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Directed by Richard Fleischer, The Vikings (1958) begins when the fearsome Norse Viking warrior Ragnar Lodbrok (Ernest Borgnine) invades the English territory of Northumbria, killing its king and raping Queen Enid (Maxine Audley). Because the king died childless, his ambitious cousin Aella (Frank Thring) takes the throne. Two months later, Enid confides in Father Godwin (Alexander Knox) that she is pregnant with Ragnar's child. Certain that Aella would murder anyone threatening his claim to the throne, Father Godwin arranges to send the infant aboard a ship bound for Rome, where he will be raised by monks. During the journey, however, the vessel is seized by Vikings and the boy, Eric, is taken prisoner to grow up in slavery.   Ernest Borgnine, Janet Leigh and Kirk Douglas in The Vikings . Twenty years pass and Eric (Tony Curtis), unaware of his true parentage, hates his half-brother Einar (Kirk Douglas), Ragnar's legitimate son and heir. One day, they fight in a duel, during w...

This week on «Film Friday» I am celebrating Janet Leigh's 89th birthday, which was on Wednesday, by telling you a little bit about one of my favourite films of hers. Directed by George Sidney, Who Was That Lady? (1960) begins when chemistry professor David Wilson (Tony Curtis) is caught by his wife Ann (Janet Leigh) kissing one of his female students. To stop her from divorcing him, he asks for help from his good friend, television writer Michael Haney (Dean Martin), who invents a crazy story that David is working undercover with the FBI and kissed the student — a foreign agent — in the line of duty. To convince Ann, Mike tricks Schultz (William Newell), a prop man at the television studio, into fabricating an FBI identification card for David and supplying him with a gun. Ann is so thrilled by the idea of being married to a secret agent that she forgives David. Meanwhile, Mike sets up a date with the Coogle sisters, Gloria (Barbara Nichols) and Florence (Joi Lansing), and take...

In honour of Tony Curtis's 91th birthday, which is today, this week on «Film Friday» I bring you the film that gave him the only Academy Award nomination of his career. Directed by Stanley Kramer, The Defiant Ones (1958) begins when a truck transporting chain gang convicts crashes on a rainswept Southern road and two prisoners escape: Noah Cullen (Sidney Poitier), a black man who reacts violently to racial insults; and John «Joker» Jackson (Tony Curtis), Southern white bigot. Despite their mutual loathing, they are forced to cooperate, as they are chained together. Meanwhile, Sheriff Max Muller (Theodore Bikel), a humane lawman, is pressured by the governor to organize a posse to capture the escapees. He also must contend with an agressive state police captain, Frank Gibbons (Charles McGraw), and a deputy, Solly (King Donovan), who values his bloodhounds more than the lives of the convicts.   Arriving at a small company town, Joker and Cullen are captured by its residents, who f...

In honor of Marilyn Monroe and Tony Curtis, who both had birthdays this week, I thought that for this week's "Film Friday" I would bring you the only film they made together. Theatrical release poster Directed by Billy Wilder, Some Like It Hot (1959) follows the crazy adventures of Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon), two hapless Chicago jazz musicians who accidentally witness the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in February 1929. In a desperate attempt to get out of town after being spotted by gang leader "Spats" Colombo (George Raft) while fleeing the scene of the crime, Joe and Jerry disguise themselves as women, "Josephine" and "Daphne," and take a job with an all-female band headed to Miami. During the train trip, they meet the beautiful Sugar Kane Kowalczyk (Marilyn Monroe), the band's vocalist and ukulele player . Both J oe and J erry are immediately smitten with her, but keep their true identity a secret. Once ...