User reviews

The Magic Sword (AKA: The Seven Curses of Lodac/St. George and the Seven Curses) is directed by Bert I. Gordon who also co-writes with Bernard Schoenfeld. It stars Basil Rathbone, Estelle Winwood, Gary Lockwood, Anne Helm, Liam Sullivan and Danielle De Metz. Music is by Richard Markowitz and cinematography by Paul Vogel.

A young knight faces a hoard of mythical beasts in his quest to rescue a beautiful princess from the clutches of the evil sorcerer Lodac.

Cheap and bonkers but seen through a child's eyes actually quite fun. We are in a world of ogre's, dwarfs, Siamese twins, harpy hags, ghostly faces, two headed dragons and of course heroic knights and buxom wenches. The effects work ranges from the laughable (rubber mask wearing humans) to the passable because of the budget (model work and super imposed placements), while the sets pre-date Star Trek standard by some four years.

In the cast it's only Rathbone and Winwood who are good value because they firmly know how to play it in this sort of production. Major plus point is the colour photography, where even though it sometimes veers towards the garish, it's mostly very appealing and vividly brings to life the good standard of costuming (Esther Krebs and Oscar Rodriguez). So! If you can judge it on its own modest terms and accept it as the kiddie friendly fantasy it is? Then it's passable fluffy entertainment. 5/10

"The Magic Sword" is one of B-movie producer/director Bert I. Gordon's best known films. Granted, it's no masterpiece, but it is enjoyable on it's own terms. The plot, very loosely based on the 'St. George And The Dragon' legend, has a princess (Anne Helm) kidnapped by evil sorcerer Lodac (Basil Rathbone) and hunted by lovesick George (Gary Lockwood). Aided by his foster mother Sybil (Estelle Winwood) a good witch, George vows to save the princess and destroy Lodac. Although this plot has been done to death, it's the acting by the splendid Rathbone and Winwood which keeps this film consistently entertaining. Add some modest, but impressive special effects, and you have a very entertaining minor adventure for the family. Beware: this public domain film is available on several cut-rate DVDs, but only the newly released one from MGM/UA home video is worth the price. They have a beautiful print of the film (it was originally released by United Artists) which contains a fun theatrical trailer. This is the one to get!

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).

Why a re people so unkind to this very funny fantasy. Any adult can tell it is not meant to be taken as some sort of 'magnificent spectacle'. Yes it is low budget but it knows it, and Basil and Estelle seemed to be having a very sly old time brewing potent hammy acting to fling at each other and the hopeful cast. Kids love this film even today; it has the sort of 'crummy but fascinating' manginess cheap color fantasies have. Does anyone remember those equally hilarious and ghastly 'storybook productions' like Mother Goose or Jack and the Beanstalk? Terrible but lovably hopeless and thoroughly entertaining. THE MAGIC SWORD even has a pre 2001 Gary Lockwood; boy I bet he's glad Kubrick saw something in him after this. Kubrick would have seen this, you know, I am sure he saw everything Gary Lockwood made before casting him in 2001. And he still hired him. Besides, MAGIC SWORD has the unforgettable Estelle Winwood. She is like Edward Everett Horton in a dress. Pantomime? Sure. Hilarious? Yes. Enjoyable? Thoroughly in its mangy matinée way. Can you believe I saw this on a double feature with SINK THE BISMARK! Such were kids matinées in Australia in 1962. The next week we saw CAPTAIN SINBAD which almost looks like the out takes of THE MAGIC SWORD.

A friend of mine lent me their copy of The Magic Sword, a 1962 film directed by Bert I. Gordon. While it's still fresh on my mind, I thought I would crank out a review.

The film is based loosely on the medieval legend of St. George and the Dragon, or so I read on Wikipedia. I don't know much about the legend myself, but I probably would after a bit of searching.

Anyway, the plot of The Magic Sword is your typical "brave knight goes on a quest to save a princess from an evil wizard" deal. The sword in the title has to do with the fact that the main character wields a sword that apparently has some kind of magical powers.

Despite the use of the tired old "save the princess" plot, the film itself is surprisingly good and was a lot of fun to watch. The acting is just a bit on the hammy side, but I think it's one of the things that made watching the film fun. The film moves along nicely from scene to scene and didn't seem to drag anywhere. The special effects, though a bit cheesy compared to what we're used to seeing these days, were still pretty good considering the time the film was done. The dragon effects near the end were really cool.

There might be a scene or three that might be deemed inappropriate for very young children. There's some boobage, though very brief, near the beginning (although the version I saw blotted it out with a mosaic... the bastards). A couple of other scenes were just due to some really disturbing makeup effects. Other than that, the film is pretty family friendly.

