WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: The Magic Sword 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:08.800 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:13.200 --> 0:00:16.880 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob Lamb. 0:00:16.760 --> 0:00:19.640 And I am Joe McCormick. And today on Weird House Cinema, 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:22.200 we're going to be talking about the nineteen sixty two 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:29.479 fantasy adventure The Magic Sword starring Basil Rathbone, directed by 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:33.440 bert I. Gordon, the director of another film we've covered 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:36.960 on Weird House Cinema at least one other. Gordon was 0:00:36.960 --> 0:00:41.520 the director of Attack of the Puppet People. Also known 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:45.800 as Mister Big Big his initials, he was well known 0:00:45.880 --> 0:00:50.440 for shrinking and blowing up things in his movies, either 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:53.360 making little things big or making big things little, and 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:55.200 we get some of both in this one. 0:00:55.520 --> 0:00:58.120 That's right. One of the things about The Magic Sword 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:01.480 from nineteen sixty two is that it is a special 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:06.600 effects spectacular. You're gonna there's so many special effects coming 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:10.120 at you, some of them very noticeable and and others 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:14.280 you can easily take for granted, especially today, where you 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:17.800 know various things like, for instance, the magic mirror that 0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:20.520 we see in the movie. You know, it's an impressive 0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:23.160 special effect, and it's it's one of just many, many 0:01:23.200 --> 0:01:26.280 special effects that are used to create this magical world 0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:30.560 of love and happiness, but also horror and mutilation. 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:36.680 Now, Bert Eye Gordon was well known for making sort 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:39.640 of low budget, B grade movies, movies that a lot 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:41.959 of people would would call hack but or in many 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:46.199 ways quite enjoyable. You know, the King Dinosaur and stuff 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:48.360 like that, movies that ended up on Mystery Science Theater 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:49.440 three thousand. 0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:50.120 As did this one. 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:52.600 I've actually never seen that episode, but this, from what 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:56.480 I understand, is widely regarded as one of his best movies, 0:01:56.560 --> 0:02:00.800 and I can see why it it has it still 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:02.840 has some of the hallmarks of his other stuff. Like 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:08.520 it has some i would say, texturally or tonally inappropriate 0:02:08.639 --> 0:02:12.680 special effects that actually do look pretty good, but they 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:15.400 don't fit the vibe of the movie. Like the movie 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:19.079 is ostensibly, you know, sort of a fun, magical adventure 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:22.000 almost maybe aimed at a younger audience, aimed at kids, 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:27.640 but it also has just absolutely unnerving, almost perverse gore 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:28.160 in it. 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:31.040 Yeah, I would compare it in a way to Peter 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:34.680 Jackson's King Kong in that respect. You know, moving made 0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:38.160 by you know, a consumant pro somebody that also had 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:41.680 a great lot of experience with the special effects creating 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:45.880 a film that is aimed at a very wide audience, 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:49.760 very mainstream audience, but ends having some moments of just 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:53.280 extreme horror or well, I don't know. In the case 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:54.799 of The Magic Sword, it might be a bit much 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:57.880 to say extreme horror, but still are that does seem 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:00.359 maybe a little out of pace with the rest of 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:03.000 the picture, and seems to have been out of pace 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:05.600 at the time. I mean, there were some seemingly strong 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:08.720 reactions to this. I was reading that upon initial release 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:13.480 the British Film Board gave it an X rating. They right, No, 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:16.720 you were not having any of this. And later, you know, 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:18.560 some things get adjusted and it comes out. 0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:21.519 It's kind of like if you imagine Disney's The Sword 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:24.320 and the Stone, but if it included a lot of 0:03:24.400 --> 0:03:28.440 close ups of nights being melted by acid and radiation. 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:32.680 Yeah, exactly, yeah, yeah, And in that, you know, radiation 0:03:32.919 --> 0:03:35.360 is a hallmark of other bird Eye Gordon pictures and 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:39.560 that element is at least visually present in this that 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:41.320 nobody's calling it radiation. 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:44.440 But another one of the things that I would single 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:49.120 out this movie for is it has some deliciously hammy 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:53.840 performances especially the ones from Estelle Wyndwood and Basil Rathbone 0:03:53.920 --> 0:03:57.440 as the two main sorcerers in the movie, they are 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:01.200 hamming it up. It's some all time ham here. 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:04.720 Yeah, a lot of other bird Eye Gordon films don't 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:09.120 necessarily have as strong of human performances, and this is 0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:12.560 a film that really has the human special effects at 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:14.920 least in a couple of roles to match up with 0:04:15.160 --> 0:04:18.680 the the the actual special effects. So yeah, I think 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:22.159 it is a really solid, enjoyable picture, and yeah, it 0:04:22.200 --> 0:04:24.120 is often sided just one of Burnye Gordon's best. 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:27.640 Now, I'm trying to think, have we done another high 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:31.520 fantasy movie on weird house with like knights and wizards 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:34.280 and stuff like that is the closest we've come to that, Krull. 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:37.440 Oh, well, I mean we did Crawl. I mean you 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:39.840 you could. You could also think of another sword. You 0:04:39.839 --> 0:04:41.840 can think of a thrilling, bloody sword, though that's a 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:47.520 little bit different. We of course did Conquest, uh so uh, 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:50.400 and I imagine I'm forgetting one or two. But you know, 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:53.359 we do touch in on the the epic fantasy of 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:55.120 different shades now and again. 