I think the movie's not bad, and MST3K should not have left it out. The comments MST3K does are not THAT funny and are disturbing the movie; I think they could have done MUCH better.
And OF COURSE the special effects are not that good. Consider the time!
Oh, how I loved this movie (and Gary Lockwood - my first Hollywood crush) when I was a child! My brother purchased the movie on VHS for me a few years ago, but was somehow lost. I rejoiced when I found it for sale at Wal-Mart for only $1.00 on DVD. It's there right now!!!! I bought a bunch and plan to give them to my children. For the times (and through a child's eyes) I think it was one of those wonderful "good wins over bad" movies of the 60s. I gave my brother one of the DVDs just a couple weeks ago when I visited him, and he immediately watched it. It makes me return somehow to the security of my childhood and gives me a warm feeling.
shareCheck out the new DVD of this, released by MGM. It's a rich, crisp copy that looks better than any of the bargain bin tapes and DVDs released earlier. Film is letterboxed so you can see the full image, and includes the original trailer. To me, the difference between this and earlier home video versions was so great that it was almost like seeing the film for the very first time.
shareAre you kidding me? This movie was terrible by itself. MST3K is brilliant. Of course, there are worse movies that they've covered. I can honestly say this isn't the worst one, but is surely isn't on the top of my list to see by itself. that dragon was hilarious. Can you honestly say you liked it? Sure, it's not the funniest MST3K movie, but it ain't bad. You want a really bad one, see POD PEOPLE or ALIEN FROM L.A. starring Kathy Ireland. Now that was a funny movie. This movie is bad, i hate to break that to you.
shareWhat he said!
I never understand people who can't love a film while at the same time love MST3K sending that same film up.....it's satire, many of the filmmakers who have gotten the MST3K treatment have loved it because they have a sense of humor and understand that it's just parody.
For example, I think This Island Earth is a fine 50's Sci-fi film....but I also love the ribbing that Best Brains gave in MST3K: The Movie, I like both equally, just because the original was satirized does not "ruin" my love of the original film.
That's my feelings on the subject of "MST3K shouldn't make fun of films I like" anyway.
I agree. I thought this film was much better than the usual fare featured on MST3K, and it's also one of my favorite episodes. A movie can be good and still make good fodder for the MST guys.
ROULETTE OF LOVE!
agreed vermathrax i loved how they made fun of this movie on mst3k but the movie was pretty good even joel and tom servo liked it and the crow hated it but hey it was good and mst3k did a good job of making fun of it though!
shareThere were two movies I stayed up and watched as late movies in the seventies that both ended up on MST3K, and yea, there was an itch going on as I thought they were enjoyably good.
One was Giant Spider Invasion and the other was Clonus. I can now see GSI is hokey, okay, but Clonus was a good idea, just very low budget.
I think there has been one or two others I saw before MST3K and yea, while they weren't grand, there are worse movies out there to choose from.
I have to fall between the lines on this one.
I enjoyed the film as a boy, seeing it on the big screen in re-issue and later on TV. I still find it mindlessly entertaining today, 40 years later.
HOWEVER, despite the bright colors, lush costumes and reasonably impressive effects, the film LOOKS as though it were shot in a TV studio as a kids show. Sybil's scenes, particularly look as hopelessly low-budget as any of the Sid and Marty Croft saturday morning fare of the early 70's.
With the sole exception of the dragon, the entire production has the look and feel of a 1960's color television special, and I can't help but wonder if this project didn't actually started life as a big-budget color TV spectacular that somehow got a few extra dollars to make the jump to the big screen. Also, one nearly fatal flaw was the utterly pointless and random inclusion of a chimp for -completely unneccesary- comedy relief.
On the plus side, Basil Rathbone puts in a gleefully villainous role -and gotta love the way he works that turban! Also, he and Estelle Winwood make a great odd-couple; it would have been a joy if they had either done other films or at least had more scenes together.
The MGM DVD is, as other posters have stated, a glorious transfer from a near mint print and is highly recommended as harmless, family friendly, kid-safe Saturday morning nostalgia.
"If you don't know the answer -change the question."
I cannot believe I have finally found this movie!! I found it in the dollar bin at Target as part of a Danny Kaye dvd of The Little General! I was going to put it down when I looked on the back and said "OH MY GOD, THIS IS IT"! Then I turned it back to the cover and noticed the little picture of the dragon battle. I only remotely remember this movie as a child (born in 59), and I don't even remember when I saw it. The memorable scenes is in this are when the sword saves him from the boiling cauldron and when the dragon first appears. For all I know, I only saw the last 15 minutes of the movie. I wrapped this dvd for Christmas with some other 1.00 movies for the kids and will watch it this weekend with them. It will probably be as cheesey as some of you say, but somehow comforting in bringing me back to an innocent time of my life, pre-cable, pre-vcr, pre-X-Box when the world was shiny and new and full of wonders that a child's imagination can embellish upon. I get the same feeling watching videos of "The Outer Limits"; it's amazing how much the music contributes to that show! I don't think that could happen as easily in today's tachyon-speed world(and where alomost nothing is left to a child's imagination).
