At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The Viking is a black and white movie that explains how sealers live their lives. It is based in Newfoundland, which at the time of the filming, was not yet part of Canada, but now is. The movie has features of the Metropolis in the machine-like efficiency of the men who were sealers. There was an authenticity to the movie and the filming. The wooden vessel, the snow and ice formations and the ropes that were used had such terror and fear to them, that these aspects automatically added to the tension and suspense in the movie. Somehow I found the mood of this movie to remind me of two other films, one was Citizen Kane and the other was The Crow. With reference to Citizen Kane, the black and white film sequences captured a doomed man and in a sense that is what The Viking did as well. Second, in the movie The Crow, which has something magical about it - like The Viking, which had superstition wrapped around it - both movies (on a different scale) had death. This death feeling lingers - and it creates something very otherworldly. This darkness seems to lure an audience and it also stamps and seals the movie and puts movies into a new dimension - almost like a genre of it's own. It is like movies like The Crow and The Viking become Existential stories and time-sealed into something very true to the human entrepreneurial spirit, the pioneer spirit. It encapsulates the passion of human drive to succeed and create the best film ever - even if it entails death. This human passion is both a positive and a negative quality and I believe it is in this element that creates, what I will call Element movies: movies one step above the rest.

Viking, The (1931) *** (out of 4)This 1931 film has the unfortunate legacy of being the deadliest movie ever film as on March 15, 1931 director Frissell, cinematographer Alexander Penrod and twenty-five other members of the crew were killed when an explosion happened on the boat they were filming on. This tragedy certainly hangs a dark shadow over the film but apparently everyone knew the danger they were taking by trying to show the "real" world of sealers. Luke (Charles Starrett) and Jed (Arthur Vinton) are enemies in love with the same woman (Louise Huntington) but the men find themselves working on the S.S. Viking off the coasts of Newfoundland as seal season is among them. The two remain enemies until a major storm separates them from the boat and the rest of the men and they seem to be facing certain death. This film runs a rather brief 72-minutes and six minutes of that footage is an added forward talking about the tragedy that struck the film. This was the first sound movie from Canada so it's to be expected that the sound quality is rather poor and the love triangle is nothing we haven't seen countless times before but with that said, I was rather shocked to see how entertaining this film was. What makes this film a must see is the amazing footage of Newfoundland, which includes the ship breaking through the ice, hundreds of men trying to pull the ship through ice, a rather amazing sequence of the men walking through the ice floes and even more incredible a scene with the men going up and down as they walk on these floes trying to get back to their ship. This footage is so incredible that you'll sadly be reminded or at least thinking that there's no wonder something tragic happened. Again, from what I've read everyone knew this voyage was going to be dangerous and many would say that the men died delivering what they wanted and I don't think anyone could question the amazing footage that this film has. This type of frozen adventure has been seen in recent shows and documentaries but this here is amazing stuff and easily holds up against anything that would be filmed today. The performances by the three leads isn't anything too special and some of the cinematography is in rough shape but this is certainly to be expected considering the conditions that they were filming in. The film is short enough where the plot and the somewhat bad ending doesn't hurt things too much but I think most people are going to come to this film due to the tragedy but they should also give this film more respect for what we do get to see.

A DVD combo-pack on adventurer/photographer Varick Frissell, who died in an explosion on the eponymous seal hunting ship. WHITE THUNDER is a bio that barely lives up to its fascinating subject, but nicely sets up the paired early talkie. THE VIKING is officially directed by George Melford, an A-list silent director who faded fast with sound (his swansong, EAST OF BORNEO/''31, is an unintentional riot). But Frissell must have taken charge of all the Newfoundland location shooting which is so filled with extraordinary footage of sealers, churning ice floes, full-rigged ships, sea & sun that you'd gladly put up with twice the cornball "two guys & a gal" hokum so mechanically delivered by the talent-challenged cast.

As the first Canadian sound film, "The Viking", is one of the most important films in the history of Canadian Cinema. That's kind of ironic considering that it was shot in Newfoundland (then owned by Britain) with an American cast and an American crew. Sure the producer, writer, and co-director Varick Frissell spent a lot of time in Canada, but he was still an American. So why does this film feel so Canadian? Well it's badly acted, thinly plotted, yet beautifully photographed. What could be more Canadian than that? Ok, ok not all Canadian films are that bad, but "The Viking is". That's not Frissell's fault, he fought to keep out the love/jealousy story that ruins the film. But all joking aside, I think the reason "The Viking" feels so Canadian (even to us Canadians) is unfortunately because it has all the stereotypes of our country that American audiences expect: cold, barren landscapes, lots of snow, and rugged, but jovial people. "The Viking" is kind of a testament the hold America has over us. Even though we know that Canada is not like that all year round, we buy into the fact when we see it on the screen. Although Newfoundland winters are exactly as shown in the movie, (American) audiences will not understand that it is only in the winter time when things look like this. The film can't be faulted entirely though. Like I mentioned before, it is stunningly photographed, and without the current story, and with more emphasis on the seal hunting (the way Frissell intended), it could have been a very good film. One that I would have been glad to call Canadian no matter where it came from.