The Magic Sword (Special Edition) [Blu-ray]

Never have I seen just a pristine release of an old movie on Bluray! Be clear, this review is about the new Bluray release on December 3, 2019. Not that piece of garbage called the Film Detective Restored Version. I have suffered through years of smeary, smooshed, horrible copies of this fun classic on DVD, so I was holding back any excitement when I unwrapped my copy and popped it into the bluray player. I was instantly stunned when the opening credits came on. No artifacts and scratches popping all over the place. Clean and bright. To anyone who has ever enjoyed this fun little movie of sword and sorcery, get this Bluray today! You will rediscover its charm all over again!

BOTTOM LINE: This just might be Bert I. Gordon's best film. He's made a bunch, but this one feels like it has the most polish. Classic tale of a lower class young man who falls for a beautiful princess and in order to prove himself and win her hand he must perform a number of various hair-raising deeds. Solid if unspectacular script, decent acting and passable visual effects combine to make this one a fun throwback to the good old days. Plus, it's hard to go wrong when you have the deliciously splendid Basil Rathbone hamming it up as the nefarious necromancer, Lodac. New hi-def transfer is a vast improvement over all previous versions & formats. 4 STARSTHOUGHTS: Caught this years and years ago on a local UHF station, back when there were only a handful of channels ...and sci-fi, fantasy & horror films were usually relegated to late Friday night or Saturday afternoon airings. A competent cast (boosted enormously by vet thesps Basil Rathbone & Estelle Winwood) and a surprisingly decent bag of visual tricks (courtesy of Mr & Mrs Gordon) helped make this a memorable film for a lot of Boomers. Mr B.I.G. was well known for drive-inn schlock like The Cyclops (1957), Village of the Giants (1965) and Food of the Gods (1976). THE MAGIC SWORD, whether by design or accident, just had that 'something' that made it easily part of his stable of films, yet simultaneously a decided cut above his usual fare. TMS's fantasy elements will enchant all but the most spoiled of children, and rekindle fond memories of the films Boomers & Gen X'ers would flock to see, either in theaters or at home during Saturday 'Creature Feature' marathons. All around good stuff.THE BLU-RAY: Another solid release onto hi-def from the good folks at Kino Lorber. The transfer isn't perfection, but a smaller boutique label like KL doesn't have the bottomless pockets for top-of-the-line restoration and remastering resources. Even so, this is likely the best that the film has looked in years, possibly since it last ran in theaters almost 60 years ago. There is a small amount of dirt & debris scattered throughout, though mostly during the lengthy opening credit sequence. The focus, sadly, isn't as sharp as I'd hoped but, again, it's worlds above previous VHS and DVD format releases for this title. No pixelation, edge enhancement, artifacting, crush or interlacing/compression issues to bedevil the film, thankfully. Sound is strong, clean and level. Bonus content is limited to the film's theatrical trailer and a full length audio commentary with Tim Lucas (during which, fan and satirist Larry Blamire stops by for a brief appreciation bit). IMHO, this hi-def Blu-ray of THE MAGIC SWORD is a solid deal for the price and comes recommended.

Kino Lorber has afforded this film a new 2019 2K restoration. The film hasn't looked this good since it's theatrical exhibition in the early 1960's. The colors really pop, in this transfer.For decades, this film languished in Public Domain hell. Versions released on VHS and DVD had badly-faded color values. This new Blu-ray transfer restores the film to its theatrical glory.There's also a fun audio commentary track with film historian Tim Lucas.

Smarmy old film. The adoptive mom of George, the hero of this little story is a good witch and a good mom to her love-struck son, and a hero in her own right. George is out to save his Princess from the foul sorcerer who threatens to feed her to his dragon, and his evil minion, Sir Not-Too-Memorable (as I've already misplaced his name), whom also seeks the princess's hand, but through treachery and deceit, is along for the ride. Lots of collateral damage to George's companions along the way in this cheesy throwback film, but it is all set right in the end by his spell-crafty mom. Something timeless about this piece of aged cheese, but if you wax nostalgic for the days when you could tell the good guys from the bad, worth a watch. Something inside you will cheer for the smarmy good guys, and boo and hiss at the villains, and half the fun is shouting it out. 5 Stars for corny "B" movie bliss, it wasn't awful.

This is a fun, low budget movie, with Basil Rathbone as a dangerous wizard. The film presents itself as a version of the story about Saint George killing the dragon. The dragon looks phony but that’s almost part of the movie’s charm. Before even getting to the dragon however, George and his companions must fight their way to the wizard’s castle through a series of “curses” he has arranged to protect him. It’s all lighthearted fantasy. Like many of the other reviewers, I saw this movie as a child and wanted to revisit it. Also here is the wood carving of Saint George killing the dragon. It’s not a very big dragon in this carving.The carving is from Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.

Like others that reviewed, I saw it as a boy on a Saturday in a tiny theatre in a small town that charged 25 cents for a matinee. I have often wondered what was the name and stumbled across it on Amazon Prime. As a boy, it was a magical sword, now nostalgia. Thank you Amazon for keeping a bit of cinema history.

When I was a kid, this movie use to scare the heck out of me. I liked the story and the magic and spells in the movie. Later as a young adult I purchased a copy of the movie on VHS. The quality of the video was really poor and I watched it once. When I bought this Blue-ray, I had my fingers crossed that it would be much clearer than the tape. When I started the movie, I was very impressed by the color and quality of the movie. I still enjoyed watching it, as it never looked so good. When watching it now you can see some of the flaws in the special effects and really appreciate how far we have come in make the unreal appear to be real. It was still a thrill to watch this again with the best quality to date.

very good

It's a fun movie full of cheesy monsters, a hammy Basil Rathbone, and low-budget but cool monsters. But OMIGOD the picture quality of this "Remastered" edition looks like they dragged the film negative through a swamp. Upon popping it into my dvd player, it didn't even go to a main menu- it must've come off in the swamp. The opening title is a smeary mess that promises more garbage. I'll be seeking out the seller of this waste of $20. DON'T BUY THIS!

The film in this Blu-ray format is vastly improved. The colors are beautiful and this image is very sharp. Best I've ever seen it. The quality definitely elevates the movie, and I found it much more enjoyable in this condition.

This movie is in my collection because it's the very first movie I saw in the movie theatre.I was only 8 years old but I thought it was great.I remember seeing it on TV a few times in the next few years and still enjoyed it.However, as I watch it today ... well, the quality of the production leaves a little to be desired.The story is decent enough. Some of the acting is over the top, but that seemed to be the norm of films in that era.OK ... the quality of the DVD release isn't great, but it's tons better than a VHS copy I have at home.A little grainy and washed out in places, as well as looking like a dub of scratchy film.Still, as a bit of memorabilia from the 1960's, it reminds me of when I was a kid.

This movie is only breaching 2 stars by virtue of my own reviewers tilt. It is otherwise a very generic action fantasy film, but I love Conan the Barbarian and Mort D'Arthur, so I am giving it a recommendation extremely tentatively. This recommendation is on the basis that you have already seen all the popular or the great but obscure and want to get a little closer to the bottom of the barrel without having to watch the worst material out there.