User Reviews

Considering the title and that the film was made by Roger Corman during his "quickie" days (he'd already made something like 679 other films in 1957), this film is about what you'd expect--a very low budget and silly picture. The only decent thing about the movie is the soundtrack--not bad at all. Otherwise, it's pure crap--1950s drive-in movie crap.

The film begins with a bunch of scantily-clad blondes in Scandinavia pining for their lost men. Apparently the men had gone off to sea a few years earlier and never returned. So, these ladies decide to go in search of them. In real life, Viking women were amazingly tough ladies, but I just couldn't see this gaggle of skinny ladies putting up much of a rescue effort--and I turned out to be right. After almost being killed by a giant sea monster, the women wash ashore in the land of dark-haired bad actors where they are taken prisoner. There, they discover that their men are slaves to these dark-haired guys. I loved finally seeing the Viking men, as they all looked like extras from a 1960s beach movie--clean shaven, no chest hair and Troy Donahue hair---exactly like the rugged Vikings must have looked!! Eventually, the well-coiffed Vikings escape and the dark-haired jerks get theirs--the end.

While there is a bit more to the plot than this, I really don't care to elaborate--it's just not that interesting or important. Instead, let's talk about the worst aspect of the film--the writing. Again and again, characters do things that make no sense at all. Why take the Viking women on a wild boar hunt? Why does the only dark-haired lady in the bunch of Vikings (a sure sign of evil) behave so wildly unpredictably as she does (I suspect really, really bad PMS)? Why does a teeny, tiny sword kill a 6000-foot long sea monster? How did the Vikings expect to keep warm wearing outfits that looked like they were left over from American-International's last caveman or jungle film? And, why didn't the writers include anything that was remotely exciting or interesting?

The bottom line is that the film is just barely watchable but why bother unless you are a bad movie fan. Additionally, it seems that Corman must have quickly slapped together this film in anticipation of the soon to be released epic, THE VIKINGS, a film vastly superior in every conceivable way.

With a proclamation of "Our Men Beckon" a group of beautiful Viking women cast their fates to the wind and sail out in search for the men of their village who have been gone for over 3 years. As luck would have it though, they sail upon "the great serpent of the vortex" which causes them to become shipwrecked on the land of savage barbarians known as the Grimaults. Anyway, with a storyline like this, and the fact that it was produced and directed by Roger Corman, it should come as little surprise that this has "Grade B" written all over it. But also true to form he manages to make the most of what little he has to work with to present something that is quite campy but yet fairly entertaining in spite of it all. And while it is hard to overlook the bad dialogue and the silly plot, the action is fast paced and the women were definitely attractive. I especially liked "Asmild" (June Kenney) and "Dagda" (Lynette Bernay) but they were all pleasing to the eye. Likewise, while I don't dislike movies in black and white this one would have been much better in color. But then I suppose that would have been quite a bit more expensive back in 1957 and it probably wasn't feasible at the time.

All of the men of a Viking tribe have disappeared across the great waters, so their lovesick ladies decide to build a boat and go find 'em. They run into a whirlpool and a giant sea monster before sailing their ship to Bronson Canyon, where they find a tribe of mean and cruel barbarians who are keeping the Viking men chained up in a cave.

Believe me, folks, I really would've liked to spend a little more time on the plot, but sadly, that's all we've got to work with here.

The Viking women are all gorgeous 1950s starlets, including such favorites as Abby Dalton (ROCK ALL NIGHT), Susan Cabot (THE WASP WOMAN), June Kenney (TEENAGE DOLL) and Sally Todd (THE UNEARTHLY). Jonathan Haze of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS fame is along for the ride, too, as a hot-headed young Viking anxious to prove his manhood, which you'd think wouldn't be too difficult considering that it's him and three dozen horny and nubile young women living alone in the village, but what do you expect from Seymour Krelboing, anyway?

Brad Jackson plays the leader of the Viking men, and you're surprised that (a) they elected him leader, or (b) that the women went to find him in the first place. He's dull and not very good in a fight. On the other hand, what lonely Norse lady wouldn't want to snuggle up to hunky Gary Conway, sans his TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN makeup, all rippling muscles in his li'l Viking pelts? Richard Devon, who played Satan in Corman's THE UNDEAD, is Stark, King of the Barbarians (Ooh! Good name!) and has a son who's a sissy, which matters not in this report but looms large in the film itself.

