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The Magic Sword
USA 1962
produced by Bert I. Gordon for United Artists
directed by Bert I. Gordon
starring Basil Rathbone, Estelle Winwood, Gary Lockwood, Anne Helm, Liam Sullivan, Danielle De Metz, Merritt Stone, Jacques Gallo, David Cross, John Mauldin, Taldo Kenyon, Angus Duncan, Leroy Johnson, Marlene Callahan, Nick Bon Tempi, Paul Bon Tempi, Ann Graves, Lorrie Richards, Jack Kosslyn, Maila Nurmi (= Vampira), Ted Finn, Angelo Rossitto
story by Bert I. Gordon, screenplay by Bernard C. Schoenfeld, music by Richard Markowitz, special effects by Bert I. Gordon, Flora Gordon, Milt Rice
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Somewhere in fairytale land: Evil wizard Lordac (Basil Rathbone) has
kidnapped the King's (Merritt Stone) daughter Helene (Anne Helm) to feed
her to the dragon, and the only one coming to the rescue seems to be Sir
Branton (Liam Sullivan), a suspicious character at best.
But wait, there's also young George (Gary Lockwood), foster son of
sorceress Sybil (Estelle Winwood), who has only ever seen the Princess in
his mother's magic mirror but has fallen in love with her anyways, and he
has a magic sword (hence the title), a magic horse, magic armour, and 6
knights (Jacques Gallo, David Cross, John Mauldin, Taldo Kenyon, Angus
Duncan, Leroy Johnson) - who are of course also magic - at his disposal,
and he agrees to accompany Branton - much to Branton's dismay.
On their way to Lordac's castle, George and his men have to face
Lordac's various curses, including a giant ogre (Jack Kosslyn), a
man-eating lake, an old hag (Vampira in a mask that makes her
unrecognizable), burning heat, a cave full of ghosts, and even Sir
Branton's treachery - after all he's really in cahoots with the evil wizard
-, and even though George loses all his men and his mother accidently
stripped him of all his magic powers, he makes it to Lordac's castle alive
... where the wizard soon has him lured into a trap and chained up at a
very special spot from where he can see Helene being devoured by the
dragon in great detail. But somehow the wizard's little people have broken
out of their cage, and the first thing they do is to free George, who then
valiantly defends the Princess against the dragon ... at which point his
mother stops by, finally reinstoring his magic powers so he can kill the
dragon while mama can take care of the evil wizard ... and they lived
happily ever after ...
Even though this fantasy spectacle is not totally devoid of a certain
B-movie charm - director Bert I.Gordon seems to just love to play with
giants, little people and the like -, by and large this is a rather dull
retelling of George and the Dragon. Most of the film is awfully
clichéd and lacks the scale a film of this ilk would demand and the
certain epic feel (even if it's cheesy) that should come natural
with the story. Also, most of the actors don't really seem up to the task,
but at least Basil Rathbone hams up his role ...
Actually, you might like this movie exactly for its shortcomings - just
don't expect too much.
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