0:04:55.480 --> 0:04:58.000 Yeah, that's a I guess all of those have elements 0:04:58.040 --> 0:05:01.280 of this, so so I would say all of the 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:05.440 weird grotesque texture aside, which makes this movie wonderful. Just 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:08.280 in terms of straight plot content, this is the most 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:11.360 down the middle high fantasy we've done, and. 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:14.320 Yet there are a number of just real bonkers elements 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:16.119 to it that are going to be fun to get into, 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:19.080 like just in terms of like, yeah, like the textures 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:21.800 are all sort of traditional mainstream fantasy, but some of 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:24.720 the things that the screenplay does with it I ended 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:27.320 up really admiring. All right, So what would your elevator 0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:29.200 pitch be for the magic sword? 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:31.359 Oh? Can I not do sword in the stone? But 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:34.640 with radiation melting? I guess we already said that. Let's see, that's. 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:36.479 Olid, we can stick with it, stick with what works. 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:41.240 Let me try another one. Let's say George A an 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:46.200 adventurous young lad of only twenty years old fus It's 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:48.080 debatable in the movie whether he is supposed to be 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:50.520 understood as a child or not. At the age of twenty, 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:54.160 he falls in love with the princess without ever having 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:57.920 met her. He just like observes her through magical TVs 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:01.159 of various sorts. Then she is kidnapped by a wizard 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:04.599 and he must come to her rescue and brave seven 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:08.359 perils and curses along the way, and it's gonna be gross. 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:13.680 The curses are all amazing. The titular magic sword is 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:16.360 probably the fakest looking thing in the whole picture. Yeah, 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:17.919 so it is kind of weird that, like, that's the 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:20.960 selling point. And the poster says the most incredible weapon 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:21.680 ever wielded. 0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:25.960 So funny because yeah, it does not look incredible. It's 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:28.359 one of the least good props and effects in the movie. 0:06:28.360 --> 0:06:32.400 It looks very flimsy, very plastic. It's the sword is 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:33.000 kind of lame. 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:38.000 Its special power is set manipulation, and it fails halfway 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:38.599 through the picture. 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:42.719 Yeah, yeah, that is funny. It has the power to 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:47.479 open doors. Wow. But you know what I do like. 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:51.880 I like a version of the sword that completely misrepresents 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:54.880 what it's like in the movie. The I think it's 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:58.240 either the Italian or the Spanish poster for the movie 0:06:58.400 --> 0:07:01.960 La Spada Magica that makes the sword look really cool. 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:04.400 Oh yeah, it's glowing. I don't think it ever really 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:06.599 glows like this. And you also have a great image, 0:07:06.680 --> 0:07:12.360 a great drawing of Basil Rathbone has Lodak in the background, 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:13.240 looming large. 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:15.560 All right, should we do some trailer audio. 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:17.080 Let's do that trailer audio. 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:27.000 I am Sir George, possessor of a magic saw, my his powers. 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:29.040 I will lead you on the sun great adventure. 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:30.800 Each one might hear the leon. 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:38.640 Together we will go where no man has ever gone, 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:42.240 into the land of terror itself, where the superman of 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:49.680 evil is king. Let no man race my seven cousins 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:59.880 and reached the dragons. Together we will dare the demon 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:03.880 of the green Flame. See the white hot face of 0:08:03.920 --> 0:08:08.600 the fiery rock. Enter the mammoth cave that closes behind you, 0:08:09.160 --> 0:08:14.200 where humans are trapped and tombed. Brave the volcanic inferno 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:23.480 of the boiling crater. See the miracle of the magic Sword. 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:29.360 Battle the gigantic ogre. 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:33.760 Ah. 0:08:33.880 --> 0:08:37.040 You will be thrilled to the hill by the magic sword. 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:41.600 None like it since the world began two thousand year 0:08:41.640 --> 0:09:00.480 old legend Hollywood waited until now to tell the Magic Sword. 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:03.160 All right, So you might be wondering at this point, well, 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:06.880 where can I watch the magic Sword? Well, it is, 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:10.400 at first glance, widely available. You know you can. You 0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:12.199 can find the mst through K version. I think Riff 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:14.880 Tracks did a version of it. You know, usual caveats 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:16.840 on on riff content. You know, it's like it can 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:19.400 be a lot of fun and so forth, but you're 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:21.880 are going to lose some scenes, especially in the MST 0:09:21.960 --> 0:09:25.240 three K episodes. And I have to say, even though 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:28.040 this one looks like it's streaming everywhere, I initially like 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:31.960 marked it to stream on a on a prime channel. 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:36.000 I went and queued it up, started watching it terrible quality. 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:38.800 I ended up having to watch it kind of like 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:43.560 last minute. I found a YouTube stream that was in 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:46.560 higher death and so I have to say my main 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:50.040 recommendation for watching The Magic Sword is make sure you 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:52.480 watch it in as good a quality as possible, because again, 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:54.440 this is a special effects film, and if you watch 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:57.280 it in high depth, it looks really nice, has some 0:09:57.320 --> 0:09:59.640 wonderful colors and textures to it, and that's just lost 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:03.280 in the grated version. I would recommend grabbing it on 0:10:03.360 --> 0:10:07.040 physical media. Kale Studio Classics put it out on Blu Ray. 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:09.840 I think that's probably the way to watch it. If 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.720 you can find an official stream that's good quality, great, 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:14.720 but it looks like a lot of them are not. 