The picture is stolen by Miss Cabot, the only dark-haired Viking woman, who first schemes with King Stark to rub out her rival for the dull guy's attentions, then calls down the wrath of Thor when her plans go awry. She's by turns funny, mean, sexy, and pouty, and she blows the higher-billed Abby Dalton out of the water.

VIKING WOMEN AND THE SEA SERPENT is a goofily enjoyable movie despite its many shortcomings (as Corman put it, 'When working on a low budget, you are better off with material that does not depend primarily on spectacular special effects'). The film was originally released as a double-feature with THE ASTOUNDING SHE-MONSTER, so go 'head and treat yourself to a full double helping of freaky '50s female fun.

A Corman cheapie which follows the fortunes of a tribe of Viking women, as they set sail to find their menfolk who have not returned from an earlier voyage.

Women are all statuesque blondes, apart from the evil one who, in the best film-noir tradition, is brunette.

After setting sail in the flimsiest longship imaginable ( a 20 ft canoe ), the women are pulled into a vortex and terrorised by a giant sea-serpent which causes them to be washed ashore in a strange land. Here they find there menfolk, who had followed a similar path and are now enslaved by a barbarian tribe, the Grimaults and forced to work down their mines.

The men are all bottle-blonde surf-dudes, and after some comings and goings the women manage to free their other halfs, and all manage to escape.

Any film with a title this tongue in cheek, particularly a Corman one, is difficult not to have some affection for. That said 'Viking Women....' is very poor in all departments, with script, performances, narrative all out of the bottom drawer. Not of the standard of other Corman films of the period, such as 'Day the World Ended' which despite limitations did have some recognisable strengths.

The boys left to Vike a while back and haven't been seen since. Did they find a kickass brewpub? The girls are throwing spears to choose who gets to decide whether they go after their men -- excuse me, the women are throwing spears, et cetera. You're not going to catch me calling someone who can throw a spearhead through a tree a girl. Eventually they get into a boat and almost drown, but eventually wind up in the .... well, you get it.

All the Viking men and women are blondes except for Susan Cabot -- Burn the Witch! -- and I don't think anyone on the shoot though they were making the Scottish Play or such around here. No, Roger Corman shot this down at Malibu, which was the most Viking-like place he could get to without paying a road toll, dressing the weird foreigners in old costumes from THE CONQUEROR -- let's hope the count on a Geiger Counter has gone down -- and making something that the couples necking in cars wouldn't notice on the drive-in screen.

It's interesting how many of the participants had substantial careers. Everyone needs a place to start out from, and in the late 1950s, AIP was the place.

Enjoyable early Corman with California surfers as Vikings and dark-haired beach bums as their enemies. Bradford Hatton is the blandest Viking warrior you will ever see, but the film as a whole is not as bad as people say. Most of the minuscule budget went to the special effects and matte paintings, and the F/X men gave the producers as good as they got, though I must say the serpent is far better than I expected, a serviceable rubber snake with countless teeth, and better looking than Corman's crab monsters, wasp woman or the monster from the haunted sea. After budgeting cast and crew fees, Corman was left with the proverbial three bucks for costumes, sets and props. All this do show but he somehow managed to make it all look decent enough to pass for a drive-in masterpiece. "The Saga of the Viking Women" is a tight, little adventure film with a bit of melodrama for good measure, Jonathan Haze turning into a blond macho action hero out of the little shop of horrors; the Wasp Woman herself, Miss Susan Cabot, as a wicked high priestess; Jay Sayer as a queen-prince still in the closet, Richard Devon as a tyrant with no army but a bunch of soldiers with bad wigs, and a good ending with lovers reunited.

Entertainingly stupid hokum from producer / director Roger Corman, notable mostly for that hilariously long title. People shouldn't expect anything from it other than undemanding fun for lovers of micro budget schlock. We've got a very attractive cast in sexy outfits, being made to deliver some truly (and truly funny) awful lines. The special effects are anything but special, but they're endearing in their own way.

A gang of viking women are really missing their men, who have been lost at sea for three years. Accompanied by a token dude, Ottar (Jonathan Haze), they build their own boat and set sail. Their boat attacked by an ocean phenomenon dubbed "The Vortex" and, yes, a huge sea serpent, they wash ashore on an island populated by a hostile tribe called the Grimolts. They refuse to be treated as prisoners or slaves and fight back with passion.