Bob
hey boob,
welcome to the land of Odumba where anything nostaligic is frowned upon.
absolutely abysmal
how can you say that?
i didn't even know MST3K did a version of that.
this movie is completely 1/10, nothing higher, pure GARBAGE (and TRULLY - the year it went out means nothing in my judgment).
Leave MST3K alone. As far as I'm concerned they could have done Citizen Kane and that would have been fine with me. Crow is THE man!!!
sharePlease. MST3K is just a bunch of losers sitting around poking fun at bad movies; not exactly creative. It's as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. It's a little more difficult to actually go out and create something yourself.
shareFunny you say that, because MST3k was a very good TV show that was on the air for quite a long time.
It's easy for you to poke at a show like MST3k, but it's actually more difficult to actually go out and create something yourself.
of course, you all take life to seriously.
"The wrestling program in hell is second only to Iowa" -Crooow! MSN: [email protected]
MST has covered far worse movies, but "Magic Sword" is pretty cheesy and silly. It's possibly Bert I Gordon's best movie, but it IS a B.I.G movie, and the man had incurably 2nd rate storytelling abilities and ambitions.
For all that, MST's ribbing and riffing on "Magic Sword" was actually fairly good natured and gentle - at one point, they actually admit to each other that it's "pretty good for a Bert I. Gordon movie." Their coverage wasn't nearly as mean spirited and savage as it was for stinkers like "Manos", "Sidehackers" and "The Dead Talk Back".
Hmph... I still hold up that it was a good movie for its time.
I liked it when I was a kid, and still like it now. It's got a decent story, quite good effects, and good acting.
(Hell, does anybody else suffer from *beep* the effects, give me a good story with cheesy effects roleplayer's disease"?)
I'm watching this movie right now and I though that it was a comedy at first. I mean, within the first 2 minutes, over-acting Sybil is talking to a chimp. Very 60's! Oh, so horrible.
shareActually, Estelle Winwood was a very gifted (and respected) actress, and the brilliance of Basil Rathbone hardly needs to be commented on. They were undoubtedly having a ball -- hamming it up in a fun costume picture. If she had wished to play Sybil in a more subtle fashion, you can bet that she could have done so.
share[deleted]
I would have to say that this is the best Bert I.Gordon movie I have ever seen.With slightly better acting and better special effects,it could have been all right.
"Sometimes I think we live through things only to be able to say we lived through them" The Jacket
MST3K is smarter than its fans, who assume that if a movie was on the show, then it's worthless garbage. Get a life, people, and stop campaigning Manos to be back in the #1 spot of the Bottom 100 by voting 10 to everything else. Let me say it again: GET A LIFE. There are silly things in The Magic Sword (namely Sybil and her siamese twins), which justify its riffing, but as far as medieval adventures from the era go, this is one of the best. Yes, this is a GOOD MOVIE. Now stop voting 1 just because it was MiSTied, I assure you Dr. Forrester won't haunt you in your nightmares just because you gave a fair rating.
SAY NO TO WINDOWS VISTA
Dude are you kidding? this movie was TERRIBLE.
The acting was pretty awful all around, especially from the hilariously cliched band of international knights. Sure it was a harmless cheesy kids movie, but you can't go calling it a good one just because you want to seem "above" a bunch of MST3K fans trashing it.
Newsflash: Just because it was "pretty good for a Bert I. Gordon" movie doesn't mean it's any good.
God thank you, I couldn't agree more. I'm probably a bigger MSTie than anyone here and one of the things I love about the show IS the movies. Just because a movie deserves to be riffed on doesn't mean it's 100% terrible. It just means it's goofy and cheap and incompetent. Some really do deserve their bottom 100 positions (and sorry, Manos really should be number 1) but it's pretty damned annoying to go on imdb looking for a fair review of a mildly interesting B-movie featured on the show only to find comment after comment that boil down to "Even Joel and the bots couldn't save this one! LOL!"
Come on guys. Think for yourselves, it's not that hard.
I'm a big MST3K fan and this is one of the few movies I could watch on it's own and still enjoy. I am glad they riffed it though, Crow having a crush on Estelle was great. Not a good movie but standard early 60's fantasy stuff, it would have been cool to watch back then.
shareWhat movie is worse than Manos? I really haven't seen one. I guess if you to watch Manos without Joel & the bots, it would be soooo bad that it might actually be interesting or funny on its own. But still thats got to to be the most incompetent movie ever made, while simultaneously pandering to the audiences worst predilections. And what about that Torgo music?
"Nobody knows anybody, not that well..." - Miller's Crossing
There's a LOT of MST3K movies that are watchable without the riffing (my own list is too long for the purposes of my response to this topic). However, I'm glad that MST3K riffed ALL of the movies that they riffed, as are 99% of their fans, not just because they did great jobs on all of them, but also because 99% of us would never have HEARD of those movies if MST3K didn't riff them.
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If I want your opinion, I'll GIVE it to you.
The MST3K crew actually liked the movie and there are worse films like Manos, Pod People, Hobgoblins or whatever
You killed Captain Clown, YOU KILLED CAPTAIN CLOWN-The Joker on Batman TAS
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