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:17.440 Yeah, I agree, there are a lot of kreuddy rips 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:18.040 out there. 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:21.400 All right, Well, let's get into the cast and crew here, 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:22.959 or some of the highlights of the cast and crew. 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:26.560 As usual, we can't highlight everybody that made the picture happen, 0:10:26.600 --> 0:10:30.360 but yeah, starting at the top, Bird Eye Gordon, director, producer, 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:34.080 story credit, special visual effects, along with his wife, I believe, 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:37.880 and he lived nineteen twenty two through twenty twenty three, 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:41.560 the legendary mister Big, as we've been saying, an icon 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:45.480 of nineteen fifties B cinema. His earliest credit is producer 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:48.480 on fifty four Serpent Island, and he moved on into 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:51.240 the director's chair and the writing chair with his follow up, 0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:54.199 fifty five's King Dinosaur. We talked about him a greater 0:10:54.280 --> 0:10:56.760 length than our episode on the fifty eight film Attack 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:59.319 of the Puppet People. Other films of note include the 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:02.600 amazing Collossal Man from nineteen fifty seven that I think 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:05.960 we absolutely will do if we get a proper release 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:08.320 of it and I can watch it in decent quality 0:11:08.960 --> 0:11:11.160 Earth Versus a Spider from fifty eight, Village of the 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:13.920 Giants from sixty five, an Empire of the Ants from 0:11:13.960 --> 0:11:14.640 seventy seven. 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:16.760 Did we ever figure out what's going on with the 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:19.360 rights to Amazing Colossal Man, Like why is there not 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:20.400 a good Blu Ray of that? 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:23.960 I don't know the answer I checked in. I haven't 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:26.400 checked in recently on it either, so it's entirely possible 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:29.480 something's been announced and I haven't missed it. I try 0:11:29.480 --> 0:11:33.000 and pay attention to the various channels and so forth 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:35.800 that would announce this sort of thing, but sometimes it 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:39.240 slips through. I have no idea, Like Amazing Colossal Man 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:42.360 is such a tremendously fun movie that it needs to 0:11:42.640 --> 0:11:44.280 have a proper Blu Ray release, and I don't know 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:49.080 what's holding that back. Far lesser films are getting elaborate 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:50.480 Blu Ray releases. 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:52.560 Agreed, And I do want to emphasize again I sort 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:54.840 of said this up top, but despite Bird Eye Gordon's 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:58.840 reputation and the dullness of some of his other movies, 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:01.240 this one is I would say this is a well 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:04.040 made film like it just it's got energy. It just 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:08.040 zips right along, and it's fun even if you're not 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:10.839 in it. For the weirdness of the texture is the 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:13.240 way that we are. I think you're probably not going 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:14.320 to be bored by this one. 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:16.920 Yeah, the plot moves right along, and yeah, we have 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:21.080 to give credit. Screenplay credit to Bernard see Schoenfeld, who 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:24.880 lived nineteen oh seven through nineteen ninety American screenwriter. His 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:27.920 first screen credit state back to nineteen forty four's Phantom Lady. 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:30.880 His other credits include fifty eight The Space Children. That 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:33.120 was one directed by Jack Arnold, who've talked about on 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:35.960 the show before, and he did a lot of TV work, 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:40.080 including sixteen episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and one episode 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:43.280 of The twilight Zone from Agnes with Love about a 0:12:43.280 --> 0:12:47.040 computer technician who begins to take advice from a computer 0:12:47.280 --> 0:12:48.640 that he has fallen in love with. 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:53.000 Wait, is that the original Twilight Zone? Oh that's original? 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:55.800 Yeah, yeah, I should stress that because I know there 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:58.960 have been like thirty or four different iterations of the 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:01.520 twilight Zone at this point. This was original Twilight Zone 0:13:01.679 --> 0:13:04.360 and also original Alphad Hitchcock Presents, because there were at 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:06.360 least two different versions of that as well. 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:09.400 I guess I didn't realize they were doing fall in 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:11.080 love with the computer stories back then. 0:13:11.640 --> 0:13:15.840 Oh yeah, yeah, I mean the various sci fi writers 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:17.679 and horror writers of the time, like a lot of 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:20.840 that stuff was. It still holds up today, at least 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:26.680 from a plot and script standpoint. Yeah, so yeah, on 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:29.280 the whole, I love the weird energy and the interwoven 0:13:29.360 --> 0:13:32.480 schemes in this picture. We'll get into all that again. 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:35.040 It depends on a lot of the textures of traditional 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:38.960 old timey fantasy films and likely swashbuckling fantasies as well. 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:41.640 But I'm just not that up on But the plotting 0:13:41.720 --> 0:13:44.480 feels pretty fresh and at times really bonkers. 0:13:45.080 --> 0:13:48.679 It does bring just like warm jets of zaniness that 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:52.160 just keep coming in anew. There are multiple things in 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:54.720 the movie that, you know, I almost kind of wonder 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:56.960 if they were actually in the script, or if it 0:13:57.000 --> 0:13:59.560 was in the original draft of the script, or if 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:02.880 it was just like bird Eye Gordon Floor Gordon saying 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:05.520 we can do this kind of effect. What if we 0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:09.200 had some people trapped in a tiny cage, you know, 0:14:09.240 --> 0:14:11.240 what if we had this or that and they just 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:12.160 wanted to show it to you. 0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:14.839 So here it is. Yeah, and this is the guy 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:17.040 who figured out how to weave all that together into 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:20.480 a coherent plot, because yeah, it has like all of 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:22.120 these things, like it seems like he maybe had a 0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:23.160 checklist to work with. 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:26.200 Yeah, yeah, we've already done the attack of the puppet people. 