At least Corman knows to fill the cast with some stunning looking women: Abby Dalton as our heroine Desir, Susan "The Wasp Woman" Cabot as the duplicitous Enger, June Kenney as Desir's innocent younger sister Asmild, and Betsy Jones-Moreland as Thyra. Richard Devon, a Corman regular during this time, looks weary as our villain Stark, and Bradford Jackson is a gas as he stiffly and ineptly portrays Desir's love interest Vedric. Jay Sayer is appropriately wormy as Starks' cowardly, useless son Senya. Gary Conway from "I Was a Teenage Frankenstein" plays the small part of Jarl.

This isn't totally lacking in atmosphere, and in addition to the (unintended?) laughs provided, there's also a fair amount of action and a nice, rousing score composed by Albert Glasser.

Be warned that the title sea serpent doesn't get to do all that much.

Five out of 10.

A group of luscious and scantily clad '50s Viking babes decide to board a boat to search for their missing men who have disappeared some time ago. They wind up terrorized and shipwrecked by the giant creature of the title and the find themselves prisoners of a tribe of men who want to use them as their slaves.

Thanks to director Roger Corman, this cheesy flick is made into something at least watchable. And for me, any chance to see blonde Sally Todd (FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER) and raven-haired Susan Cabot (THE WASP WOMAN) strutting their stuff is a plus.

** out of ****

Despite a meager $65,000 budget, and thanks to Corman's skill in making a little money go a long way, the film looks far more expensive than its actual cost. True, despite his co-star status in the movie's title, the serpent figures very little in the film's action, most of the heavy's duties being taken over by the fascinatingly treacherous Richard Devon and the equally charming Susan Cabot (the Wasp Woman herself). Lithe Abby Dalton plays the Viking leader with appropriate girlish gusto, while twisted but surprisingly ungrateful Jay Sayer has his menacing moments as a petulant prince. The story is absolute nonsense from first to last, but Corman keeps the action moving at such a commendably fast clip from go to whoa, a total lack of conviction doesn't really amount to a factor that will upset rabid American-International fans.

This has to be one of the dumbest titles ever. Granted it tells you what the plot of the movie is but that seems to be where the cleverness began and ended.

This is really low rent Roger Corman. Its far from a good film, but the chuckle factor and the fact that it has different setting makes it worth giving a try for those who like bad films or at least want to see something different than the typical movie setting.

The plot has the viking women going off to find their men who have disappeared. They end up finding them after crossing dangerous waters and running into a rubber sock puppet sea serpent. The men are being held captive by an evil tribe of men who soon capture our heroines, making escape seem possible.

Running a brief 66 minutes this film is so full of clunky film making that you'll wonder how it ever got released. Costumes look like costumes, the sea monster looks dumb and the special effects aren't. Rarely has rear projection been put to worse use than here.

Still, somehow, its manages to avoid being a truly awful movie. Sure its not good but at least its not the same old same old, which here gives it three or four points in its favor.

6 out of 10, just for being off beat, though it probably deserves a 3 in a more realistic frame of mind.

Viking is a barely tolerable movie that is only made easier to what by the shadows of a guy and two Bots in the lower corner. The plot and script is invisible, the costumes are cheap and the special effects are lousy, and those are its good points. The only thing I can watch this movie for is for the acting of Susan Cabot who is straight from the Allison Hayes School of Under-Appreciated Actresses. Lovely,brunette and dimunitive, she does her best in this cast of unknowns, but it is her presence who carries the movie for me. Everyone else is background. The movie itself has an ambiguous flow of confusing characters and uneven scenes; it's next to impossible to tell what is going on or what any particular part has to do with the story which is practically non-existent. Please send this one back to editing !

When you consider that this was the 9th film that Corman produced and directed for AIP in 1957 it's a miracle he didn't have a heart attack on the set and have it turn out as entertaining and semi coherent as it is.

Ncholson and Arkoff who were marketing masters basically took the hype from the anticipation of post production Kirk Douglas epic The Vikings and threw in some babes and a monster and beat the big studio release to the punch by almost four months.

