Review of The Magic Sword (1962) by Martin M — 05 Apr 2008

I guess I'm on this kick lately where I'm trying to find some of the old movies I remember watching as a kid at the Saturday afternoon matinees at the show. Back then you could see two movies for the huge price of 35 or 50 cents!! Yep, those were the days, and I guess a good way for my mom to get me out of the house for the day.

I saw this one at the drive-in with my parents, and being little, it scared the crap out of me. Now that I see it again it's sort of corny, with really bad, cheaply done special effects, but the story is quite good.

Evil wizard Basil Rathbone, obviously not in any mood to get laid, is feeding all the beautiful young daughters of the local nobility to his pet dragon. When a princess beloved by the son of a witch is taken, the young man vows to get her back, and uses a magic sword and suit of armour, and six magical knights to accomplish the task.

Basically this is a modern retelling of a fairy tale, and on that level it works fine. Make sure you buy a remastered version of the movie. I bought one from the Platinum Company which is beautifully restored.

An earlier copy I found was from an old discoloured print and the quality was terrible. For me having this one is a real collector's item.