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:27.640 Let's just put some puppet people in. 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:33.560 There, people giants of some sort. Yeah, all right, let's 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:36.480 get into the cast here. As we mentioned, oh, we 0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:40.280 have the wonderful Basil Rathbone in this playing the evil 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:44.320 and vain wizard Lodac. We talked about Rathbone before. He 0:14:44.400 --> 0:14:48.560 lived eighteen ninety two through nineteen sixty seven, South African 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:51.320 born English actor with a very long history on stage 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:54.400 and screen. He popped up in sixty six is Queen 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:57.680 of Blood, but I have to say, yeah, yeah, he 0:14:57.760 --> 0:15:02.240 was in it, but very forgettable because he It's difficult 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:05.240 to compare that Basil Rathbone to this Basil Rathbone because 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:08.520 we get like full powered, you know, hamming it up 0:15:09.080 --> 0:15:11.960 Basil Rathbone in this picture, and what we saw in 0:15:12.080 --> 0:15:13.800 Queen of Blood was a lot more subdued. 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:16.400 I truly did not remember he was in that. I 0:15:16.440 --> 0:15:18.600 remember Dennis Hopper more than him. 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:20.480 Yeah, yeah, I don't think rath I think ratt was 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:22.760 one of those pictures where Rathbone did his stuff in 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:26.280 like one or two days. He's just an ultimately very 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:28.800 small role in the picture. But in this, I mean 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:31.240 he's in almost every scene. 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:33.280 He's in some scenes he's not in in this. 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:38.680 Yeah, yeah, his energy resonates through the picture. But yeah, 0:15:38.680 --> 0:15:40.080 I'm not going to get in all the details, but yeah. 0:15:40.080 --> 0:15:42.840 He started appearing in films during the early twenties, often 0:15:42.880 --> 0:15:48.240 in Swashbuckler's always you know, Buckling that swash. He stayed 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:51.760 active on stage, won a Tony Award in nineteen forty eight, 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:54.520 and he was nominated for two Oscars I Believe nineteen 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:57.320 thirty nine's If I Were King and a nineteen thirty 0:15:57.360 --> 0:16:00.240 seven adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. He also had a 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:03.920 big footprint in horror and detective series. He played Sherlock 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:06.640 Holmes multiple times, and he played Baron von Wolf in 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:10.920 nineteen thirty nine Son of Frankenstein, the third Universal Frankenstein film, 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:12.880 with Carloff and Bella Legosi. 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:16.240 I feel like Rathbone was sort of on the second 0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:19.160 tier of the great horror stars. If you have like 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:22.440 Karloff and Legosi at the very top, that the level 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:24.960 under that is where Rathbone hangs out. 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:28.280 Yeah. So yeah, tremendous talent, and again we get to 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:30.920 see him firing on all cylinders in this picture. Very 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:36.480 energetic performance, just captivating. And also, you know something that 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:39.040 I think is always admirable when you have an actor 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:41.240 of this caliber is that he does seem to bring 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:43.760 a little extra out of the other players in their 0:16:43.800 --> 0:16:44.520 shared scenes. 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:47.320 Oh yeah, yeah, in every scene he's in, it feels 0:16:47.400 --> 0:16:50.800 like the other actors are having fun with him. 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:53.320 Absolutely, And I would say some of the most fun 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:55.440 we have is when you have has interactions with our 0:16:55.520 --> 0:17:00.200 next actor, and that's Estelle Wynwood, who plays Sybil, the 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:03.320 which foster mother of our hero, Sir George. 0:17:03.960 --> 0:17:08.480 She has her own kind of excellent handiness. So Rathbones 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:13.160 Hamminess is, Yeah, like you said, he's this arrogant, vain, 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:19.000 you know, pompous wizard who's who's just like can't stand 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:24.560 to have his ego pricked. Meanwhile, Stelle Winwood's sorceress is 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:27.800 she's like very checked out. She's almost like half of 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:30.720 her brain is not on this plane of existence. 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:34.040 Yeah. Well, she's been raising this twenty year old boy 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:37.040 all by herself, and she doesn't get a lot of 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:43.199 help from the chimpanzee or the the conjoining twins or 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:46.120 two headed I'm not sure exactly what's going on with 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:49.080 that character. But these these folks are not helping her 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:51.679 out a lot around the house. And clearly, as we'll 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:57.080 discuss Sir George, it's is a lot to handle. And yeah, 0:17:57.119 --> 0:17:59.320 so she she can't have she doesn't have her head 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:01.760 in her scheme all the time. And it's you know, 0:18:01.800 --> 0:18:05.520 it's also established early on, like she's not the best 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:08.840 witch or wizard in the world. You know, Lodak is 0:18:09.240 --> 0:18:12.200 a towering figure and she rates you know, a good 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:16.400 bit down the list. But still she's a good witch ultimately. 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:18.560 But she's not afraid to get her hands a little. 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:21.320 Dirty, that's right. Well, unlike Lodak, she has the power 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:22.960 of love in her corner. 0:18:22.920 --> 0:18:27.560 That's right. So. Stelle Winwood lived eighteen eighty three through 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:31.320 nineteen eighty four English actress of stage, screen and TV, 0:18:31.400 --> 0:18:34.360 who had a very long and celebrated history career here 0:18:34.359 --> 0:18:37.960 in the US. She made her Broadway debut in nineteen sixteen. 0:18:38.080 --> 0:18:40.720 In her first film roles in the early nineteen thirties, 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:43.720 but some of her biggest, most memorable films were from 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:47.560 the fifties and sixties, including nineteen fifty nine's Darby O'Gill 0:18:47.640 --> 0:18:51.359 and the Little People. She plays the mom of the 0:18:52.480 --> 0:18:55.440 town bully pony, who of course gets into at least 0:18:55.440 --> 0:18:58.920 a couple of punch ups with Sean Connery. I've never 0:18:58.960 --> 0:19:02.800 seen that. It's it's tremendous fun. I mean, Stell was 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:04.840 great in it, and then everyone else is great, and 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:07.919 it's it's just a really fun, you know, old timey 0:19:08.240 --> 0:19:09.480 Irish fantasy film. 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:12.240 You've brought it up before as the I think in 0:19:12.280 --> 0:19:15.240 the context of being a pre Bond Sean Connery. 