By
Hank Reineke
The
Magic Sword (United Artists, 1961) is essentially an
imaginative re-telling of the ancient folklore fable of St. George and the
Dragon. Of course, this being a Bert I.
Gordon production, you can safely bet there’s going to be any number of massive
scale monsters lurking about as well. Gordon’s stock-in-trade (beginning with The Amazing Colossal Man in 1957) were back-projected monsters who -
more often than not - suffered from radioactive-induced bouts of gigantism. In this
fantasy-adventure film, there’s no radioactivity to blame but there are
nonetheless giant monsters a-plenty.
St. George is now merely Sir George (Gary Lockwood), a
love-struck, somewhat depressed teen. The
young man resides in a cramped red-tinted cave along with his sorceress foster
mother Sybil (Estelle Winwood), a chimpanzee, and a two-headed servant. George’s biological parents perished in the
plague, and ever since he has been selflessly reared and doted upon by his
good-hearted foster mom. He’s
romantically mooning over the beautiful Princess Helene (Anna Helm) whom he has
actually never met. He watches over her breathlessly
– and maybe just a wee creepily - through his “Pool of Magic.â€
It’s a good thing he did in this case as the Princess finds
herself in trouble from the start. Helene
is kidnapped in broad daylight by an emerald-eyed ghostly apparition who then spirits
her away to the castle of the evil sorcerer Lodac (Basil Rathbone). Lodac defiantly appears before the King
shortly after the abduction of the princess, explaining to his Highness that the
royal daughter is now his prisoner… and will be fed to his fire-breathing dragon
in seven days’ time unless rescued. This
grudge is payback for the King’s father having executed Lodac’s eighteen-year
old sister for the crime of witchcraft. If the princess is to be saved, Lodac reminds the court that any brave
knight choosing to embark on the mission will have to endure seven deadly
trials as they undertake the “Perils of the Dark Journey†to his castle.
The court’s bravest knight, Sir Branton (Liam Sullivan)
wants to take this challenge alone, but is forced to become only one of a posse
when Sir George and an international band of black magic resurrected knights
arrive to assist in the rescue to the Princess. On their way to Lodac’s castle, the company will face such terrors as a
wolf man-looking ogre, the “boiling crater of death,†a treacherous hag, a
fireball spiral, a cavern of ghosts and several other unpleasant obstacles in
their attempt to rescue the Princess from her designated fate. I imagine it’s no spoiler to comment that
with each new dark challenge, members of Sir George’s rescue party dwindle rapidly
in number.
Yes, it’s all very hokey, but I really enjoyed this
film. Basil Rathbone is wonderfully evil
throughout. Clad entirely in black,
caped and sporting a devilish red head scarf, the actor’s famously clipped
British pronouncements include such melodramatic wicked lines as “I don’t bargain with mortals, I destroy them!†It’s worth mentioning that this old-school
film is refreshingly devoid of any moral equivalencies. The bad guys are really bad in this movie,
and the good guys are really good… if not always all that bright in their words
and action. Truth be told, Gary
Lockwood’s Sir George comes off as bit of a simpleton. If it wasn’t for the magic sword and shield
he was gifted with prior to his setting out this film… well, I imagine this
film would have had a much shorter running time than it does.