The Vikings

With a new King upon the throne (Frank Thring as King Aella) after a fearsome viking attack, England hopes to see less bloodshed, but their raids continue unsurpassed, in a far off warlike distant age.

While he may indeed be King he lacks hereditary standing, and the surviving wilful Queen (_______ Audley as Enid) has an authentic restless babe.

King Aella seeks his silence with cold dishonourable betrayal, but those loyal to his blood soon quickly send him off to Italy. 

Decades pass without rebellion the same King dispassionately ruling, as vikings plunder throughout Europe with reckless contumacious outrage.

A lord is bitterly critiqued for maintaining peace in his domain (_______ _______ as Lord Egbert), the King suspecting a secret alliance since the vikings leave him be.

He's correct and soon the nobleperson has departed for Scandinavia.

Where he meets a daring captive (Tony Curtis as _____). 

Prone to disobey.

An odd rowdy adventure film pugnaciously ensures, wherein which contention and fearsome battle proceed sans diplomatic reckoning.

The vikings, although realistically raiding and terrorizing the countryside, are portrayed as playful heroes well-suited to the plundering life.

It's as if they're engaged in mischief as opposed to ruthless carnage, savage violent misdeeds whitewashed to seem like innocent horseplay.

Written for men who love to fight and the women who sincerely adore them, it celebrates unrestrainéd shocking discourse with boisterous animation.

There are rather severe penalties for living the combative lives they lead, but the wounds and gashes and fatalities are freely lauded with heroic inhibition.

Although a dispute arises when Einar (Kirk Douglas) seeks to attack King Aella's castle, the scale of his grandiose ambition somewhat unsettling even for vikings.

But the attack is launched eventually and keeping in spirit it's all in good fun.

So many changes throughout the centuries. 

I'm not sure if The Vikings would have been shocking if it had been recently released (it's so not MeToo), or if it would have passed without note or comment? 

Madeleine

A flexible titled dreamer finds a new home in Scotland (Ivan Desny as Emile L'Angelier), equipped with the devoted awestruck l'amour of a reputable fervent lass (Ann Todd as Madeleine Smith). 

She's from a stilted family which discourages intrigue however, her love flourishing incognito, concealed in furtive full-on trust.

Her father (Leslie Banks) hopes she'll accept the courting of a well-to-do local lad (Norman Wooland as Minnoch), who's settled within high society and conjugally keen.

He rules their lavish abode with patriarchal austerity, abiding by strict codes of conduct the subversion of which may lead to ruin.

Or the sanitarium or some such place she has absolutely no desire go, the resultant pestiferous pressure overwhelming her romantic longing.

You would hope there would be more opportunity, other options besides a propitious marriage, but these were different times indeed with fewer outlets for spry prosperity.

Her nerve implodes forlorn and lost she breaks off her clandestine betrothal. 

Her lover notably distraught.

And in possession of secret letters.

David Lean's Madeleine interrogates scandal as a matter of propriety, etched deep with the upper echelons indelicately diagnosing disquiet.

Odd to consider that one so well off would be so strictly bound, not with the desire to promote debauchery, but rather without independent means at her disposal.

It's a shame that tabloid fascination reconstitutes festive fetters, the skeptical gaze of the cynical eye necessitating stealth and cumbersome zeal. 

Madeleine does have deceptive means to be elaborately employed, yet her exceptional liberating scheming fails to pass without further comment.

What risk to take the one which leads to less disputatious uproar, or perhaps to nothing at all, perhaps void of thrill or consequence?

Certainly not a romantic take on lauded cherished flush true love, nevertheless unique in its remonstrations in its unorthodox blinding outrage.

Understanding is of critical import from disconsolate passionate perspectives, commiserating comprehensions deconstructed invariability. 

The inviolable traditionalist may regard Madeleine with horror, as endearing sought after outcomes languish in bitter virulence.

But the novelty remains somewhat comic from alternative dispositions.

By no means grand or exemplary. 

But still encouraging greater freedom.