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:19.119 Yeah, yeah, I highly recommend it. It's great Saint Patrick's 0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:20.919 Day viewing in my opinion, or at least you know, 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:22.880 I grew up watching it on Saint Patrick's. 0:19:22.560 --> 0:19:24.720 Day anyway, Okay, I'll have to see it sometime. 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:28.359 But Winwood was also in nineteen sixty four's Dead Ringer, 0:19:28.560 --> 0:19:31.879 sixty seven's Camelot as well as the producers both two 0:19:32.000 --> 0:19:35.240 huge films in sixty seven, and her final film role 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:38.600 was in nineteen seventy six, is Murdered by Death. Like 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:41.240 I said, when it comes down to interactions between Sybil 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:44.000 and Lodac, they're so much fun. Even when they're not 0:19:44.160 --> 0:19:46.760 actually in the same space at the same time. They 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:51.320 have a wonderfully spicy interaction just via closed circuit magic 0:19:51.400 --> 0:19:52.359 mirror at one point. 0:19:52.760 --> 0:19:56.879 Yeah, exactly, despite the fact that, I mean, this is 0:19:56.920 --> 0:19:59.200 a silly movie and it's hard to get too wrapped 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:01.480 up in the you know, in the battle of good 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:04.560 and evil in the plot here. But nevertheless, I did 0:20:04.600 --> 0:20:07.800 find her defeat of Lodak at the end of the 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:09.280 movie very satisfying. 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:19.960 Yes, absolutely, all right, let's move on to Sir George, 0:20:20.200 --> 0:20:23.480 who again Sybil has been raising as her foster son, 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:28.600 played by Gary Lockwood born nineteen thirty seven. Former stuntman 0:20:29.080 --> 0:20:32.200 and stand in for Anthony Perkins. He's probably best remembered 0:20:32.200 --> 0:20:34.879 as doctor Frank Poole in nineteen sixty eight two thousand 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:37.560 and one A Space Odyssey. You know, we've talked before 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:39.919 about actors from two thousand and one A Space Odyssey 0:20:40.000 --> 0:20:43.159 kind of like classing up the joint in pictures. We 0:20:43.200 --> 0:20:47.920 talked about that in Gorgo right. I don't know, I 0:20:47.920 --> 0:20:50.520 don't quite get the same effect with Lockwood's presence here. 0:20:51.480 --> 0:20:55.040 This one man he plays he plays a real goober, 0:20:55.200 --> 0:20:57.480 a lovable goober, and a young boy of twenty He 0:20:57.600 --> 0:21:02.000 was actually I think twenty four to twenty five filmed old. Yeah, 0:21:02.040 --> 0:21:03.600 and then there are other weird We'll get into some 0:21:03.600 --> 0:21:07.480 of the other weird aspects about his character. What sort 0:21:07.520 --> 0:21:11.320 of home environment he has here in this Witch's Layer. 0:21:11.720 --> 0:21:13.680 I mean, it's weird, but it's kind of sweet. 0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:17.800 Yeah, yeah, he's sweet. He's sweet anyway. Lockwood had a 0:21:17.880 --> 0:21:20.399 memorable guest role in the third episode of Star Trek, 0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:23.399 the original Star Trek, the episode where No Man Has 0:21:23.400 --> 0:21:26.480 Gone Before from nineteen sixty six. I believe he's a 0:21:26.480 --> 0:21:30.199 crew member who gets possessed by an alien force. His 0:21:30.280 --> 0:21:33.359 other credits include sixty one Splendor in the Grass, the 0:21:33.520 --> 0:21:36.800 nineteen sixty three Elvis movie It Happened at the World's Fair, 0:21:37.160 --> 0:21:40.680 nineteen sixty nine's Model Shop, in nineteen ninety five's Night 0:21:40.720 --> 0:21:44.400 of the Scarecrow, also in the nineteen sixty one Elvis 0:21:44.400 --> 0:21:45.840 movie Wild in the Country. 0:21:46.040 --> 0:21:48.119 Wait, what happened at the World's Fair? 0:21:48.680 --> 0:21:48.760 It? 0:21:50.080 --> 0:21:50.679 What was it? 0:21:51.200 --> 0:21:53.960 I don't know, you know. I meant to reach out 0:21:54.000 --> 0:21:56.119 to my aunt to who's an expert on all these 0:21:56.160 --> 0:21:58.200 Elvis movies, and ask her about these two and find 0:21:58.240 --> 0:22:00.239 out if these are good ones or not. I had 0:22:00.240 --> 0:22:02.200 not heard of either of them, but I didn't get 0:22:02.200 --> 0:22:03.879 the chance to reach out to her, So I have 0:22:03.880 --> 0:22:05.960 to pick up the thread on that in listener mail. 0:22:06.040 --> 0:22:08.480 I'm just gonna choose to believe the Elvis movie It 0:22:08.560 --> 0:22:12.160 Happened at the World's Fair is about the HH Holmes murders. 0:22:13.040 --> 0:22:16.120 Yeah, I'm sure that's it. All right, we have we've 0:22:16.119 --> 0:22:20.120 been talking about Sir George. Of course he's gonna he's 0:22:20.160 --> 0:22:22.920 fallen in love with the princess. The princess is Princess Elaine, 0:22:23.080 --> 0:22:26.440 played by Anne Hilm born nineteen thirty eight. Her biggest 0:22:26.480 --> 0:22:29.760 film was probably the nineteen sixty two Elvis movie again, 0:22:30.160 --> 0:22:33.240 follow that Dream, And I cannot tell you what the 0:22:33.320 --> 0:22:35.520 dream in question is, but this is a movie about 0:22:35.520 --> 0:22:39.800 following it. She's also in the nineteen sixty nine horror 0:22:39.800 --> 0:22:43.480 film Nightmare in Wax, starring Cameron Mitchell as the mad 0:22:43.480 --> 0:22:47.120 wax Master. This one I have seen. This is how 0:22:47.200 --> 0:22:49.560 my movie viewing history tends to go. 0:22:49.920 --> 0:22:52.520 I think we talked about this one in our episode 0:22:52.640 --> 0:22:55.560 on wax. Well, we did an episode on like the 0:22:55.600 --> 0:22:58.639 science of wax, but then also talked about wax horror movies. 0:22:59.119 --> 0:23:01.400 Yeah, this is one that fels very grimy and sweaty. 0:23:02.040 --> 0:23:04.520 I remember a lot of close ups of Cameron Mitchell's 0:23:04.520 --> 0:23:06.120 face looking kind of sweaty. 0:23:06.440 --> 0:23:07.679 He's got an eye patch in it. 0:23:08.160 --> 0:23:09.680 Yeah, this is the one where he has an eye patch. 0:23:10.280 --> 0:23:14.399 Not the best Wax movie, but still very much an 0:23:14.400 --> 0:23:18.040 important entry in the wax Master franchise. 0:23:18.480 --> 0:23:20.959 It's hard to beat Vincent Price's House of Wax. 0:23:21.440 --> 0:23:23.119 Yeah, that's the absolute best. 0:23:23.520 --> 0:23:25.919 Now, maybe we should save this for later, but I 0:23:25.960 --> 0:23:27.520 just want to say it now so I don't forget. 0:23:27.600 --> 0:23:29.840 I feel like we should do a compare and contrast 0:23:30.000 --> 0:23:33.919 on Vincent Price versus Basil Wrathbone, because I feel like 0:23:33.920 --> 0:23:37.960 they have a lot of qualities but also some hard 0:23:38.000 --> 0:23:40.680 to define differences that are nevertheless important. 0:23:41.400 --> 0:23:46.800 Hmmm, well, yeah, I feel like Vincent Price was better 0:23:46.920 --> 0:23:52.800 at conveying kind of like the the internal mechanisms of 0:23:52.840 --> 0:23:56.240 his scheming, you know, whereas wrath Bone, especially in this 0:23:56.720 --> 0:24:00.000 there is a sense that he's he's not considering you 0:24:00.560 --> 0:24:03.080 much at all. Like his enemies, He's very dismissive of 0:24:03.119 --> 0:24:06.960 their abilities, you know. That's his level of vanity and arrogance, 0:24:07.000 --> 0:24:08.639 at least as he plays it up in this character. 0:24:08.720 --> 0:24:11.440 And I feel like in you know, certainly Vincent Price 0:24:11.480 --> 0:24:15.840 could play some vain and evil characters but there was 0:24:15.880 --> 0:24:19.480 always a sense that no, he wasn't he wasn't underestimating 0:24:19.520 --> 0:24:22.439 you per se. He was thinking long and hard about 0:24:22.480 --> 0:24:24.520 your various strengths and weaknesses. 0:24:25.280 --> 0:24:27.800 I think that's right. Yeah, that's very astute. I would 0:24:27.840 --> 0:24:30.359 say if Vincent Price had been in this role, I 0:24:30.359 --> 0:24:32.440 think you would have played it a little bit colder 0:24:33.040 --> 0:24:38.040 and would you would have seen him taking the stock 0:24:38.119 --> 0:24:40.479 of George and his allies more than just kind of, 0:24:41.119 --> 0:24:44.159 you know, batting at them like a gnat that's bothering him. 0:24:44.320 --> 0:24:46.840 Yeah, he would have seen Sybil as more of a 0:24:46.960 --> 0:24:49.760 rival and not as an ant. He seems to see 0:24:49.760 --> 0:24:51.680 everyone as just mere pieces on the chessboard. 0:24:51.920 --> 0:24:54.160 Oh but hey, Basil Rathbone is not the only bad 0:24:54.200 --> 0:24:57.200 guy in this movie. We actually get multiple Hammi villains. 