The Viking (1931 film)

The Viking aka White Thunder and Vikings of the Ice Field is a 1931 NewfoundlandAmerican adventure film directed by George Melford. This was the first film to record sound and dialogue on location. It is best known for the explosion aboard the ship SS Viking a sealing ship during filming, in which many members of the crew, including producer Varick Frissell, were killed. It remains the most tragic incident with the largest loss of life in film history.

Americanborn producer Varick Frissells previous short films, The Lure of Labrador and The Swilin Racket also known as The Great Arctic Seal Hunt, prompted him to make a fulllength feature entitled Vikings of the Ice Field. Paramount Pictures put up 100,000 to finance the production, while insisting that Hollywood personnel be used. Frissell hired director George Melford, who had attended McGill University in Montreal and had experience in filming Canadian subjects previously.By 1930, Frissell had completed most of the principal photography on location in Quidi Vidi. For realistic footage, Frissell then took his crew to the Grand Banks and Labrador to film action sequences. The film was privately shown at the Nickel Theatre at St. Johns on March 5, 1931. After this screening, Frissell decided that his film needed more real scenes from the Labrador ice floes. Within days, Frissell and his crew had joined the SS Viking for its annual seal hunt. The ship got trapped in ice near the Horse Islands. ........

Source: Wikipedia