, I loved this film! And it's still fun. There are worse ways to waste a slow afternoon than popping this in the VCR and vegging out. No, it's not "Spartacus" or "Ben Hur", nor is it the wonderful British documentary of "Boudicca" which was released a couple years back, but hey, what do you expect, anyway? So, toss all your cares (and good taste) to the wind, and revel in this gloriously awful "celtsploitation" movie!

Roman Britain? Not quite. A fun foray into Hammer's skewed history? Definitely. This film works on the most basic level. Warrior chicks and Roman villainy with a mad druid for fun. The best acting in this little sizzler comes from that late great charactor actor Patrick Toughton. There are moments when it seems like he is in a completely different film...yes, he's that good. Andrew Keir is not to be missed as the scenery chewing evil centurion. A mediocre effort at historical film making, but a great deal of fun!

"Warn your men there are blue bandits about!" The Viking Queen is utter nonsense of the most enjoyable kind. There are no Vikings, although there are plenty of Romans and the odd wristwatch in this low-budget and wildly anachronistic attempt at a British peplum more or less inspired by Boudicca's ill-fated rebellion against the Roman Empire that makes full use of the Irish scenery, the Irish Army and Irish tax breaks. Hammer's latest disposable discovery Carita takes the lead with Don Murray playing the Roman-tic interest that would have been played by Rory Calhoun or Steve Reeves in an Italian film, their budding love thwarted as they find themselves on opposite sides thanks to plotting Roman officers (the ever-undervalued Andrew Keir) and devious druids (Donald Houston, dressed up like the Ghost of Christmas Past and hamming it up mightily) stirring things up. Period accuracy is less a factor than what costumes they have left over from other pictures, leading to some interesting sartorial clashes while it's hard to take characters seriously when they're given names like Priam and Nigel, but the setting is just an excuse for the odd bit of sadism, torture, sacrifice and the odd skirmish en route to the inevitable tragic ending. The battle scenes are clumsily handled by director Don Chaffey, but the supporting cast are rather better than the script deserves - Patrick Troughton, Niall MacGinnis (both surprisingly good), Adrienne Corri, Nicola Pagett, Percy Herbert and Wilfred Lawson among them - it's nicely photographed by Zulu's Stephen Dade and it's more than passable brains-off entertainment.

Anchor Bay's DVD is extras-lite - trailer and a half hour episode from the World of Hammer compilation series - but it boasts a good 1.77:1 widescreen transfer (the film was not shot in Scope).

In the tradition of Monty Python, The movie starts out with a monologue and map telling of the extent of the Roman Empire.

The old Celtic king dies leaving his kingdom in the charge of his daughter Salina and Rome as co-regents. The daughter is in love with Rome's representative. He gets tricked, she gets whipped, and the fun begins. Will everything turn out o.k. in the end or will Salina be stuck for an ending?

You may notice that this story sort of, kind of, but not much, follows the story of Boudicea of the Iceni tribe. The druids look like Jewish priests from old biblical movies. They naturally worship Zeus. And carry golden cycles as they forecast Roman doom at the hands of Salina (Carita). This may be the reason that all the Stonehenge type structures are not quite square.

Don't miss the fight scenes. Many look like cowboys and Indians. Then there is a scene where the Celts attack with Ben-Hur hubcaps on their chariots. "Stand fast, they are only women."

