The Vengeance of She/The Viking Queen (1967)

Aclassic double bill - one fun, one not

The Vengeance of She is more of a plodding modern-day rerun with a third rate cast than a sequel - no Ursula Andress, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee or even Bernard Cribbins, with only John Richardson, the Clive Owen of his day, returning (although at least Hammer were smart enough never to let him use his own voice: as usual, he's dubbed, here by David De Keyser), and no connection with any of H. Rider Haggard's three follow-up novels. This time it's the reincarnation of Ayesha being inexplicably drawn towards Kumar, with everyone who stands in her way meeting a rather boring death en route to a predictable appointment with the eternal flame. Unfortunately she's played by another one of Hammer's less than stellar discoveries, Olinka Berova. You can't exactly say that the lights are on but no-one's home because, in her case, she doesn't seem to have even bothered to turn the lights on. You know you're in trouble when Edward Judd is the most charismatic cast member, and this is pretty tedious factory line stuff no-one has any real need to see.


"Warn your men there are blue bandits about!" The Viking Queen is utter nonsense of the most enjoyable kind. There are no Vikings, although there are plenty of Romans and the odd wristwatch in this low-budget and wildly anachronistic attempt at a British peplum more or less inspired by Boudicca's ill-fated rebellion against the Roman Empire that makes full use of the Irish scenery, the Irish Army and Irish tax breaks. Hammer's latest disposable discovery Carita takes the lead with Don Murray playing the Roman-tic interest that would have been played by Rory Calhoun or Steve Reeves in an Italian film, their budding love thwarted as they find themselves on opposite sides thanks to plotting Roman officers (the ever-undervalued Andrew Keir) and devious druids (Donald Houston, dressed up like the Ghost of Christmas Past and hamming it up mightily) stirring things up. Period accuracy is less a factor than what costumes they have left over from other pictures, leading to some interesting sartorial clashes while it's hard to take characters seriously when they're given names like Priam and Nigel, but the setting is just an excuse for the odd bit of sadism, torture, sacrifice and the odd skirmish en route to the inevitable tragic ending. The battle scenes are clumsily handled by director Don Chaffey, but the supporting cast are rather better than the script deserves - Patrick Troughton, Niall MacGinnis (both surprisingly good), Adrienne Corri, Nicola Pagett, Percy Herbert and Wilfred Lawson among them - it's nicely photographed by Zulu's Stephen Dade and it's more than passable brains-off entertainment. December 16, 2007

Double your fun

I was positively surprised by these movies. I wasn't expecting the quality in plot, acting and especially cinematography. The picture-quality of both is the best i have seen in a long time: every inch of the frame is sharp and perfectly lit. I prefered "Viking" to "Vengeance". The former is "Clash of the Titans" meets "Indiana Jones". I could do w/o the mythology-like stuff. And the 3 most interesting characters in "Vengeance"---the rich man, his wife, and the boat captain---are in less than half the movie. That was disappointing. A movie with them in all of it would have been Oscar material. The "she" is pretty, but a wallflower. "Viking" ("Galdiator" meets "Braveheart") has history, action and romance, and is more interesting and realistic than "Vengeance". October 30, 2006

Double your pleasure

The Vengeances of She
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My name is Carol

Carol has disturbing dreams and wakes up screaming "Ayesha." She is also compelled to go to a secret destination. On the way she has many trials and tribulations. She also befriends a psychiatrist that is interested in helping her by following her journey. Anyone who tries to deter her form her quest is mysteriously killed in the style of the movie "Final Destination" (2000). What will she find there and is she actually Ayesha or the victim of mind control?

Many viewers like to say that "this is not like the book `The Return of She'"; for this movie viewers have to also get over the loss of Ursula Andrews and the absence of the whip (should be "G" rated). Once the shock is over this is quite a good movie.

The sets and scenes were well done. There was nothing unbelievable and nothing that looked like cardboard. The blue flame looked familiar to the original "She" Viewers.

The cast was well chosen for the movie. Of course there is Olinka Berova (Schoberovà) as Carol. She faithfully does a convincing job of playing a confused Carol/Ayesha. Another surprise is Colin Blakely. He plays a rich yacht owner (George) in this movie and played a rich yacht owner (Sir Horace Blatt) in Agatha Christie's "Evil Under the Sun" (1982)
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The Viking Queen
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All Viking and Celts look alike.

In the tradition of Monty Python, The movie starts out with a monologue and map telling of the extent of the Roman Empire.

The old Celtic king dies leaving his kingdom in the charge of his daughter and Rome as co-regents. The daughter Salina is in love with Rome's representative. He gets tricked, she gets whipped, and the fun begins. Will everything turn out o.k. in the end or will Salina be stuck for an ending?

You may notice that this story sort of, kind of, but not much, follows the story of Boudicea of the Iceni tribe. The druids look like Jewish priests from old biblical movies. They naturally worship Zeus. And carry golden cycles as they forecast Roman doom at the hands of Salina (Carita). This may be the reason that all the Stonehenge type structures are not quite square.

Don't miss the fight scenes. Many look like cowboys and Indians. Then there is a scene where the Celts attack with Ben-Hur hubcaps on their chariots. "Stand fast, they are only women."
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Both DVD's in this double feature have the same DVD extras. The extras are on the back side of the DVD and are more like a commercial for other Hammer films. The also boast wide screen. I suppose that is what you call the 2 inch black bars on the top and bottom of the screen.
August 1, 2004

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