Overall I recommend this film. It was fun to watch and there was never a dull moment. But mostly because Basil Rathbone is such a badass as the evil wizard.

I saw this film at a matinée in 1962 when I was seven. I remembered it over the years as 70 minutes of pure excitement. I watched it again on DVD with my kids. Yes, it is low budget. Yes, it has cheesy special effects by today's standards. Yes, it has a corny plot and weak acting from some of the characters. Yet, I found it to have charm and my kids were just as enthralled as I was 43 years ago when I suspended my disbelief in the dark of the Saturday matinée. This film is, in its genre, a minor classic. Further, Basil Rathbone as the heavy is very good in the waning years of his life and career--much better than Torin Thatcher who played similar "heavy" roles in similar adventure movies.

This sword and sorcery film was directed by Bert I Gordon, the b-movie guy who gave us Attack of the Puppet People. This is quite a big budget effort for Bert, albeit its still low budget as these types of movies mostly are. I found it to be a very fun movie though with its story about a quest to save a princess imprisoned by an evil wizard, allowing for a series of obstacles along the way, including a giant ogre, an evil hag, a duo of sinister dwarves, a group of coneheads, tiny people in a cage, knights with appalling Scottish and Irish accents, a monkey in a jumper, a two-headed dimwit who talks in stereo, Basil Rathbone chewing up the scenery as the chief baddie, a giant fire-breathing two-headed dragon and ghosts in a cave. What's not to like?

Mr. BIG(Bert I. Gordon) directs this relatively entertaining tepid tale of a young man saving a princess he has never met but seen in his foster mother/sorceress's magic pool of water. He goes with six knights that he magically resurrects and a rival for the hand of the princess to save her and must in the process pass successfully through the seven curses so as to avoid having his loved one become lunch meat for a dragon. It would be easy to pick on the major flaws of this film - and make no mistake they are legion. The budget seems way under-financed for a vehicle like this. It does have one great star - Basil Rathbone as the wicked sorcerer Lodac - and a minor star in affable Estelle Winwood as the foster sorceress. The rest of the cast in the film isn't very good. Hero Gary Lockwood is almost acceptable, but the guys playing his knights from various countries are very unbelievable. Look for Vampira, Maila Nurmi, in an intriguing role as an old hag/vampire-type. The settings and props do not fair as well as the acting. The sword looks cheaply made. The dragon is not too convincing. There is an ogre that is okay by Bert Gordon standards, but nothing else really looks/feels authentic in a story like this. Gordon also adds some truly bizarre things that make the proceedings seem even more foolish: two bald men joined together as the sorceress's whatever, one curse is a HOT day, and other like things. All that being said, The Magic Sword has its moments and would probably be very entertaining for a younger audience. Rathbone does a fine job and was, for me at least, one of two very bright spots in an otherwise mundane film outing. He is as sinister as ever with his gypsy-like sorcerer attire and ever-precise enunciation of the wicked things he will do to Lockwood, his love, and the men that journey with him. The other bright spot is Winwood's performance. I have always enjoyed her for the gentle humor she brings to each performance, and here she seems like the prototype to Aunt Hagatha in Bewitched. Gordon directs with his usual flair - whatever that means. The best way to describe the level of this film is to borrow some of the lines Rathbone used toward the sorceress by calling her a tenth-rate sorceress. This film is something like a tenth-rate production of The Sevenenth Voyage of Sinbad.

I like so many of commentators here saw this film as a child on TV and loved it. I couldn't remember the name of it and scoured the movie books when I grew up until I found it. When I saw it on video I bought it and showed it to my preschooler who watched and watched it until the video started to wear out. I had a friend come over and when he saw it on the shelf he was delighted as he too had the same memories , his preschooler now has it as his favourite movie.

You can't judge this film as an adult because it wasn't aimed at adults , if you want to pick holes in it you can but if a kid can use his imagination to smooth over the poor effects and acting why can't adults? Let yourself go into the fantasy, relive a little of your childhood and let your kids get wrapped up in it as well . Great kids adventure .

When this came out to the people of that time it served its purpose well and became a good source of entertainment for its time. Children were deeply affected and even adults were able to sit through this making it believe it or not a family movie with fun, popcorn and memories. Scary by its time and standards and not so much today, those that captured this for the first time scored well. Who hasn't dreamed of a magic sword, a fast horse or pet, loyal friends and someone to love? How a bout a bad guy who doesn't like anyone? A silly old grandma who loves and spoils?