0:24:57.800 --> 0:25:00.800 That's right. We have Sir Brandon, who is a romantic 0:25:00.880 --> 0:25:04.120 rival for the princess's heart and a seemingly brave knight 0:25:04.280 --> 0:25:07.480 at first, but we get a series of twists that 0:25:07.560 --> 0:25:11.359 reveal that no, he's not here to make friends, he's 0:25:11.400 --> 0:25:14.320 not here to play fair. He'll do whatever it takes. 0:25:14.440 --> 0:25:17.120 He's here to kick you in the acid, Yes, kick 0:25:17.160 --> 0:25:18.600 you in the button, make you fall on the Acid, 0:25:19.520 --> 0:25:22.280 played by Liam Sullivan, who lived nineteen twenty three through 0:25:22.359 --> 0:25:26.280 nineteen ninety eight. Yeah, very very fun character, and the 0:25:26.280 --> 0:25:30.680 performance here provides I think, a nice dry counterpoint to Lodac. 0:25:30.760 --> 0:25:33.280 You know, like you're not gonna have You can't have 0:25:33.359 --> 0:25:36.080 two villains that are going for that level of hammed 0:25:36.160 --> 0:25:41.119 up villainry. This is the right level for your secondary villain. 0:25:41.840 --> 0:25:44.879 Yeah, I guess you're right about that. I did identify 0:25:45.000 --> 0:25:47.960 him also as a hammy performance, but it's in a 0:25:48.000 --> 0:25:50.800 different way than Basil Rathbone, not at the same level, 0:25:51.119 --> 0:25:54.640 and it has a different quality. It's more kind of sneering. 0:25:55.320 --> 0:25:58.200 It has a sneering, snidely whiplashiness to it. 0:25:58.480 --> 0:26:01.800 Yeah. Yeah, still solid villain for sure. Sullivan was an 0:26:01.800 --> 0:26:04.280 American actor of TV and film. I'd say mostly TV. 0:26:05.080 --> 0:26:08.240 He did episodes of Star Trek Original, Twilight Zone, Original 0:26:08.560 --> 0:26:11.520 Man from Uncle, and his film credits include sixty Five's 0:26:11.520 --> 0:26:14.159 That Darn Cat, eighty four is What Waits Below, and 0:26:14.280 --> 0:26:16.920 the nineteen eighty six film Wisdom all Right. The next 0:26:17.000 --> 0:26:20.720 character is credited as Mignonette. I don't remember if they 0:26:20.880 --> 0:26:24.919 call her this in the film. She's a seducer, a witch. 0:26:25.760 --> 0:26:28.280 We find out some sort of a hag creature. 0:26:28.320 --> 0:26:32.600 The false magical mask of a witch that is used 0:26:32.640 --> 0:26:36.960 to seduce a knight who is French. And they explain 0:26:37.080 --> 0:26:39.280 this in the plot. They're like, well, he's French, you know, 0:26:39.400 --> 0:26:44.159 so he's into pretty ladies. So she is the pretty 0:26:44.240 --> 0:26:47.920 lady form of the evil witch who wants to bite 0:26:47.920 --> 0:26:51.200 his neck and I don't know, drink his blood maybe, 0:26:51.680 --> 0:26:52.280 I'm not sure. 0:26:52.119 --> 0:26:56.040 Blood blood there for sure. Yeah, And she falls into 0:26:56.040 --> 0:26:58.240 some of the other schemes of Lodak as we see. 0:26:58.680 --> 0:27:02.080 But she's played by Nielle de Metz born nineteen thirty eight, 0:27:02.280 --> 0:27:04.959 French born actress who worked in American film and television. 0:27:05.320 --> 0:27:07.600 She appeared in nineteen fifty nine's Return of the Fly, 0:27:07.960 --> 0:27:10.240 which you know, if you haven't seen, you might remember 0:27:10.280 --> 0:27:14.600 from the Misfits song, and she had a small part 0:27:14.640 --> 0:27:17.520 in Blake edwards nineteen sixty eight film The Party. Mostly 0:27:17.560 --> 0:27:20.320 active in the sixties and seventies, she was nominated for 0:27:20.640 --> 0:27:23.080 an Emmy for a special guest part on The Man 0:27:23.160 --> 0:27:24.680 from Uncle in nineteen sixty four. 0:27:25.119 --> 0:27:28.520 I don't believe I've seen Return of the Fly. Does 0:27:28.560 --> 0:27:29.400 she become a fly? 0:27:30.119 --> 0:27:31.920 I don't know. I just I haven't seen it either, 0:27:31.920 --> 0:27:35.160 have just seen stills in which a fly headed man 0:27:35.240 --> 0:27:37.879 is approaching her and she is screaming. Well, so, I 0:27:37.880 --> 0:27:40.679 don't know if she's like the main heroine of the 0:27:40.680 --> 0:27:43.040 picture or if she's just like an early victim. I'm 0:27:43.040 --> 0:27:45.199 not entirely certain, but there are a number of stills 0:27:45.200 --> 0:27:46.000 of her in the picture. 0:27:46.600 --> 0:27:49.080 Nobody likes to get cornered by a flyhead guy at 0:27:49.080 --> 0:27:49.520 a party? 0:27:49.600 --> 0:27:53.720 No, absolutely not all right? And then finally, the score 0:27:53.920 --> 0:27:56.800 is by Richard Markowitz, who lived nineteen twenty six through 0:27:56.880 --> 0:28:00.439 nineteen ninety four. Emmy nominated composer best known for his 0:28:00.520 --> 0:28:03.840 work on such TV shows as Murder. She wrote Mission Impossible, 0:28:04.520 --> 0:28:06.280 though I knew do need to stress that he did 0:28:06.280 --> 0:28:08.760 not write the theme music for either of these series. 0:28:09.480 --> 0:28:13.440 He's the father of singer Kate Markowitz, who also worked 0:28:13.440 --> 0:28:16.399 as a backup singer for such artists as James Taylor, 0:28:16.480 --> 0:28:19.639 Randy Newman, Katie Lang, and Warren Zevon. Her two thousand 0:28:19.680 --> 0:28:23.320 and three solo album was Map of the World. But 0:28:23.440 --> 0:28:27.000 as far as as Richard Markowitz's work goes, there are 0:28:27.000 --> 0:28:30.119 plenty of places in this score that are very traditional 0:28:30.200 --> 0:28:33.720 highlighting either like the sweeping mainstream drama of the thing 0:28:33.880 --> 0:28:37.199 or some nutty high jinks, nutty magical hijinks. But it 0:28:37.280 --> 0:28:41.000 also gets weird and I believe electronic at times. There's 0:28:41.080 --> 0:28:45.320 some nice suspense in a later cave scene, and there's 0:28:45.360 --> 0:28:51.200 this wonderful Sibylis cooking sequence that features an absolutely bonkers 0:28:51.280 --> 0:28:56.320 track full of bleeps and bloops and monster croaking. It's fabulous. 0:28:56.760 --> 0:28:58.520 Yeah, there's a nice mix of things. So in the 0:28:58.560 --> 0:29:01.560 traditional end, we've got the you know, the King of 0:29:01.600 --> 0:29:05.480 the Castle horns bump bump, bump, bump bump kind of stuff, 0:29:05.520 --> 0:29:08.480 and then we've also, yeah, in the funny scenes, we've 0:29:08.480 --> 0:29:12.640 got plenty of doom do Doom do doom. But I 0:29:12.680 --> 0:29:15.440 know what you're talking about with the experimental moments. Yeah, 0:29:15.520 --> 0:29:16.720 I liked those parts. 0:29:17.200 --> 0:29:19.840 Yeah, all right, Well let's jump into the plot of 0:29:19.880 --> 0:29:20.800 the Magic Sword. 0:29:21.320 --> 0:29:24.479 All right, Well after the credits. The credits just are 0:29:24.480 --> 0:29:27.840 pretty straightforward. They're like red credits playing over a painted 0:29:27.880 --> 0:29:31.000 backdrop that looks like Saint George slaying the Dragon, which 0:29:31.000 --> 0:29:34.880 I suppose is loosely the inspiration for this movie, but 0:29:34.920 --> 0:29:39.160 I would place emphasis on loosely. The action opens with 0:29:39.240 --> 0:29:41.880 a shot of a witch's layer So there's a bubbling 0:29:41.920 --> 0:29:44.880 cauldron and a table with a polished human skull as 0:29:44.920 --> 0:29:48.520 a centerpiece, and it's all saturated in red light. This 0:29:48.600 --> 0:29:53.400 movie really likes the red gel lights, especially in Sibyl's 0:29:54.360 --> 0:29:55.800 sort of fortress of magic. 0:29:56.280 --> 0:29:58.440 Oh yeah, she has so many red gels going in there. 0:29:58.520 --> 0:30:01.000 It's like a dark ring. You would think, yeah, she's 0:30:01.040 --> 0:30:03.560 developing an Eastern Kodak film in there or something. 0:30:04.160 --> 0:30:07.720 So we pan up and we meet Estelle Winwood as 0:30:07.840 --> 0:30:11.200 Sybil the Sorceress. She's wearing kind of a sorceress dress 0:30:11.280 --> 0:30:14.080 with like the big dangly open sleeves, and she's got 0:30:14.160 --> 0:30:16.760 jewels around her neck and all that. She looks very magical, 0:30:17.440 --> 0:30:20.520 and she's talking to herself. She says, he's gone again. 0:30:20.760 --> 0:30:23.160 What good is my sorcery if I can't help my 0:30:23.200 --> 0:30:28.120 own boy? Answer me someone? So like, who's there to answer? Well, 0:30:28.120 --> 0:30:30.360 we're going to pant around the room and see. First 0:30:30.360 --> 0:30:32.800 of all, we've got a chimpanzee dressed in a red 0:30:32.840 --> 0:30:35.400 tunic and a leather belt who's sitting at a chair 0:30:35.560 --> 0:30:38.840 at the dinner table here. He has no input, He's 0:30:38.960 --> 0:30:43.440 just sitting there scratching his head. And then Sybil says, 0:30:43.440 --> 0:30:46.000 he's not fooling me. I know where he is. He's 0:30:46.040 --> 0:30:49.560 at the magic pool again. Now commenting on that, we 0:30:49.600 --> 0:30:52.560 suddenly hear from Sybil's other I don't know, like her 0:30:52.680 --> 0:30:55.920 coworker or friend or help her here, which is a 0:30:56.400 --> 0:31:01.240 two headed man who's two heads say simultaneous lee, love 0:31:01.360 --> 0:31:03.360 is his curse. He is in love? 0:31:05.480 --> 0:31:05.640 Now. 0:31:05.720 --> 0:31:08.720 One thing I noticed about the two headed man here 0:31:09.240 --> 0:31:12.240 is that the way that the two heads here they 0:31:12.320 --> 0:31:15.520 behave in a way that sort of defeats the purpose 0:31:15.560 --> 0:31:19.360 of imagining this, this creature with two heads, because they 0:31:19.400 --> 0:31:22.040 always say the exact same thing at the exact same 0:31:22.080 --> 0:31:23.200 time in unison. 