The Magic Sword (1962)

The son of a sorceress, armed with weapons, armour and six magically-summoned knights, goes on a quest to save a princess from a vengeful wizard.

Director:

Bert I. Gordon

Writers:

Bert I. Gordon (story), Bernard C. Schoenfeld (screenplay)

Stars:

Basil Rathbone, Estelle Winwood, Gary Lockwood

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Basil Rathbone	...	Lodac
Estelle Winwood	...	Sybil
Gary Lockwood	...	Sir George
Anne Helm	...	Princess Helene
Liam Sullivan	...	Sir Branton
Danielle De Metz	...	Mignonette
Merritt Stone	...	King
Jacques Gallo	...	Sir Dennis of France
David Cross	...	Sir Pedro of Spain
John Mauldin	...	Sir Patrick of Ireland
Taldo Kenyon	...	Sir Anthony of Italy
Angus Duncan	...	Sir James of Scotland
Leroy Johnson	...	Sir Ulrich of Germany
Marlene Callahan	...	Princess Grace
Nick Bon Tempi	...	Left Siamese Twin

Storyline

Lodac, an evil wizard, has kidnapped the Princess Helene and intends to feed her to his dragon in seven days. One of the king's knights, Sir Branton, vows to rescue her, despite being warned of Lodac's seven curses, which have to be encountered before they can reach his castle. A boy named George, who was raised by Sybil, a slightly incompetent sorceress, and is smitten with the Princess wants to rescue her but Sybil, whose family had battles with Lodac and lost, refuses to let him go. But he uses the magic sword that she intends to give him to detain her while he goes to save the Princess. So he and six knights that he freed from Sybil's brothers spell of being turned to stone to be his allies go to the king and offer to accompany Branton and asks, if he should save the Princess, asks for her hand in marriage. Branton is not pleased but is implored by the King to bring them with him. But Branton plans to use them as pawns to evade the curses.

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Plot Keywords:

princess | knight | curse | magic sword | wizard | 

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Taglines:

Battling the 7 Deadly Curses!

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Fantasy

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

April 1962 (USA)

Also Known As:

St. George and the Dragon

Filming Locations:

Bronson Caves, Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bert I. Gordon Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Stuntman/actor Leroy Johnson (Sir Ulrich of Germany) had his dialog dubbed by voice specialist Paul Frees.

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Goofs

When the pinhead henchman drops the cage of little people, they are seen completely escaping; yet a moment later they are seen escaping again from a different angle.

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Quotes

Lodac: Take Sir George to the dungeon.

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Connections

Edited into Dünyayi kurtaran adam (1982)

User Reviews

Brings back memories of Sunday afternoon TV!

I'm a Basil Rathbone fan, and a friend of mine picked this up for me somewhere--who knows where! The transfer isn't great, but the movie itself is wonderfully campy and has some cool moments if you're willing to stick with it and dig a little under the surface. Besides, I appreciated Mr. R.'s performance, and he managed to have some really good 'bad guy' moments in this (the scene where he had Helene watch her fellow prisoners being eaten by his dragon made an impression on me as being one of the best 'bad guy' moments I've seen, made even better by his distinctive baritone voice).

That said, the villains were better than the 'good' guys! Sir Branton's lines were atrocious, but would have been even mildly redeemable if they'd been delivered in more than an off-hand manner. George and Helene acted like spoiled brats, though they played their parts as the gallant knight (I chuckled when the orphan George introduced himself as 'Sir George' to the king who had never seen him, much less knighted him) and damsel in distress well.

The makeup in this movie was really creepy, and I'm sure the special effects were quite cutting edge for their time. I don't think I'd recommend this for kids younger than ten, as the monsters, the dark tone of the plot, and a 'little-too-sexy-for-the-movies' moment when Helene comes up out of the bath (my copy put a mosaic over a briefly topless Helene).