The Viking Queen

Here is a gem from the golden age of Hammer Films. The title is highly misleading. The time period it is set in has nothing at all to do with Vikings of any sort. It takes place during the early Roman occupation of the British Islands.

Lots of Celts and druids but woefully short of Vikings.

The movie stars Carita (fill name Carita Järvinen) as Queen Salina, along with Don Murray as the Roman governor Justinian. Sadly, this seems to be Carita’s one and only film.

The story takes place as the previous ruler, who signed a surrender alliance with the Romans, dies. He leaves his daughter to rule under the Roman governor. While reluctant to accept the job, she becomes queen hoping to get the best deal for her people under the Roman rule. Soon, she and Justinian fall in love. He tries to rule fairly but is constantly challenged by his ambitious underling, Octavian (Andrew Keir) acting in concert with disgruntled merchants. Octavian et al stage a rebellion to cause Justinian to leave the capital. While he is away they proceed to abrogate the treaty and pillage the locals. After they flog Queen Salina and destroy her village, she leads her people in a short-lived, self-destructive rebellion.

NUDITY REPORT

Nudity: While this movie is risqué for the sixties, its cheesecake falls short. I would say it is full of lots of "Almosts" We almost see something at the love scene by the river. We almost see her front while being flogged. When we get a brief flash (one or two frames) of her being taken down from the cart, she has something pasted on her chest to hide the goodies. Likewise the extras tease us with lots of almosts (pasties and body paint) in a pleasure chamber scene.

DVD info from Amazon.

Available on DVD only from Amazon($26) or from Suncoast (in their bargain movie pile for $6). Extras include trailer and a sampling of Hammer films.
widescreen letterbox

While the movie is predictable and the acting mediocre, it never tries to be much more than a B-movie. Of course, a good B-movie never pretends to be Shakespeare. One of the redeeming features is good period Roman costume. They don’t have the phony, Ben Hur style uniforms. They also seem to act like Roman troops would be expected to. When burning down the queen’s council hut, they all throw their torches in a disciplined manner.

The Critics Vote

Long review from DVDcult

The People Vote ...

IMDB summary. IMDb voters score it 4.9/10

IMDb guideline: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence, about like three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, about like two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, about like two stars from the critics. Films under five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film, equivalent to about one and a half stars from the critics or less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.