It's 0bviously Corman's biggest production until that date with extras and horses and matte paintings and you can tell his energy is mainly concerned with just getting it done on time rather than adding his signature quirkiness that you would find in Attack Of The Crab Monsters,Day The World Ended or Bucket Of Blood. COmpared to it's co-feature The Amazing She Monster the proceeding are intricate and lavish.

Like most low budget drive-in flicks from AIP you just go with the flow and enjoy the goofs and the good looking dames. ANything else and your just fooling yourself into thinking you're a real film critic. ;-)

This film is apparently Roger Corman's attempt at epic fantasy...unfortunately for him and us, epic fantasy is very hard to accomplish with a minuscule budget although you have to applaud Corman et al for having the gumption to attempt it nonetheless. The film itself never rises above being a fairly predictable programmer and greatly suffers from poor and unconvincing effects, costuming and acting. All in all a weak effort from Corman, who really did manage to rise some low budget films above the norm in terms of quality and subject matter in this era. Despite all of this, I have to admit to having a soft spot for the film because I enjoy seeing all the cast regulars from other Corman films on hand here particularly Jonathan Haze, Betsy Jones-Moreland, Susan Cabot and Richard Devon who do at least try to work with what they were given here. Of course it's not enough to save this movie.

I was taken in by the intriguing title. I should have known better. VERY low budget production, poor acting, lousy FX, etc etc. Ok, so there are decorative women in brief outfits, which is easy on the eyes. But even that is ridiculous. This is supposedly a sea voyage from a Nordic country, which means things are going to be damn COLD, which means they would NOT be swimming and would be covered in furs. Yeah yeah, I know why they were wearing brief outfits instead. I've enjoyed a number of Corman movies, but this wasn't one of them. Nothing about it captures the imagination. Next time I'll pay attention to the rating.

Viking women (Abby Dalton, Susan Cabot, Betsy-Jones Moreland, June Kenney, ex-Playmate Sally Todd and a few other chicks I've never heard of) pine for their Viking men, who have been gone for a few years. After voting against civil unions, the women decide to set sail from Scandinavia (which looks suspiciously like the California coastline) and immediately run into trouble. Their ship is hit by lightning, and they are swept into a vortex controlled by the title creature. (You may need to re-read the title again.) They, along with stowaway Jonathan Haze, wash up onshore where they are quickly whipped by Michael Forest, leading the Norse chapter of the Hell's Angels. Forest delivers the prisoners to his leader, Richard Devon. Devon has a wimpy son, played by Jay Sayer. Sayer does a bad impersonation of Jay Robinson impersonating Caligula. He arm-wrestles Abby Dalton. Put your money on Dalton. If you are still reading this, the ladies discover their men are held hostage by Devon. Stud alert: Gary Conway, sporting blonde hair, plays one of the hostages. Meanwhile, in what passes for plot development, Susan Cabot wants Abby Dalton's man, played listlessly by Brad Jackson. So whom will Jackson end up with? Dalton? Cabot? Jay Sayer? Haze plays a miniature Steve Reeves, bouncing around and fighting at every chance. Unfortunately, he keeps getting his butt whipped (figuratively and literally) by Michael Forest. The worst thing about this film is that there are no make-out scenes. At the very least, they could have had Sally Todd swimming in a lake. What a waste.

Director Roger Corman is arguably the most influential filmmaker of the last fifty years. Not because his films are any good, but because his films and those of his production company have jump- started the careers of dozens upon dozens of actors, directors, and cinematographers. A quick look at his "film school" roster include such household names as, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, Robert De Niro, Sylvester Stallone, William Shatner, John Sayles, Jonathan Demme, Nicolas Roeg, and the list goes on and on. Not only did Corman teach new and exciting techniques to a slew of modern filmmakers, he did so with economy of means and a lack of pretension that still holds to this day. My all time favorite Corman film is the original Little Shop of Horrors (1960) which was quite incredibly shot in 24 hours with a budget of only $27,000.

Whatever time, money, and effort Corman spent making The Saga of the Viking Women..., it was too much. The plot revolves around a group of viking women who are awaiting the return of their men from a hunting expedition. After weeks of no word, a group of scouts got out into the North Atlantic in search of their beaus. Their adventures on the seas include tempests, barbarian hordes, shipwreck and their own jealousies; not to mention the sea serpent briefly mentioned in the title.

