By Todd Garbarini
Dragonslayer was one of the many films that I
looked forward to seeing as part of Hollywood’s roster of movies during the
glorious summer of 1981 that was owned by Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the
Lost Ark. I distinctly remember seeing trailers for Peter Hyams’s Outland,
Desmond Davis’s Clash of the Titans, John Carpenter’s Escape from New
York, and Lucio Fulci’s The House by the Cemetery and wanting to see
them all, though I was only halfway successful. The 3-D gimmick resurgence from
the 1950s kicked off with the R-rated Comin’ at Ya by Ferdinando Baldi
and would continue for another few years. In those days, I subscribed to the
notion that I had to have the tie-in paperback novelization of the film that I
wanted to see. I am reminded of Woody Allen’s Isaac Davis in his 1979 film Manhattan
bemoaning novelizations of movies as
being another contemporary American phenomenon that is truly moronic. I
disagree. Novelizations are often based upon the earliest drafts of a film’s
screenplay and can therefore differ enormously from a finished film upon which
it is based, making the novelization an interesting companion to a beloved
film. I had the novelization of Dragonslayer. I read it forty-two years
ago and while I barely remember it, I recall there being differences.
I
saw Dragonslayer on Thursday, July 9, 1981 with my father and my best
friend at the time. Bruce Springsteen was playing at the then-Brendan Byrne
Arena in New Jersey that night and I recall hearing the disc jockey talking
about it on the radio after we saw the film. The film that I saw was an
adventurous tale that takes place in the center of England in the Sixth Century
A.D. An enormous 400-year-old dragon, Vermithrax Pejorative, is holding the kingdom
of Urland in a grip of deadly fear. In continuing efforts to assuage the
dragon’s wrath and leave the villagers alone, King Casiodorus (Peter Eyre) holds
a lottery twice a year containing the names of young female virgins who are
sacrificed to Vermithrax in exchange for peace in Urland. This scenario does
not sit well with Urland. An elderly sorcerer, Ulrich of Cragganmore (Sir Ralph
Richardson), possesses a magical amulet and is visited by a young man named
Valerian (Caitlin Clarke) who implores him for help to destroy the dragon. Tyrian
(John Hallam), the Captain of the King’s Royal Guard, challenges and kills Ulrich,
placing Ulrich’s apprentice Galen Bradwarden (Peter MacNicol in his first film
role) as the one to defeat the dragon. Hesitant, Galen is convinced to make the
trek to Urland after Ulrich’s amulet selects him as his successor. During a
brief respite, he joins Valerian in the lake while swimming, much to the
latter’s consternation who, it turns out in a brief but explicit revelation of
very obviously non-male anatomy, is exposed as a female traveling incognito to
avoid the lottery. Once in Urland, Galen takes action that causes him to
believe that he has sealed off the entrance to the dragon’s lair, however the
King believes otherwise and imprisons Galen while confiscating his amulet. Galen
has a brief conversation with Princess Elspeth (Chloe Salaman) and tells her
that the lottery has been fixed and her name deliberately withheld from the
commonfolk. Shocked by this revelation, the Princess fixes the lottery so that
only her name is included, sealing her fate to being tossed into the
dragon’s lair. Even in Medieval times, money talks. This leads to much conflict
in the kingdom and a showdown between our intrepid hero and the feared dragon
at the hands of the titular spear.
There
was a slew of sword and sorcery films in the early 1980’s, among them Albert
Pyun’s The Sword and the Sorcerer, John Milius’s Conan the Barbarian
(1982), Don Coscarelli’s The Beastmaster (1982), Jack Hill’s Sorceress
(1982), Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal, all in 1982, with Peter Yates’s Krull
(the film that Columbia invested in while passing on Steven Spielberg’s E.T.
The Extra-Terrestrial) and Giacomo’s Battiato’s Hearts and Armour
coming out the following year. Dragonslayer, filmed on location in England,
Scotland, and Wales, was released on Friday, June 26, 1981, two months after
John Boorman’s Excalibur and two weeks after Desmond Davis’s Clash of
the Titans. It has so much going for it that even author George R.R.
Martin, the author of the novels upon which HBO’s Game of Thrones is
based, proclaimed that Vermithrax is the best dragon ever seen in a film. This
is a view shared by film director Guillermo del Toro, whose enthusiasm for the
film compelled him to enlist Dragonslayer director Matthew Robbins writing talents on four films. There
is much to admire here. Mr. MacNicol is wonderful in his first major screen
role as a reluctant apprentice who becomes the kingdom’s only hope to defeat
the dragon, with shades of Luke Skywalker going head-to-head with the Empire’s
almighty Death Star in George Lucas’s Star Wars (1977). Ian McDiarmid,
best known as Palpatine in the Star Wars saga, appears briefly as
Brother Jacopus, and the late Caitlin Clarke does an admirable job of appearing
like a male (to avoid being placed in the lottery) at the film’s start. Composer
Alex North provides a sinister score, much of it culled together from the
original music that he wrote for Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey
(1968) but was rejected by Mr. Kubrick in favor of the classical music he used
as temp tracks. However, the real star here is the dragon as brought to life by
the magicians of Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), brought to glorious life by
members of the team responsible for Star Wars. After forty- two years,
the film is finally being represented properly on home video in both standard
Blu-ray and 4K Ultra High Definition and the results make previous home video representations
of the film pale in comparison.
The
film comes with a wonderful audio commentary with director Robbins and film
director Guillermo Del Toro who enthusiastically waxes nostalgic and extolls
the virtues of the film, in particular the intercutting of the Go Motion technology
that introduces blur into stop-motion action to create realism to match the
shots of the mechanical dragon. Mr. Del Toro is a huge admirer of this film and
rightly lauds the effects team for creating the de facto standard by which all
future films of this ilk are measured. In addition to the commentary, the
following extras round out the set:
The
Slayer of All Dragons is
the overall title of five smaller high-definition-lensed pieces that can be
watched consecutively for a total documentary viewing of 63:24 in total which
contains brand new interviews with those involved in the film’s special
effects, in particular Phil Tippet, Dennis Muren, and Brian Johnson. First up
is Welcome to Cragganmore (11:08) which takes a look at the effects work
done for Star Wars in the parking lot of the Van Nuys, CA warehouse
where ILM originally began, in addition to the creation of Dragonslayer from
screenplay to screen. A Long Way to Urland (9:21) is a look at the
film’s cinematography, production design, and ornate costumes as the principal
photography began in the summer of 1980 in England. Vermithrax Pejorative
(17:48) is the name of both the dragon and this piece that looks at the star of
the film and the incredible amount of blood, sweat and toil that went into
creating this creature. Truly impressive and feels like the issue of Cinefex
Magazine #6 from October 1981 come to life. Into the Lake of Fire (13:34)
illustrates how issues encountered during production required quick thinking
and problem solving in order for production to continue. The Final Battle
(13:45) is about just that – the final battle between the dragon and Ulrich,
all accomplished in front of a blue screen.
An
interesting section of screen tests (15:42) illustrates why Ms. Clarke and Sir
Ralph were the correct choices. The requisite original theatrical trailer
(1:58) is also included.
I
am so thrilled and thankful to Paramount for restoring and making this gorgeous
package available and for the wonderful memories I have of initially seeing the
film.
Click here to order from Amazon.
(For Todd Garbarini's exclusive interview with director Matthew Robbins, click here.)