''The Viking Queen'' is a 1967

Hammer A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nail (fastener), nails into wood, to sh ...

adventure film The adventure film is a broad genre of film. Some early genre studies found it no different than the Western film or argued that adventure could encompass all Hollywood genres. Commonality was found among historians Brian Taves and Ian Cameron in ...

directed by

Don Chaffey Donald Chaffey (5 August 1917 – 13 November 1990) was a British film director, writer, Film producer, producer, and art director. Chaffey's film career began as an art director in 1947, and his directorial debut was in 1953. He remained acti ...

and starring Don Murray. It is set in

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman province of ''Britannia'' after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. Julius Caes ...

. The title of the film caused much confusion, because there are no Norse

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

in the movie. However, there is another meaning of the word "viking": a raider or plunderer, of which there are many such characters in this film. In addition, "viking" was understood internationally, having been recently used in other film titles.

Plot summary

According to her father's wishes, Queen Salina agrees to share the rule of Icena with Justinian, a Roman. This decision angers both the bloodthirsty

Druids A druid was a member of the high-ranking priestly class in ancient Celtic cultures. The druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no wr ...

and Romans less just than Justinian. As the two rulers fall in love, the Druids and the Romans begin to plot their downfall. It's not long before the hills of Britain are stained with the blood of the lovers' followers. The plot combines elements of life of the historic queen

Boudica Boudica or Boudicca (, from Brittonic languages, Brythonic * 'victory, win' + * 'having' suffix, i.e. 'Victorious Woman', known in Latin chronicles as Boadicea or Boudicea, and in Welsh language, Welsh as , ) was a queen of the Iceni, ancient ...

(featuring the

Iceni The Iceni ( , ) or Eceni were an ancient tribe of eastern Britain during the British Iron Age, Iron Age and early Roman Britain, Roman era. Their territory included present-day Norfolk and parts of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, and bordered the ar ...

tribe, combat chariots) with elements seemingly drawn from Vincenzo Bellini's opera '' Norma'', though that is set in

Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...

, and

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

King Lear ''The Tragedy of King Lear'', often shortened to ''King Lear'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is loosely based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his ...

Cast

* Don Murray as Justinian * Carita as Salina * Donald Houston as Maelgan * Andrew Keir as Octavian * Adrienne Corri as Beatrice * Niall MacGinnis as Tiberian * Wilfrid Lawson as King Priam * Nicola Pagett as Talia * Percy Herbert as Catus *

Patrick Troughton Patrick George Troughton (; 25 March 1920 – 28 March 1987) was an English actor. He became best known for his roles in television, most notably starring as the Second Doctor, second incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the lo ...

as Tristram * Sean Caffrey as Fergus * Denis Shaw as Osiris * Philip O'Flynn as Merchant * Brendan Matthews as Nigel * Gerry Alexander as Fabian * Patrick Gardiner as Benedict * Paul Murphy as Dalon, Maelgan's Son * Arthur O'Sullivan as Old Man at Tax-Enquiry * Cecil Sheridan as Shopkeeper at Protest Gathering * Anna Manahan as Shopkeeper's Wife * Nita Lorraine as Nubian Slave Girl * Bryan Marshall as Dominic

Production

The film was budgeted at £350,000 and went over budget by £61,000.Marcus Hearn & Alan Barnes, ''The Hammer Story: The Authorised History of Hammer Films'', Titan Books, 2007 p. 79 During filming in Ireland,

, who was playing the part of Tristram, was offered the role of the

Second Doctor The Second Doctor is an incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor, the protagonist of the British Science fiction on television, science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He was portrayed by actor Patrick Troughton. Out of his 1 ...

in ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

''. Eventually, he accepted.

Reception

''The Viking Queen'' was given mixed reviews on its original release while it performed poorly at the box office.Marcus Hearn, ''The Hammer Vault: Treasures from the Archives of Hammer Films'', Titan Books, 2011 p. 93 For a much later television screening, David Parkinson in the ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manage ...

'' thought the film used "a story that would struggle to get a pass grade in

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

English."; while in ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' a reviewer wrote that it is "an interesting, well-photographed attempt to depict the land of the blue-painted troglodytes...The costumes reveal more flesh than might have been wise in the cold, damp climate of the Irish mountains where location scenes were shot."

Box office

According to Fox records, the film needed to earn $1,625,000 in rentals to break even and made $835,000, meaning it made a loss.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Viking Queen, The 1960s historical adventure films 1967 films British historical adventure films Cultural depictions of Boudica 1960s English-language films Films directed by Don Chaffey Films set in the Roman Empire Films set in Roman Britain Films set in the 1st century Hammer Film Productions films 1960s British films English-language historical adventure films