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| Sir George faces the dragon while the princess looks on |
In medieval days, young George (Gary Lockwood) is smitten with a princess, Helene (Anne Helm) whom he has never actually met but only spied upon via the magic of his stepmother, the kindly witch Sybil (Estelle Winwood). When Helene is kidnapped by the evil sorcerer Lodac (Basil Rathbone), he makes it clear that he intends to feed her to his dragon for revenge. Aided by six revivified knights of old -- and hampered by Sir Branton (Liam Sullivan) who wants the princess for himself and is secretly in league with Lodac -- George sets out to rescue Helene. But he and the others must contend with seven somewhat ill-defined "curses" before and after they reach Lodac's castle. There's a hairy giant ogre; a hideous witch (Maila Nurmi/Vampira) who at first resembles a beautiful woman; cavern ghosts; and the like. In Lodac's castle there are pin-headed ghouls and a host of friendly little people. Then there's the dragon, an impressive beast that has two heads and breathes fire. Armed with a somewhat bigger budget than usual, Gordon ("Mr. BIG" of The Amazing Colossal Man and The Cyclops) has fashioned an amusing and entertaining sword and sorcery flick that benefits from good performances (especially from Rathbone, Winwood and Lockwood), an effective score by Richard Markowitz (which has an especially good opening theme), and a screenplay that is delightfully ghoulish at times. As for the FX, let's say it's a pity Ray Harryhausen couldn't have animated the assorted creatures, but Gordon and his wife, Flora, don't do too badly given the circumstances. The dragon has limited movement but is certainly well-designed. Liam Sullivan was primarily a television actor who amassed over one hundred credits.
Verdict: Good and gruesome. ***.
4 comments:
I remember this one, loved it as a kid. I was a fan of this genre, as well as all the Sinbad films...
- Chris
I loved the Sinbad movies as well, especially 7th Voyage of Sinbad and Captain Sindbad with Guy Williams.
This was quite a fun afternoon at the movies for an 8 yr old. Amazing cast for such a low budget film, and the effects aren't bad. I thought the dragon was pretty impressive--his finny "ears" reminded me of Gorgo, which I'd just seen. I recall kids cheered when Estelle stole her ring back from Rathbone--and then laughed uproariously when he dangled dead off the parapet after she mauled him as a leopard. That was a crowd pleaser. I really liked Rathbone's no-nonsense, businesslike Lodac. He was such a PRACTICAL sorcerer! Estelle was excellent too--those two really ground the film with good old-fashioned, professional star power. I remember 6 years later, in the middle of watching 2001, I suddenly realized, "Oh! It's the guy from THE MAGIC SWORD!"
Great review!
--Mark
Yes, this movie is a lot of fun and I need to give it another watch one of these rainy afternoons. This is another one I caught up with many years later when it was released on Videocassette. Most people think Burt I. Gordon's movies are terrible -- and some of them are -- but he also made some entertaining, fondly-remembered pictures. Amazing that he got the great Rathbone to appear in the film, but he also snagged no less than Orson Welles for another of his flicks! No one can say the man wasn't audacious!
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