0:31:23.680 --> 0:31:26.880 Yeah, yeah, Well, I assume that they've just worked together 0:31:26.960 --> 0:31:28.720 for a very long time and it just had to 0:31:29.040 --> 0:31:31.600 They had had to come together in agreeance on a 0:31:31.680 --> 0:31:34.200 number of things here, because we don't know the origin 0:31:34.360 --> 0:31:36.360 of this character or characters, I mean, she might have 0:31:36.440 --> 0:31:40.560 made them through her sorcery at some point or another. 0:31:40.720 --> 0:31:41.080 I guess. 0:31:41.160 --> 0:31:41.240 So. 0:31:41.400 --> 0:31:44.680 Yeah, Sybil says, yes, I've tried to cure him of 0:31:44.720 --> 0:31:47.200 this love? Why have I failed? Am I losing my 0:31:47.320 --> 0:31:51.080 skill as a sorceress? Doesn't my witchcraft cure snake bites 0:31:51.160 --> 0:31:56.200 chill Blaines, carbuncles, pink eye, hangnails, and unhappy memories. And 0:31:56.240 --> 0:31:59.840 I'd love to imagine who is coming to sibyls like 0:32:00.080 --> 0:32:03.240 red Witch Cave and the chimpanzee and saying I have 0:32:03.360 --> 0:32:03.880 pink eye. 0:32:05.360 --> 0:32:07.240 I feel like the movie kind of like cut to 0:32:07.360 --> 0:32:09.280 the chimp when she said pink eye, and it was 0:32:09.280 --> 0:32:11.600 like implyed that, like this chimp is just can pink 0:32:11.640 --> 0:32:14.240 eye like crazy, like every week having to cure this 0:32:14.320 --> 0:32:15.160 chimp with pink eye. 0:32:17.440 --> 0:32:19.920 But her two headed friend here assures her, yes, her 0:32:19.920 --> 0:32:23.000 powers are still strong, so why can't she cure her 0:32:23.040 --> 0:32:26.480 son George of his love infection. She sort of argues 0:32:26.520 --> 0:32:29.280 with the two headed guy about this that they say 0:32:29.480 --> 0:32:32.160 George is a man and he's human, so you know 0:32:32.200 --> 0:32:34.640 he's going to fall in love, but she says he 0:32:34.840 --> 0:32:37.640 is not a man. He is only twenty years old, 0:32:37.680 --> 0:32:41.000 which means he is still a child. She obviously does 0:32:41.040 --> 0:32:43.960 not approve of his decision to grow up. At first, 0:32:44.000 --> 0:32:46.480 I didn't understand what this whole thing about, like her 0:32:46.520 --> 0:32:49.440 repeatedly asserting that a twenty year old is a child. 0:32:50.560 --> 0:32:53.719 But I think it's because she is an immortal sorceress 0:32:53.760 --> 0:32:56.440 who is I think she says four hundred and twenty 0:32:56.520 --> 0:32:59.960 years old, So compared to that lifespan, it's like, oh, yeah, 0:33:00.120 --> 0:33:00.840 he is a child. 0:33:01.320 --> 0:33:03.760 Yeah, yeah, he should not get the keys to the 0:33:03.760 --> 0:33:06.080 car until he's like at least sixty five. 0:33:06.920 --> 0:33:09.479 So meanwhile, we go to meet George at the magic 0:33:09.520 --> 0:33:12.520 pool that Sybil was talking about. So he's leaning over 0:33:12.560 --> 0:33:15.640 the water's edge, the water's bubbling, and he starts begging, 0:33:15.800 --> 0:33:19.360 begging the water to show him the princess. So first 0:33:19.360 --> 0:33:21.680 we see a castle, and then we cut inside the 0:33:21.720 --> 0:33:24.400 castle to the throne room, where like the whole court, 0:33:24.480 --> 0:33:27.360 the king is sitting there on the throne holding his scepter, 0:33:27.560 --> 0:33:29.880 wearing his crown, and then everybody in the court is 0:33:29.920 --> 0:33:34.760 gathered and they're just watching a belly dancer perform. Yeah, 0:33:35.040 --> 0:33:38.360 nothing going. Princess is not there. Everybody's just like a 0:33:38.400 --> 0:33:38.880 good show. 0:33:39.080 --> 0:33:41.760 Good. I mean, he apparently spends a lot of time 0:33:41.880 --> 0:33:44.960 just watching, spying on the castle so that he can 0:33:45.000 --> 0:33:47.920 see the princess that he's in love with. Yeah, this 0:33:48.040 --> 0:33:51.040 is our first hint at like the idea that George's 0:33:51.080 --> 0:33:54.479 whole upbringing is just weird, Like he's he's grown up 0:33:54.480 --> 0:33:58.360 in this magical crypt. He has access to all of this, 0:33:58.920 --> 0:34:06.880 you know, privacy defying, magical pools and mirrors and so forth, 0:34:07.320 --> 0:34:10.800 and then gets fixated on people he's never met. 0:34:10.840 --> 0:34:13.799 That's right, and the privacy violations get worse because he's like, 0:34:13.840 --> 0:34:16.000 all right, she's not in the throne room. Show me 0:34:16.040 --> 0:34:19.560 the pond in the palace garden where yep, that is 0:34:19.600 --> 0:34:21.800 where she is. In fact, she's bathing in the pond 0:34:21.880 --> 0:34:24.680 there with her lady in waiting, hanging out and like, dude, 0:34:24.800 --> 0:34:30.279 respect the princess's privacy please, But you know he's just watching. Yeah, yeah, 0:34:30.400 --> 0:34:33.840 so this is Princess Helene. She gets out and starts 0:34:33.840 --> 0:34:37.480 talking to her lady in waiting, and she's talking about 0:34:37.520 --> 0:34:40.440 how she's upset with her situation in life. She's like, 0:34:40.520 --> 0:34:43.560 you know, even though I'm a princess, I'm unhappy because 0:34:43.680 --> 0:34:47.360 I'm not allowed to fall in love. Essentially, she can't 0:34:47.400 --> 0:34:50.080 even speak to a man, she can't meet people or 0:34:50.120 --> 0:34:52.800 talk to them. She's sort of like kept away apart 0:34:52.840 --> 0:34:55.920 from the world in a tower. And she tells her 0:34:56.000 --> 0:34:58.720 lady in waiting, quote, you can do whatever you please, 0:34:59.080 --> 0:35:01.919 fall in love, fall out again, a squire one day, 0:35:02.000 --> 0:35:05.000 a stable boy the next, and the lady in waiting 0:35:05.040 --> 0:35:07.480 does not take offense to this. She's like, it's the 0:35:07.520 --> 0:35:13.359 cost of being a princess. But suddenly a voice calls out. Oh, 0:35:13.480 --> 0:35:18.000 it's like a ghostly, otherworldly voice. It says Princess Helene. 0:35:18.680 --> 0:35:21.600 And she looks around and then sees the kind of 0:35:21.640 --> 0:35:25.360 insubstantial figure moving toward her. It's like the figure of 0:35:25.400 --> 0:35:28.239 a lady with a green veil over her head, some 0:35:28.320 --> 0:35:32.040 kind of fairy like queen. And this lady is coming 0:35:32.080 --> 0:35:35.439 toward her, and she says, Princess, I'm going to take 0:35:35.480 --> 0:35:39.120 care of you, and then her eyes flash green and 0:35:40.280 --> 0:35:42.200 I don't think we ever see this lady again. Do 0:35:42.239 --> 0:35:43.600 we have no idea who she is? 0:35:44.040 --> 0:35:47.760 Yeah, I mean presumably it is some sort of agent 0:35:47.800 --> 0:35:50.520 of Lodac, but not someone that is named or featured later. 0:35:50.920 --> 0:35:53.600 This is also a great scene where the ghost is 0:35:53.600 --> 0:35:56.240 coming right at the camera, right out at the audience. 0:35:56.280 --> 0:35:58.920 And there are a number of moments like this in 0:35:58.960 --> 0:36:01.320 the picture, because again, this is all about special effects. 0:36:01.320 --> 0:36:04.080 It's about thrilling the audience and so Bert's come and 0:36:04.160 --> 0:36:04.640 ride at you. 0:36:05.880 --> 0:36:08.480 This movie would have been a great candidate for three D. 0:36:08.680 --> 0:36:10.520 I mean, I'm kind of glad it's not three D 0:36:10.680 --> 0:36:13.680 because I enjoy it in the two D format, but 0:36:14.160 --> 0:36:15.919 it has a lot of stuff coming at you. Could 0:36:15.960 --> 0:36:18.920 have been a three D option for sure. So anyway, 0:36:19.400 --> 0:36:23.879 George witnesses this magical fairy abduction of the princess through 0:36:23.920 --> 0:36:27.280 his magical spy pool. He jumps up and he shouts Helene. 0:36:27.560 --> 0:36:30.400 Then he runs back home to Sybil and explains that 0:36:30.400 --> 0:36:32.400 the princess is in danger and he's got to go 0:36:32.560 --> 0:36:36.520 rescue her at once. But Sybil is very dismissive of this. 0:36:36.920 --> 0:36:40.680 Her points are the following, You're only a boy, You're 0:36:40.719 --> 0:36:43.160 not old enough to be in love. You can't be 0:36:43.200 --> 0:36:45.240 in love with somebody you only saw in a magic 0:36:45.280 --> 0:36:49.080 pool and have never met. That's a good point, and 0:36:49.160 --> 0:36:54.640 also just basically, like I love is silly. But I 0:36:54.640 --> 0:36:56.920 guess they're like, well, we'll get some more information. So 0:36:57.040 --> 0:37:00.560 she takes George over to her magic mirror, which is 0:37:00.640 --> 0:37:05.319 yet another long range magical surveillance device. And this sad 0:37:05.400 --> 0:37:07.839 me wondering, wait, why did George have to go use 0:37:07.880 --> 0:37:10.480 the magic pool if they've got magic mirror at home? 0:37:11.719 --> 0:37:15.040 You know, I guess it's like sometimes you know, you 0:37:15.040 --> 0:37:17.880 have like two TVs in the household, you know, perhaps 0:37:17.920 --> 0:37:19.600 so the dad can watch football and the kids can 0:37:19.680 --> 0:37:23.200 watch cartoons. It's like she has witching stuff she needs 0:37:23.239 --> 0:37:26.800 to do. She can't have George in the way spying 0:37:26.800 --> 0:37:28.080 on princesses the whole time. 0:37:28.239 --> 0:37:33.560 She's got to call into her sorceress Zoom meetings. Yeah, 0:37:33.840 --> 0:37:38.360 so Sybil tunes into Throne Room TV and she sees 0:37:38.400 --> 0:37:41.960 the King, presumably done with his belly dancing session. He's 0:37:42.000 --> 0:37:46.080 talking to his court about his daughter's disappearance. Now in 0:37:46.120 --> 0:37:47.719 the scene, we're going to meet a couple of other 0:37:47.760 --> 0:37:52.760 major characters, Sir Branton and Lodak. Sir Branton we meet first. 