Whatever style and substance used to make Corman's Edgar Allan Poe movies (1959-1964) is completely absent in this mess. Despite lead actress Abby Dalton's remarkable beauty her uncomfortable mannerisms betray a person completely out of her depth. Several moments of the film call for strong, brawny viking women hoisting sails and attacking barbarians with broad swords but I'm afraid no movie magic can make someone as slight as her strong and powerful. Having Abby "Joey Bishop Show" Dalton play a viking is like having Powder (1995) play Othello, it just doesn't work. The affable Susan Cabot fairs better playing the vamp; a talent she would later put to good use in The Wasp Woman (1959) two years later. Unfortunately the object of her desire Vedic the Viking (Jackson) is as robotic an Aryan rumba and ultimately sinks her and the film.

It is said Corman was inspired to do the picture by the special effects work of Jack Rabin, Irving Block and Louis DeWitt. Opting for the special photographic effects used in Rocketship X-M (1950) and Flight to Mars (1951), Corman found the price tag of his film skyrocketing. As a result the famed sea serpent makes a fleeting appearance at the beginning and climactic end of the movie in a battle that rivals Bela Lugosi's giant octopus demise in Bride of the Monster (1955) in level of camp.

Yet to call Saga of the Viking Women campy is a bit of an overreach. As mismatched as the leads are and a cheap as the special effects get, the story itself takes itself seriously. So seriously in-fact that there is no unintended laughter; only absolute and utter boredom. One can't help but think that with a couple more re-writes and a lot, LOT more money, this stinker of a movie might be as exciting as its poster.

Film has a rare lead role for Abby Dalton as leader of the Viking Women. Susan Cabot is menacing as a traitor who joins up with a Barbarian leader (Richard Devon) that imprisoned the Viking men and worshipped the sea serpent. Quite a lot of character development for a low budget picture and dramatic moments reminiscent of Shakespeare's The Tempest. Could do without some exploitative violence toward the end.

It may be a cheeky movie, but fun.

Abby Dalton passed away last week. She was young and beautiful, may she Rest in

The vikings and barbarians would be wearing cowboy hats and using colt .45's.

Good 'ol Roger Corman, he's not anything if not entertaining. Sure, the majority of his movies are terrible and often don't make any sense and having a coherent story is somewhat of an afterthought, but there's rarely been a time that I have not been entertained by one of his movies.

At just barely over 60 minutes long, you don't get much to watch and what there is just isn't all that great, but it's good for a laugh and to watch just how ridiculous a movie can be.

Everyone cast in this movie looks like they were handpicked straight from New York, California and New Jersey. From the blond hair and blue eyed vikings (I'm assuming, since it's black and white) to the portly and bowl haircut barbarians, everything about this screams "highschool drama class". No effort was made to make this seem like it took place in the time it says it does, what with the vikings perfectly permed hair and almost complete lack of body hair and the barbarians looking more like a weekend renfest extras group. The outfits could be used in nearly any kind of Greek, Roman or even pirate story, given a few changes here and there.

The dialogue it so woefully modern (well, modern for the time it was made). I understand that many movies of this time were mainly English speaking actors and rarely an accent to fit the role, but it was what was written in the script that made the difference. Most movies would use a lot less of abbreviations, such as "do not" instead of "don't".

Don't expect much in the way of special effects, the serpent shows up at the beginning and the end and with the exception of a rain machine there just isn't much else.

I will say that one thing I enjoyed was the inclusion of Thor (no, he doesn't actually show up), but too often in Greek and Roman movies, you get to see all the gods and what they can do, it was nice to have a movie focus on some norse mythology, even if it was short-lived and more of an deus ex machina (literally).

It certainly is a movie of the time, even with female leads, it ends up de-evolving into the typical "women can't do what men can" trope even though there is a very strong sense of female empowerment here. There is a time and place for women to say to a man "hey, I can do this without your help" and I do kind of wish they had just done that, but (again), this was the 50's and it wasn't meant to be. Besides, it's Roger Corman, who knows what he had in mind anyway. The women are all meant to be pretty and jiggle about in their almost-scantly clad outfits while spouting off viking-esque dialogue that just makes you cringe. I'm all for pretty women doing women things, but they're supposed to be vikings. Act like vikings.

A fun, short movie for when you're bored with nothing to do on a rainy day.