The Magic Sword

Rating:
Summary: One extra star...
Review: for the unintentional laughs the movie provides. Otherwise, even at 7 bucks, this is pretty much overpriced. Apparently, Bert I. Gordon lost his touch sometime in the early 60s. Not only is the print absolutely horrible, but the sets, costumes and acting are almost at Ed Wood level. The extra knights, with their fake accents and dubious deaths, Sybil and her malfunctioning magic (not to mention her "three" assistants), the evil sorceror with the semi-dramatic entrances, the valley-girl princess, the occasionally-glowing horse, the cheesy monsters and the villian that resembles Lyle Waggoner all combine for a true laugh-fest in the MSFT vein. My guess is that Rathbone must have had serious financial problems or was coerced into doing this one drunken night. Even he's awful.

Rating:
Summary: WATCHING PAINT DRY!
Review: The Magic Sword is one of those cheapie Saturday matinee quickies so popular in the 50's & 60's. It's loosely based on the legend of St. George and the Dragon. A very old and sickly Basil Rathbone collected a small paycheck for this one & this was half the budget. The print has faded terribly, to the point where it could almost be considered black and white. Any consideration for this movie at all would be for camp value alone. I gave it one star because there wasn't anything lower. Buyer beware!

Rating:
Summary: WATCHING PAINT DRY!
Review: The Magic Sword is one of those cheapie Saturday matinee quickies so popular in the 50's & 60's. It's loosely based on the legend of St. George and the Dragon. A very old and sickly Basil Rathbone collected a small paycheck for this one & this was half the budget. The print has faded terribly, to the point where it could almost be considered black and white. Any consideration for this movie at all would be for camp value alone. I gave it one star because there wasn't anything lower. Buyer beware!

Rating:
Summary: so bad it's good?
Review: The Magic Sword is STAGGERINGLY awful. The acting, the papier-mache monsters, the glowing sword, the "Irish" accent that comes and goes - it's jaw-droppingly awful. The movie has conehead people but they don't bother tucking the actors' real hair in so they have these pink cones on their head with a straight line where the plastic cone ends - like they're wearing conehead hats with hair coming out. The heroine actually says "Oh! I'm so happy I can't even think!" If you get a kick out of really terrible movies, you'll love this.

Rating:
Summary: so bad it's good?
Review: The Magic Sword is STAGGERINGLY awful. The acting, the papier-mache monsters, the glowing sword, the "Irish" accent that comes and goes - it's jaw-droppingly awful. The movie has conehead people but they don't bother tucking the actors' real hair in so they have these pink cones on their head with a straight line where the plastic cone ends - like they're wearing conehead hats with hair coming out. The heroine actually says "Oh! I'm so happy I can't even think!" If you get a kick out of really terrible movies, you'll love this.

Rating:
Summary: DVD of a Dreadfull Print
Review: The print used for this release has faded colors and in some places is so washed out scenes appear to have been shot in harsh front light or are practically monocromatic.

Rating:
Summary: IT'S NOT THAT BAD IF TAKEN FOR WHAT IT IS...
Review: This movie was directed by Bert I. Gordon...a legend in "B" movies and the man who brought us such films as Earth Vs. the Spider, Picture Mommy Dead, and "War of the Colossal Beast" Knowing that, how could anyone resonably expect anything more than the low-budget fare that Mr. Gordon had always provided?

In this low budget, Saturday movie matinee type film, The evil sorcerer Lodac (Basil Rathbone) captures Princess Helene and whisks her off to his castle. Young Knight Sir George (Gary Lockwood), and aided by a magic sword, sets off with his six knights to save her. However, he must travel with Sir Franton, who also has romantic aspirations for the Princess. Together the knights must face Lodac's seven curses and liberate the Princess.

To me this is one of those movies like "Captain Sinbad" with Guy Williams that just enchanted me as a young boy. It isn't quality film-making and doesn't pretend to be. I'm sure the films that so entrall my kids today will be looked on as hokey and cheap 30 years from now as well and that's ok because it was a film squarely aimed at kids.

Rathbone is, of course, a shell of his former self and it's a bit sad to see him in this, one of his final films, especially recalling how dashing he was back in the 30's and 40's. There's no one else in the cast remotely worth noting. The special effects were cheap but hey, it's still a fun movie to watch if you KNOW what you are going to see. No Doubt most viewers seeing it for the first time are going to be pretty negative about "The Magic Sword", but I still liked it.



Rating:
Summary: HAHAHAHAHA
Review: What a craptastic film. HAHAHAHAHAHA. It sucks so bad I can't stop laughing at it. This could be the worst film I ever saw. What the hell? Did it just go to black and white for that seen. What the hell? I can't tell if this is a color film or not. WHAT THE HELL?!

Rating:
Summary: Still A Kid
Review: Yes, this is a film from the 50's or 60's. Yes, it is low budget and the acting shows it. It is also a film for kids (of all ages perhaps) and it was never supposed to be up for an academy award - which is a good thing. But for what it is worth, I first saw it as a kid, it was one of my favorite stories as a kid and now, as an adult, I am glad to have it in my collection. It is good escapist material after a day's work - not every day, of course. And it does go well with cheese and beer. Some people will say that it is cheesey enough on its own. Maybe they need more beer! You could do a lot worse than this - especially if you have kids in the house. I know. I'm in my 50's and I'm still a kid. I even named a car Sybil because of this movie. Having read some of the other reviews, perhaps I should mention that the color in my copy is OK.