Watch The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent For Free

Too much of everything

Sick Product of a Sick System

Great Film overall

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

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.

Lo, the shield-bearing Norsemen, the wolf-skins of the North, turn in shame, for the shadow of the Corman Film fell over their land, bringing absurdity and scorn.In all seriousness, though, this is a VERY entertaining movie, though I wouldn't recommend it without the MST3K commentary, which handles it well enough to where you can actually follow the story (well, what there IS of a story) and still enjoy laughing with Joel and the bots. As has already been stated, the title really has nothing to do with the movie. I'm not even sure these gals are Vikings, being a descendant of Vikings myself and priding myself on knowing a good deal about Norse history and culture. But since Hollywood is STILL churning out historically inaccurate garbage, I shouldn't even bother touching on that for this movie.First of all, there ARE some positive things about this movie, such as a relatively talented cast (with only a few truly agonizing performances) decent dialog (for the most part) and a running time of only 66 minutes. Also all the Vikings are easy on the eyes, since apparently it's a law to make all Norsemen/women gorgeous and flaxen-haired.Okay, the acting is pretty decent, as I said. Abby Dalton (Desir) was not only gorgeous but also rather capable and Amazonian looking, and her acting was quite natural. Susan Cabot (Enger) was a scene stealer with her dark personality but underlying nobility, great at the cold, silent stare and the fiery outburst of rage. The character of Ottar was supposed to be comic relief, or something, but the actor did a fine job at it. You rooted for the little guy. Um, Vedric was painful to watch. Really...PLEASE ACT. The guy who played Stark was pretty good too. He spends most of his time ogling Desir (not sure if that was his character or just him) or looking like he just got over a hangover, but he was a good blend of creepy and just nasty. I only took issue with the costume. The prince? GIVE THAT MAN AN Oscar.Obviously not much is to be expected of this movie, being low budget and a CORMAN film, but it's entertaining. If you can't get hold of the MST3K version, get a bunch of friends together and just have fun watching it and laughing about it. It goes great with a tall plate of waffles.

I recently wrote an impassioned comment on the merits of 2012 as representing a cinematic advance. It has been rejected from IMDb a few times now. It celebrates the exploration of the visual vocabulary over the traditional values of what is often called the story. The story in 2012 is lacking, according to several of these traditional measures.Okay. Here is a film that has those story values solidly. The only thing it is lacking is poetry in the lines. But the story itself is powerful and complex. Warriors are off, on both a spiritual quest and to provide for their partners. The women, left at home worry when they are late, so set out themselves, their own bodies on the line in a parallel spiritual/sexual quest. They know — or suspect through legend — that this involves a sea voyage through the watery lair of the vortex monster, a combination of phallic aggression and vaginal engulfing. Yes, friends, this story would be seen as deeply rooted as anything that Star Wars mined (at least initially). They do find their men. They do rescue them from the "caves." The general background is weft by some foreground fables:— an effeminate man of privilege is tested, found to be unworthy and is killed. His corpse is tossed into a decidedly less passionate vaginal orifice, together with a sex slave of notably discardable value. Meanwhile, a similarly effeminate Viking fellow accompanies the Viking women. He has been left behind by the real men. Short and meek, he is tested, found worthy and wins the tallest and most sexually selective of the Amazonians.— one of the women — "the dark one" — is treacherous. She casts the deciding vote to go on the quest to gain some advantage over her rival in the pulchritude pecking order. She indeed beds the king of the capturers and gains the upper hand for a while, increasing the plight of her countryfellows. But she is redeemed in the end, sacrificing her body so the others can be free. (This actress has a fascinating personal history that mirrors this role.)— the "king" here is more carefully crafted than a stereotype. He is costumed in the fashion of Buck Rogers' Ming, carrying a generic exoticism that cinematically evokes (at least in me) subterranean repression. He acts the part as if he is in those serials, a jailer created by fear of actually being whole.Well, anyway, the story has heft. All else is crappy: effects and other production values. Yet among Corman quickies, this is voted the absolute worst, even with this real value, this story orders of magnitude more substantial than "2012" . There seems a Northumbrian lesson here. We need to be rescued.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

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.