It's a damn shame that the average American is totally ignorant of the Celtic legacy of the western world; modern pop culture and three centuries of fundamentalist Christianity have done their part in obliterating all accurate memory of our northern European roots from the minds of the masses. That's why I applaud any movie that treats the subject of Celtic antiquity, even if most of these films are a far cry from historical reality. This is certainly the case with The Viking Queen: The Celtic Britons were NOT Vikings (a later Germanic people), the druids did NOT worship Zeus (the druid character in the film invokes this Greek deity), Brythonic Celts never had the name Angus (the name of a Briton prince in the film...the name itself is Gaelic Celtic), and on and on. However, the film does make a somewhat lame attempt to depict the political turmoil in the Britain of the first century of the Common Era; the invading Roman legions never did win the undying loyalty of the entire isle of Britain and uprisings were common throughout the remaining years of the empire. That being said, the film is otherwise good cheesy fun for the non-sticklers: hot chicks, lots of violence, humorous over acting, the typical Hammer offering (and I'm not at all surprised that a movie with this subject matter was produced in Britain and not the United States). Carita's "Viking" Queen character is loosely based on the historical personage of Boudicea of the Iceni tribe, who ravaged Roman occupied Londinium during the Briton uprising against the forces of the general Paulinus. So, this is not the worst film ever made, I'm just a little disappointed that we have countless biblical and Roman celluloid epics to choose from but precious few serious films about our own ancestors;The Viking Queen is hardly serious...it reduces a dynamic period of our history into a lusty comic book farce.

The '67 Hammer film 'The Viking Queen' is quite possibly the most historically convoluted and inaccurate movie I've ever watched. Don't get me wrong, I didn't sit down with the intention of learning something about world history, but if you're going to present your audience with a "period piece" at least get some of the facts correct and make some merger attempt to construct a valid backdrop for the tale about to unfold. This is especially true in the case of this film since it's in in large based on a historical Celtic Queen named Boudica (also spelled; Boudicca or Boadicea) who led the Iceni people in battle against the occupying Roman Army and died doing so around 60 AD.

Maybe I'm wrong but I would think that using the correct terminology would be a no brainer, but instead the filmmakers named their heroine Queen Salina instead of Boudica, made her a Viking instead of a Celt and had her Druid priests pray to Zeus instead of Cerunnos, or Brigid, or some other God or Goddess associated with the British Isles. I mean come-on, if your going to make the mistake of portraying her as a Viking then at least have her worship a Norse God. How about Odin? But no, that would make sense so instead lets use Zeus, A Greek god. Yea, makes alot of sense doesn't it?

Be that as it may I also realize that the target audience for this film was not the armchair historian. This is a Hammer Film and we all know why we watch Hammer Films. It's because of the attractive, minimally clad women and there are more than an ample amount of them to keep the viewer focused on what really matters. I guess that leaves nothing else to say except Hail Zeus!

I was so glad when on a whim one day I noticed that old Hammer horror titles previously released by Anchor Bay Entertainment appeared to be getting a re-release. Boy, was I wrong about that! Don't be fooled. DVD-R's are no substitute for a real factory manufactured product. The pictures appear murky, bleeding and washed out even though its obviously a direct burn from a genuine Anchor Bay DVD. The sound drops in and out. I played each disc on 3 different players manufactured by 3 different companies. In all I wasted $20 dollars a piece on 3 of these pathetic knock offs. Originally when I purchased these titles there was NO mention of them being bootleg quality DVD-R's. I don't know who's ingenious idea it was to propose such a gross misuse of wasted effort. Either shame on Anchor Bay or shame on Amazon for perpetuating such poor quality knock offs at such an absurd price. They even use the original Anchor Bay DVD's cover art printed by a laser printer however most of the special features listed will not appear.

I.E. - The Legend Of The 7 Golden Vampires does not include the U.S. cut of the film as mentioned.

What a crime in itself either release the film correctly or don't bother at all. What a tease. What a waste of my money and time.

The movie had this been a genuine product released through Anchor Bay would've received 5 stars.

I threw my money away on:

Dracula Prince Of Darkness

Frankenstein Created Woman

The Legend Of The 7 Golden Vampires

Save your money until somebody with half a brain decides to do the right things with the old deleted Hammer titles. I'm still very dissatisfied with this scenario.

This is a fun movie if your a fan. First saw this movie when i was a kid loved it then as an adult I still enjoy it.

Ps dont waste your money on 2 day express shipping with amazon it took then a good 8 days to get it to me. it sat in sunnyville california for 4 days, this did not include holidays or weekend.