Customer Reviews
One extra star... 
2004-12-15
for the unintentional laughs the movie provides. Otherwise, even at 7 bucks, this is pretty much overpriced. Apparently, Bert I. Gordon lost his touch sometime in the early 60s. Not only is the print absolutely horrible, but the sets, costumes and acting are almost at Ed Wood level. The extra knights, with their fake accents and dubious deaths, Sybil and her malfunctioning magic (not to mention her "three" assistants), the evil sorceror with the semi-dramatic entrances, the valley-girl princess, the occasionally-glowing horse, the cheesy monsters and the villian that resembles Lyle Waggoner all combine for a true laugh-fest in the MSFT vein. My guess is that Rathbone must have had serious financial problems or was coerced into doing this one drunken night. Even he's awful.
Still A Kid 
2004-09-25
Yes, this is a film from the 50's or 60's. Yes, it is low budget and the acting shows it. It is also a film for kids (of all ages perhaps) and it was never supposed to be up for an academy award - which is a good thing. But for what it is worth, I first saw it as a kid, it was one of my favorite stories as a kid and now, as an adult, I am glad to have it in my collection. It is good escapist material after a day's work - not every day, of course. And it does go well with cheese and beer. Some people will say that it is cheesey enough on its own. Maybe they need more beer! You could do a lot worse than this - especially if you have kids in the house. I know. I'm in my 50's and I'm still a kid. I even named a car Sybil because of this movie. Having read some of the other reviews, perhaps I should mention that the color in my copy is OK.
HAHAHAHAHA 
2004-08-25
What a craptastic film. HAHAHAHAHAHA. It sucks so bad I can't stop laughing at it. This could be the worst film I ever saw. What the hell? Did it just go to black and white for that seen. What the hell? I can't tell if this is a color film or not. WHAT THE HELL?!
so bad it's good? 2004-02-24
The Magic Sword is STAGGERINGLY awful. The acting, the papier-mache monsters, the glowing sword, the "Irish" accent that comes and goes - it's jaw-droppingly awful. The movie has conehead people but they don't bother tucking the actors' real hair in so they have these pink cones on their head with a straight line where the plastic cone ends - like they're wearing conehead hats with hair coming out. The heroine actually says "Oh! I'm so happy I can't even think!" If you get a kick out of really terrible movies, you'll love this.
WATCHING PAINT DRY! 2004-02-01
The Magic Sword is one of those cheapie Saturday matinee quickies so popular in the 50's & 60's. It's loosely based on the legend of St. George and the Dragon. A very old and sickly Basil Rathbone collected a small paycheck for this one & this was half the budget. The print has faded terribly, to the point where it could almost be considered black and white. Any consideration for this movie at all would be for camp value alone. I gave it one star because there wasn't anything lower. Buyer beware!
The Magic Sword 2008-05-27
This should have been a better quality production - not sure why it failed to entertain...
Was good...still good 2008-01-29
As a Kid, i only saw what i liked in this movie...Monsters, witches, the
battle of good against evil. The characters were great and one became
involved in the movie from beginning to end. Nope... i did'nt care about
who acted...how good the special effects were, how much it cost to make.
All i knew is this movie when on tv took hold of my imagination and held
me in front of the tv till the end came. Wow, that was a trip.
So today, not a Kid anymore....the movie is still as good....and its
easy not to focus on the low budget flaws that we notice more as we
grow up. A keeper for those who like this type.
Dramatic acting of the finest order. 
2007-06-10
The shield of St. George, the 'handsome prince in shining armor', has a red Christian cross on it, capable of shielding him against any magic spell. This one detail makes this movie shine as no other for Christian viewers. As the author of "Si'Wren of the Patriarchs", a Christian parable, I found this movie to be head and shoulders above a more modern, recently viewed title, 'Aragon'. With the most simple of special effects, I was thrilled beyond measure by the manifestations of good and evil powers in 'The Magic Sword'. The actors do not strive for effect. They achieve magnificently. If you want to count the millions spent on a movie budget, does that make some of the more major failures into 'successes' purely because of the money blown, or The Magic Sword a loser because they used top talent on a limited budget? Be aware that the handsome knight. Sir George, later went on to play the astronaut in '2001 Space Odyssey'. The kidnapped princess went on to write and illustrate children's books. The evil French hag was actually a stunning beauty who once played 'Vampira', an evident precurser of Elvira. At one point in the movie, one of the six famous knights who accompany St. George prises God. Nowadays, I see such actors as Jeff Bridges, Sandra Bullock, & Bruce Willis, among others, use the name of 'Jesus Christ' as a curse word. I cannot convey adequately the pulse-pounding thrill I experienced as a Christian, when Sir George held up his shield with the red cross on it, to ward of the evil hag's accursed approaches against him. Even allowing for the difference in the power of special effects, I found the two-headed dragon in The Magic Sword to be every bit as convincing in its own way, as the blue 'guardianesse' female dragon of 'Aragon', and Aragon had no redeeming Christian element.
A masterpiece love story 2005-04-15
This film has everything a hopeless romantic could want. Forbidden love, facing danger for love, and winning true love. It's a love story!
A knight with a magic sword goes on a quest to rescue a beautiful princess from an evil wizard. After trapping a witch (who I swore was Phillis Diller), he gets a magic sword and brings to life six knights, each from a different nation. We have a German knight, and Irish knight, a French knight, etc. All accents are horrible, but they all speak English.
Well the knights face danger and are picked off until they arrive at the Evil Sorceror's castle (which looks surprisingly like a farmhouse!) After fighting a double headed sock puppet dragon. The knight wins his true love.
And the evil wizard? He is mad his dragon has been killed. He is about to unleash a fury like no one has ever seen. "I am INVINCABLE!" he proclaims with outstretched arms. But before he can do anything he is mauled by the witch who had transformed herself into a puma.
IT'S NOT THAT BAD IF TAKEN FOR WHAT IT IS... 2005-02-03
This movie was directed by Bert I. Gordon...a legend in "B" movies and the man who brought us such films as Earth Vs. the Spider, Picture Mommy Dead, and "War of the Colossal Beast" Knowing that, how could anyone resonably expect anything more than the low-budget fare that Mr. Gordon had always provided?
In this low budget, Saturday movie matinee type film, The evil sorcerer Lodac (Basil Rathbone) captures Princess Helene and whisks her off to his castle. Young Knight Sir George (Gary Lockwood), and aided by a magic sword, sets off with his six knights to save her. However, he must travel with Sir Franton, who also has romantic aspirations for the Princess. Together the knights must face Lodac's seven curses and liberate the Princess.
To me this is one of those movies like "Captain Sinbad" with Guy Williams that just enchanted me as a young boy. It isn't quality film-making and doesn't pretend to be. I'm sure the films that so entrall my kids today will be looked on as hokey and cheap 30 years from now as well and that's ok because it was a film squarely aimed at kids.
Rathbone is, of course, a shell of his former self and it's a bit sad to see him in this, one of his final films, especially recalling how dashing he was back in the 30's and 40's. There's no one else in the cast remotely worth noting. The special effects were cheap but hey, it's still a fun movie to watch if you KNOW what you are going to see. No Doubt most viewers seeing it for the first time are going to be pretty negative about "The Magic Sword", but I still liked it.
