...not to be confused with...
The Instant Viking
Before....... After -- Ta-daah!
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During the 700s Sweden, Norway and Denmark gave rise to a great wave of adventurers. Swedish Vikings established cities at Novgorod and Kiev, using these cities as bases from which to trade with Byzantium and Persia. Norwegian Vikings invaded Ireland and founded Dublin a century or so later. Iceland and Greenland were settled next, and some brave souls made it across the Atlantic to the North American coast. After a period of civil strife in the 900s, Danish vikings organized enought to absorb England i nto their empire. Almost all the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in Britain fell to these invaders. By the 900s, they had spread into Continental Europe, and their descendents would later be called the Normans.
The Viking gods Thor and Odin were replaced by the icons of Christianity, once the invaders became influenced by their new neighbors. Icelandic settlers in particular formed a model democracy with yearly tribunals and an unusually liberal common law, who se Pagan and Christian citizens were not allowed to desecrate each others symbols or force conversions.
Technical and political developments during the next century diluted the influence of the Vikings, however, and their age came to an end after the 1100s. The modern-day caricature of a hefty woman in breastplates, singing her big-horned hat off, is left over from Wagner's misrepresentation of the Volsunga Saga in his Ring Cycle. It seems there were certain elements of the story the composer thought were unheroic, so he just gave himself permission to change the ending and suchlike. Well, pardon us!
As In Heaven
(1992) An Icelandic girl in the 1930s enters a vision of the 14th Century in a mystical attempt to ward off a family curse. Time Out called this a Nordic Spirit of the Beehive.
124 min., Color, not available
Erik the Viking
(1989) Terry Jones manages to fit Eartha Kitt *and* Mickey Rooney into this cheery stomp through the icy wilderness, based on books he originally wrote as bedtime stories for his children.
104 min., Color, Rated PG-13, $14.99<
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The Norseman
(1978) Or: The 6 Million Dollar Viking. The decade that brought you silver platform hip boots also made it possible for Susie Coelho Bono and Jack Elam to support Lee Majors in his feature film debut. If that doesn't grab you, th
e plot sends Majors across the Atlantic to rescue his dad from the Indians!
90 min., Color, Rated PG, not available
Sacred Sites
The "Instant Viking" gag above was taken from a surprisingly informative -- if visually simple -- survey of prehistoric graves and monuments throughout Europe. Carnac in Brittany, Garvrinis, the island of Er-Lanic, Corsica and Sard
inia are toured as well as the islands of Malta and Gozo. Lesser known than that tourist trap Stonehenge, these fortresses, cairns and observatories had social and military applications surmised upon by an international group of investigators. It seems
to have been made in the late 70s and over-dubbed for the American market, but it holds up much better than those tawdry "In Search of..." thingies.
43 min., Color, $29.95
The Secret of Roan Inish
(1995) The legend of the seal woman is quite likely an Icelandic tale transposed to Ireland, and director John Sayles (who's of Irish descent) adapted the concept into a delightfully pretty child's view (now they have to
call it "magic realism") of the seascape, shot on location.
(Coming this fall, priced to rent)
The Seventh Seal
(1957) Swedish director Bergman even parodied the famous "chess with death" scene himself, in the comical The Devil's Eye aka Don Juan in Hell a few years later, but in this dour tale a dejected Max von Sydow retur
ns from the Crusades to suss out his place in the new world order.
96 min., B/W, $29.99
The Vikings
(1958) Spectacular Norway and Brittany are the backdrop for Orson Welles' narration, as Kirk Douglas juts his famous chin and vows to send his half-brother Tony Curtis off to Valhalla, once they clash for control of Northumbria.
1
14 min., Color, $19.99
The Witches
(1990) Anjelica is a perfect ballbuster in this almost mainstream Nick Roeg feature. A boy on vacation with his Norwegian grandmother (played by Mai Zetterling, no less) realizes the hotel is hosting a coven convention! Crowds of m
ice by Jim Henson -- his last major film job before his shockingly sudden death. Rowan "Blackadder" Atkinson was also tapped to play the manager/patsy.
91 min., Color, Rated PG, $14.99 Laser $24.99
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British Fantasy Linklist
British Fantasy Imagemap
For more information on the literature, rifle
through all the Nordic Libraries, or consult the findings of a five-year international project called "The World of the Vikings."The Saga of the Volsungs
George K. Anderson, translator
Medieval Iceland
Jesse L. Byock
Sagas and Popular Antiquar-
ianism in Icelandic
Archaeology
Adolf Fridriksson
Cultural Atlas of the Viking World
James Graham-Campbell, editor
Poems of the Elder Edda
Patricia Terry, translator
Northern Antiquity
Andrew Wawn, editor
(These are all new or fai rly new books.)
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