To compare this film unfavorably to the high standards we hold for today's films would be unjust. This film has to be judged by the era that made it. Great films like "Jason and the Argonauts", "Hercules Unchained" and others of that ilk were popular and had an audience albeit a limited one. I remember seeing this film at the ripe age of six and being awestruck and terrified. Basil Rathbone was sinister as the evil wizard. The dragon seemed an insurmountable obstacle to the hero. There were little people inside a large bird cage crying for help,an evil temptress witch with green glowing eyes that lured one of the good guys to his doom and a horrible bubbling swamp that ate the flesh off of one of the good knights when his horse stumbled and he fell in. I'm glad I was six when I saw this film. I've remembered it for years and just thought to pay it a visit again on this site.

1st watched 5/3/2021 - 5 out of 10(Dir-Bert I. Gordon): A simple sword and sorcery rescuing damsel from distress tale that isn't horrible, but has a weak female Merlin-type called Sybil and amateurish special effects making it only a so-so film. A simple man named George is infatuated with Princess Helena and wants to rescue her from an evil sorcerer played by Basil Rathbone, but lacks the necessities until his god mother Sybil reveals some of his 21st birthday presents (which he steals from her). The king has an appointed knight, who boldly wants to finish the quest against 7 curses to get to the girl and a portion of the kingdom(which is promised by the king to the one who rescuers her). George also gets six other knights to help in the quest along with magical powers including a magical sword. In the midst of the quest, some of the knights fall and than Sybil accidentally removes George's powers to face the rest of the approximate 4 curses left. The bumbling Sybil with her monkey and two-headed twin, are supposed to provide comedy relief(I guess), but only bring stupidity and silliness. Gary Lockwood, in a pre-2001 Space Odyssey role, is fine as George and Basil Rathbone is a credible villain, but the special effects of the dragon at the end, and in other places are second rate, at best. A nice try, but not enough to put this movie by Bert I. Gordon in the thumbs-up category.

... and that was for nostalgia's sake. Although I'm setting the bar so low it's somewhere down in the Earth's mantle, this one is actually pretty good -- for a Bert I. Gordon film. (Though I freely admit, the only way I can stand to watch this movie nowadays is with Joel and the 'Bots.)

I don't think it's possible for a contemporary viewer to appreciate what it was like, seeing this on the big screen back during its theatrical release in 1962. But at just barely 7, I was the perfect age to be enthralled by the cheesy effects and general silliness. For a kid flick, especially in the early Sixties, there are some surprisingly grim and gruesome goings-on. It was colorful, and even imaginative in parts. Sure, the comic relief the script tried to mine from Estelle Winwood's scatter-brained sorceress and her helpers often falls flat -- I mean, really, Bert: a chimp? Whose idea was that? -- but even so, she's still fun to watch.

Whether feeding princesses to his dragon puppet, or double-crossing a traitorous knight, Basil Rathbone was obviously having a blast as the coolly sadistic and sardonic sorcerer, Lodac. His performance deserved a much better-budgeted and directed film than this.

I just finished watching this movie, which was on a DVD bundle of old movies I bought for cheap.

Words can hardly describe how bad it is. The writing was bad. The acting was bad. The special effects were bad. The whole thing was just awful.

And yet, I couldn't stop watching it. Maybe it was to honor one of Basil Rathbone's final film performances, which is pretty much the only saving grace of this movie. Whatever the reason, I found myself sucked into its badness, unable to look away. It's safe to say I'll never watch it again, but I take pride in having made it through one sitting. Are YOU up to the challenge???

The son of a sorceress (Gary Lockwood), armed with weapons, armor and six magically summoned knights, embarks on a quest to save a princess (Anne Helm) from a vengeful wizard (Basil Rathbone).

First off, we have a pretty decent cast. Lockwood would go on to be known for "2001: A Space Odyssey", Basil Rathbone already had a long and distinguished career in and out of genre films, and we even get a small role filled by Vampira (how unusual).

But more than that, this is actually a good movie. We could say "pretty good for Bert Gordon", but really this is good in general. The makeup and creature effects are cool, the plot is interesting, and anyone who enjoys fantasy and has the heart of a child will really enjoy it.

Right now, the film has fallen into public domain and therefore may not likely see a new release (beyond the MGM DVD). It would be great to get the actors back together for a commentary while they are still around to do so, but with over fifty years already passed, the clock is ticking.

