The Viking
About The Viking
Vikings seize Lord Alwin (LeRoy Mason) and sell him in Norway to Helga (Pauline Starke), who is in the care of Leif Ericsson (Donald Crisp). Leif, a Christian, sails past Greenland, where his father Eric the Red (Anders Randolf) disowns him, to look for land to the west. Helga stows away. She and Alwin say they love each other. Egil starts a mutiny. At the wedding he tries to stab Leif. Leif kills him, then will not kill Alwin. Land is sighted. Leif goes ashore with a cross. Alwin and Helga stay when he sails.
Cast & crew
More about The Viking
Roy William Neill directed. The Technicolor Corporation produced it, with Herbert T. Kalmus as producer, and MGM distributed it after Irving Thalberg saw the tests. Jack Cunningham wrote the scenario. It is loosely based on Ottilie A. Liljencrantz's 1902 novel The Thrall of Leif the Lucky. George Cave photographed it in Technicolor Process 3. William Axt's score, with passages from Wagner and Grieg, was played with sound effects on a Western Electric sound-on-film track. There is no spoken dialogue. Production of the earlier title Lief, the Lucky began 18 July 1928. One release date given is 2 November 1928. The AFI dates the release 2 November 1929 and the copyright 29 July 1929, LP553. It runs 90 minutes, 8,394 feet. It is the first feature in Process 3 and the first Technicolor feature released with a recorded score. The MGM lion in the color logo is Telly, not the black-and-white lion Jackie. The Internet Archive identifier is the-viking_1928.
Themes
Making
Technicolor needed a new printing method before a dye-transfer image could carry a soundtrack. This feature was the first one released that way, with MGM paying for the distribution.
Look
George Cave shot the ship, the Greenland camp, and the landing in two-color Technicolor Process 3.
Technique
Process 3 dye-transfer prints could carry a Western Electric soundtrack. Earlier Technicolor features had used two strips cemented together, which could not take that track.
Music
William Axt composed the synchronized score, using music by Wagner and Grieg. Sound effects run on the same track. No one speaks.
Preservation
A Technicolor print with the synchronized score survives and is on the Internet Archive.
Notes
- Helga is the woman. Alwin is the English captive, not Leif's brother.
- Eric the Red is Leif's father. He kills a man in Greenland for being a Christian and then refuses Leif supplies.
- A closing title points at a stone tower in Newport, Rhode Island.
- House Peters was announced for Lief, the Lucky. Donald Crisp plays Leif in the finished film.
- No Academy Award is recorded for the film. Ray Rennahan is not the credited cameraman.
Scenes
- Eric the Red disowns Leif when he learns his son is a Christian.
- Egil tries to stab Leif during the wedding. Leif kills him and spares Alwin.
- Leif steps ashore with a cross. Alwin and Helga remain.
Influenced by
- The Thrall of Leif the Lucky by Ottilie A. Liljencrantz (1902)
Also available
- Internet Archive (the-viking_1928)
