The Magic Sword (MGM)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C     Extras: D     Film: C-

 

 

Bert I. Gordon’s 1962 film The Magic Sword is not a great film, probably not even a good film, but for some reason is still a sought after film on some level.  Perhaps it’s due to its star Basil Rathbone, or the fact that there are very few films that deal with swords, castles, magic, chivalry, and wizards that are very good.  In fact most of them are just awful, not just the ones from the 1950’s or 1960’s (see Willow for more details). 

 

The film had a low budget and it mostly shows in the props, sets, and the poor script.  Although to most that saw this film as a child, this was all part of the magic behind the film.  This is the nostalgic nature of the film that still has some fans looking for it.  Available through MGM in this latest release of the film on DVD by yet another company, the film sadly has no extras and only fair quality around the board. 

 

The film has been available before on DVD from a lesser companies and that disc was most likely pan & scan.  This DVD however, keeps the film to its true 1.85 X 1 transfer, which does appear to be slightly cropped on the sides, this can be seen during the opening credits as some of the words come really close to the edge of the screen.  Overall colors look good, but image softness is the biggest problem.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is expectedly weak and tired, but then again so is the film, so it’s a good fit.

 

There are very few reasons to see this film in my humble opinion, unless you are eager to see your typical ‘quest’ film where the knight must ride off and save the princess from the dark forces of a wizard, but then again who has not seen that a million times or some other variation of Arthurian legends.

 

 

-   Nate Goss