1/5 Memories do not serve you well
  by Winston S. Stone (Middleboro, MA USA)
Well I remember seeing this film on televison in the 1960s and thought this was great. But after watching it again, man were Richard Widmark and Sidney Potier slumming. I had always rated it on the same level as Kirk Douglas' The Vikings not even close. Really hoky, poor costuming, acting a real low level. I guess it was most done to show off Richard's legs for the most part. Viking ship in the wide sceens obviously a model. I guees this one should have remained a memory.

3/5 A rousing action/adventure movie for a treasure lost for centuries, the richest prize in the world...
  by Roberto Frangie (Leon, Gto. Mexico)
"The Long Ships" is the story of a mighty gold bell "as tall as three tall men," the one people call the Mother of Voices, cast long ago by the monks of Byzantium...

Prince Aly Mansuh had searched from the mountains to the sea for the bell... Now he must know what lies beyond the horizon until Allah's divine guidance leads him to the treasures of Islam...

Prince Aly's wife Aminah thinks that her husband is chasing a legend, a fairy tale that has already cost them dearly in lives and gold... But the prince is no dreamer... He is sure that the bell does exist and it rests somewhere in this world, in a Christian land... For him it was stolen by the Christian armies when they plundered their way across his cities to the dishonor and humiliation of his ancestors...

In that morning, the obsessed Moorish prince is informed by his guards that a stranger in the market knows the whereabouts of the golden bell... The stranger is arrested and taken to a tower for interrogation... The stranger assures to the prince that he knows nothing but stories and legends, and swears that, out in the market he was trying to earn some money for food and shelter... He also said that he is a sailor, a dreamer, a Norseman, a Viking who was shipwrecked and was simply trying to get back to his homeland...

Richard Widmark is the true Norse warrior who swallowed the ocean... He tells his father that he has returned because he needs another ship and another crew... Rolfe said that he had found the bell... He heard it booming away like a god's hammer on a mountain of ice... Nothing else would've brought him back after losing his ship... That ship cost his father the tribute money he owed the king...

Sydney Poitier promised Rolfe that he would not be prepared to die so calmly... He shall give him an example of real courage that comes from authority, 'his' authority... Aly Mansuh asks Lady Aminah to select one of his guards to be the first to feel the kiss of steel before the Viking...

Rosanna Schiaffino could offer Rolfe and his comrades the chance to live and to sail from these shores as rich men... With fire in her cheeks, Lady Aminah looked lovely as the most envied woman with eye-catching legs...

Orm (Russ Tamblyn) asks the great Odin what did they do that he turns his rage against them ruining his father...

Gerda (Beba Loncar) is the beautiful snow princess taken as a hostage and whom to be sacrificed as a maiden to lift the curse of the death ship...

Krok (Oskar Homolka) is the old, ruined man who asks himself how a thane whose entire fortune consists of two gold pieces, find or even equip another ship...

King Harald (Clifford Evas) practically stole the ship build by Krok's men... He cheated the broken man in giving him two gold pieces for his funeral ship, the difference between the ship's price and two years' tribute he owes him...

Sven (Edward Judd) is the sailing master to King Harald of Norseland who really thinks the ship is cursed for being a funeral ship... He commands the sailors, these 'greedy devils' to turn back or they'll be hanged in the king's name...

With great stars, mutinous sailors, beautiful cinematography, and a look at a Moorish harem, "The Long Ships" remains another fine Viking adventure with a lot of humor and fun...

5/5 The Long Ships
  by Donald E. Stoyle (Canada)
The Long Ships

This was one of my favourite Saturday afternoon at the movies adventure movie that I was adicted to as a kid. It is very easy to enjoying this DVD for its high spirited adventure the pure nostalgic factor without having to lament that it is basically a B movie - a pretty good B movie. Besides it is a great popcorn with the kids movie and will likely be just as well received by the grandkids in a few years. Based on the enjoyable story line, it would be nice if they remade this movie, the Vikings, and Alfred the Great to the modern LOTR type standard.

5/5 The Mother of all Voices
  by L. Cabos (planet earth)
Like others I saw this film when I was a kid. Watching it now I still have the sense of fun I did when I was about ten. I'm not blind to it's faults. I love Richard Widmark but a Viking? It's a stretch to say the least. At least he doesn't have that sick Tommy Udo laugh! Russ Tamblyn -- a minor name off WEST SIDE STORY. Edward Judd (probably best remembered for Ray Harryhausen's FIRST MEN IN THE MOON) and Oscar Winner Sidney Poitier. Oscar Holmolka as Rolfe and Orm's drunken Viking lord father who gets screwed by Viking King Haraald for his death ship. A giant bells made of gold, the Mare of Steel ... it's saturday afternoon stuff to be sure. Park your disbelief outside and it's a fun movie. As such movies go, Fleischer's THE VIKINGS is far better.

1/5 HORRIBLE!
  by JOJO DANCER
THIS IS ONE OF THE WORST MOVIES I HAVE EVER WATCHED. I ONLY WATCHED PART OF IT BEFORE I THREW IT IN THE GARBAGE. TERRIBLE ACTING. SILLY PLOT. JUST A RIDICULOUS MOVIE.