Bert I. Gordon was an inept exploitation-movie maker who trafficked in second-rate sci-fi and Saturday morning adventure, e.g., "King Dinosaur." This latter-day Gordon work is, by his standards, pretty ambitious, and surprisingly competent. A St.-George-and-the-Dragon knockoff, it benefits from a clear, well-structured fairy-tale screenplay that sets up the situation economically and travels neatly from climax to climax; enjoyable hamming by Basil Rathbone and Estelle Winwood, who look like they're having fun; some pretty ambitious special effects and color for such a cheapjack production; and some engagingly whimsical touches, like the sort-of-Siamese-twins and the chess-playing chimp. Anne Helm, as the princess in distress, is disconcertingly modern-American-teeny-bopper, and her leading man, Gary Lockwood, is terminally uninteresting. But from moment to moment, it tells a rather good yarn. Acceptable Saturday-matinée entertainment, and given Gordon's usual incompetence, quite well made. (That didn't stop Mystery Science Theater 3000 from mocking it, and they do a bang-up job.)

I agree with other reviewers the acting is stiff and the effects dated, but for the early 60's and for me when I was younger it was a fun movie! Your kids will love it. Gary Lockwood did his best but he was playing against some actors who did not emote well. So take it for what it is and just enjoy it.

It will take some magic to finish the entire film. It's goofy from start to finish. A good film for children in the 1960s, but shouldn't be viewed by anyone over seven years of age. Unless, you're watching it as a comedy.

The script stinks , along with the acting. Special effects are satisfactory for that decade, but still lack the seriousness that attracts most to fantasy films. A certain amount of maturity is required to produce a descent fantasy flick. This film leaves the realm of fantasy and lands knee-deep in stupidity. Don't compare it with other fantasy films, just accept for what it is.........sad!!!

When I saw this film in Nottingham in 1964, little did I realize that I was one of the privileged few British cinema-goers who would ever get the chance to view it. The film ran into some truly puzzling censorship and distribution problems. United Artists were apparently hoping for a mainly juvenile audience, but when it went before the British Board of Film Censors on 16 July 1963 it was saddled with an "X" certificate for adults only, unlike Jason and the Argonauts which was granted a "U" for general exhibition. UA changed the British release title to St. George and the 7 Curses, but the distributor seemed to manufacture hardly any prints and the film was unseen in most towns and cities. Unusually, there was no premiere, no press showing and no newspaper reviews. Even more unusual, given that the film was being shown to the public in cinemas, was the fact that it was not announced in either the Monthly Film Bulletin or Kinematograph Weekly. The Rank Organization gave the movie a couple of test showings, running it for a week at their Mechanics cinema in Nottingham from 24 May 1964 (just a fortnight before closing it down). A Midlands television crew, reporting on the controversy, asked people coming out if they found it scary. Although Vampira's transformation into a withered old hag was mildly horrific, and the ogre looked a bit of a beast, nobody admitted to being the slightest bit frightened. Indeed, Jason and the Argonauts was judged more frightening because the special effects were better. The only possible explanation for the British censor's categories was that he based his decisions on mood rather than content. Whereas Jason came across as straight mythological adventure, St. George seemed to be trying to mix together the slapstick (Sybil brewing potions with her conjoined stooges) and the gruesome (two knights wandering into the desert and having their faces burned off). St. George and the 7 Curses later had a week's run at the Bradford Gaumont from 13 December 1964, but really the vast majority of British film-goers had no idea it even existed.

2017 UPDATE – Since this article first appeared in 2007, I have been indebted to movie fans, film societies, librarians and even retired projectionists for throwing more light on United Artists' erratic release of St George and the 7 Curses. Whilst it is true that the original 1964 release on the Rank circuit was tiny (week-long engagements in random places like Aberdeen, Bradford, Brighton, Nottingham, Portsmouth and York), the film did enjoy a humble afterlife when it was made available to suburban independents. Unfortunately, it regularly seemed to finish up in end-of-the-road cinemas that were earmarked for demolition. The distribution had a curious regional bias with some counties not seeing the film at all, whilst Yorkshire had showings everywhere, even in the small mining villages of Thurnscoe and Woodlands. Often the film was used as a programme filler to support UA's newer releases, notably A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS in Atherstone and Tamworth, THE Satan BUG in Coventry and Kenilworth, I'LL TAKE Sweden in Coalville, Doncaster and Selby, TOM JONES in three Leicester suburbs, WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT in Fenton, RETURN FROM THE ASHES in Cannock, Filey, Ibstock and Uttoxeter, BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN in Earl Shilton, and KISS ME STUPID at London's Biograph. With effect from mid-1967 and into the 1970s, United Artists delivered the final humiliation by relegating St George to the Sunday circuits where he played one night stands in suburbs of Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds and Stoke, as well as desert outposts such as Alfreton, Eccles, Heanor, Irvine, Kilmarnock, Melton Mowbray, Oakham, Retford, Ripley, Rugeley, Skegness, Sleaford, Swadlincote and Tadcaster. United Artists clearly had very little respect for the patron saint of England, but at least we now know that this wasn't quite the Smallest British Release of All Time!