0:37:52.800 --> 0:37:56.360 He is this haughty, arrogant, goateed knight wearing a blue 0:37:56.360 --> 0:37:59.440 tunic with a blazing sun emblem over the top of 0:37:59.480 --> 0:38:03.880 his mail, and he explains to the King that Princess 0:38:03.880 --> 0:38:06.680 Helene cannot be found anywhere. And while they're in the 0:38:06.680 --> 0:38:09.080 middle of discussing what to do, suddenly a palace guard 0:38:09.320 --> 0:38:14.719 enters the throne room escorting Basil Wrathbone. Basil Wrathbone here 0:38:14.920 --> 0:38:19.560 is dressed in a black sorcerer's robe with a golden 0:38:19.640 --> 0:38:23.320 dagger at his belt. He's got a giant jewel encrusted 0:38:23.400 --> 0:38:26.960 pendant on his chest. He's wearing a red and silver 0:38:27.160 --> 0:38:31.560 cloak with almost Santa CLAUSI implications. He's also wearing some 0:38:31.640 --> 0:38:34.200 kind of wound cloth head covering. I don't know if 0:38:34.200 --> 0:38:36.840 this technically is a turban or is supposed to be 0:38:36.880 --> 0:38:39.960 a turban, or if it's something else. Everything he's wearing 0:38:39.960 --> 0:38:42.520 pretty much has gold trim on it, and he just 0:38:42.640 --> 0:38:44.000 looks really smug. 0:38:44.800 --> 0:38:50.000 Oh yeah, very smug, very colorful. Yeah, it's a fabulous 0:38:50.040 --> 0:38:54.520 presentation and just absolute confidence oozing off of them. Here. 0:38:55.360 --> 0:38:57.400 The guard is like, we found him skulking on the 0:38:57.440 --> 0:39:00.960 castle grounds. He won't speak, and Sir says there are 0:39:01.040 --> 0:39:04.600 means to make him speak. So I love that Branton 0:39:04.680 --> 0:39:08.680 is going straight to suggesting torture with no information whatsoever 0:39:08.760 --> 0:39:11.520 on the sky. But also, look at him. This guy 0:39:11.600 --> 0:39:14.000 is going to speak. You can look at him and 0:39:14.080 --> 0:39:16.520 know he's about to speak. You don't need to worry 0:39:16.560 --> 0:39:17.720 about him not speaking. 0:39:18.280 --> 0:39:20.239 Also, I'm gonna have to ding the script here, or 0:39:20.280 --> 0:39:22.600 at least the way the script was performed, because this 0:39:22.680 --> 0:39:25.040 is not a character that has ever skulked in his life. 0:39:25.080 --> 0:39:28.239 This is no sculptor. I think you mean to say 0:39:29.320 --> 0:39:31.799 vainly awaiting his audience with the king. 0:39:32.520 --> 0:39:37.680 Yeah, you skulking, I think requires a down a downturned 0:39:37.760 --> 0:39:40.040 angle of the head, like you know, the head is 0:39:40.560 --> 0:39:43.400 sort of down, but this guy's chin has never even 0:39:43.880 --> 0:39:48.560 like been parallel with the ground. Right. So Basil raises 0:39:48.600 --> 0:39:50.960 his arms up. He stirs up some kind of magic. 0:39:51.080 --> 0:39:53.799 The lights go dim, thunder cracks, and he says, your 0:39:53.880 --> 0:39:57.600 most serene majesty, you can call off the search the princess. 0:39:57.640 --> 0:40:00.200 Your daughter is in my castle under lock and he 0:40:01.040 --> 0:40:03.480 So the king demands to know who this sorcerer is, 0:40:03.520 --> 0:40:07.480 and he answers Loadak. So they know who this is. 0:40:07.520 --> 0:40:10.640 They know him by reputation. He is a bad sorcerer. 0:40:11.480 --> 0:40:14.480 Yeah it's not Lodak the Great, the terrible. Just all 0:40:14.480 --> 0:40:16.600 you need to know is Lodak. It's great branding. 0:40:17.080 --> 0:40:19.920 I don't know why, but I imagine I always imagine 0:40:19.960 --> 0:40:23.320 Lodak's name when I heard it here as an acronym, 0:40:23.400 --> 0:40:25.360 like it's all capital letters. I don't know what it 0:40:25.400 --> 0:40:25.960 stands for. 0:40:26.760 --> 0:40:31.560 I mean, lord of damnation, and I don't know. Pick 0:40:31.600 --> 0:40:33.160 a sea word and you got it, I think. 0:40:34.719 --> 0:40:37.280 So they ask him, you know, why did you kidnap 0:40:37.320 --> 0:40:40.360 the princess, and Lodak says, this is the quote. The 0:40:40.400 --> 0:40:44.239 answer is very simple. Your father executed my sister for 0:40:44.320 --> 0:40:47.440 witchcraft when she was only eighteen years old. I have 0:40:47.520 --> 0:40:50.200 waited until your daughter reached that age so that my 0:40:50.320 --> 0:40:54.160 dragon could relish the flesh of the princess. I don't 0:40:54.160 --> 0:40:57.640 know if that's very simple. It's moderately simple. I guess. 0:40:57.680 --> 0:41:00.160 So Lodak has a dragon. He's going to feed the 0:41:00.160 --> 0:41:03.120 princess to the dragon to get revenge on the king's family, 0:41:03.239 --> 0:41:03.960 or so, he says. 0:41:04.360 --> 0:41:06.080 Yeah, And I don't even know if we should believe him. 0:41:07.040 --> 0:41:09.000 This never comes up again. He doesn't seem to be 0:41:09.080 --> 0:41:12.400 dwelling on this too much, and Lodak doesn't seem like 0:41:12.400 --> 0:41:13.520 a sentimental type. 0:41:13.719 --> 0:41:16.440 Yeah, it seems like if some king executed his sister 0:41:16.480 --> 0:41:21.040 for witchcraft, he'd be like, shouldn't have gotten caught. But 0:41:21.200 --> 0:41:24.000 in reaction to this, Sir Branton, he's coming out hot. 0:41:24.080 --> 0:41:26.640 He says, I'm not afraid of some warm eatn sorcerer. 0:41:26.760 --> 0:41:29.120 I'll come straight to your castle and rescue the princess. 0:41:29.640 --> 0:41:32.640 But then Lodak warns them all. He says, look, it's 0:41:32.680 --> 0:41:34.959 not hard to find my castle. It's right down the road. 0:41:35.000 --> 0:41:37.960 It's a week's journey from here, but between here and 0:41:38.000 --> 0:41:41.840 there you'll have to face Lodak's original recipe of seven 0:41:41.920 --> 0:41:45.720 signature curses. No one has ever passed through all seven 0:41:45.800 --> 0:41:50.040 curses and survived. Then he explains that his dragon is 0:41:50.080 --> 0:41:52.600 going to eat the princess in seven days time, and 0:41:52.680 --> 0:41:55.120 he starts to show himself the door by the way 0:41:55.160 --> 0:41:57.600 he like. He turns and starts walking toward the door, 0:41:57.719 --> 0:42:00.319 toward the camera with his arms just raised up in 0:42:00.360 --> 0:42:03.799 the air, and then suddenly he changes course and then 0:42:03.840 --> 0:42:06.360 turns into a crow and flies away. That had me 0:42:06.560 --> 0:42:07.440 laughing out loud. 0:42:08.040 --> 0:42:09.760 It's so showy, it's wonderful. 0:42:11.120 --> 0:42:14.240 Also, right after this that I did a still frame. 0:42:14.280 --> 0:42:17.040 You can look out here Rob the King and Sir Branton, 0:42:17.719 --> 0:42:20.280 they have this look on their face, just like okay, 0:42:22.440 --> 0:42:25.400 but anyway, Sir Brandon, he's still saying he's going to 0:42:25.440 --> 0:42:28.239 save Helene. He says he does not care about the 0:42:28.280 --> 0:42:31.759 seven curses. For Helene, he would face seventy curses, and 0:42:31.800 --> 0:42:34.560 the King promises him that if he succeeds, he will 0:42:34.560 --> 0:42:39.320 receive half of his wealth and the princess's hand in marriage. Meanwhile, 0:42:39.360 --> 0:42:42.560 back in the Witch hole. George and Sybil have been 0:42:42.600 --> 0:42:45.480 watching all this in the magic mirror. I kind of 0:42:45.480 --> 0:42:47.600 forgot about them while the scene was going on, but 0:42:48.080 --> 0:42:51.120 I guess we've been watching what they are watching. And 0:42:51.239 --> 0:42:54.399 George is not happy. He's mad. He does not want 0:42:54.440 --> 0:42:57.080 Sir Branton to save Helene. He does not want Sir 0:42:57.120 --> 0:42:59.600 Branton to marry Helene. He's the one who loves her, 0:42:59.640 --> 0:43:02.680 even though than never met. So he begs Sybil to 0:43:02.800 --> 0:43:06.120 let him go rescue the princess, and Sybil is like, nonsense, 0:43:06.200 --> 0:43:09.719 you are only a child. So here we're about to 0:43:09.760 --> 0:43:12.120 get some backstory. First of all, we learned that three 0:43:12.200 --> 0:43:15.600 hundred years ago, Sybil's father and brother were eaten by 0:43:15.640 --> 0:43:19.799 Lodak's dragon, and they were excellent sorcerers, so Lodak is 0:43:19.960 --> 0:43:22.960 far too dangerous for them to face. She says, I 0:43:23.040 --> 0:43:26.279 fear him almost as much as I hate him. And 0:43:26.400 --> 0:43:28.880 after all, while Sybil is a sorceress who is hundreds 0:43:28.920 --> 0:43:31.960 of years old, George is a mortal and still a child. 0:43:32.719 --> 0:43:35.319 And we're also told that this is not framed as 0:43:35.320 --> 0:43:38.640 a revelation. It's just more like, as you know, George, 0:43:38.680 --> 0:43:41.240 when you were only a week old, your royal parents 0:43:41.320 --> 0:43:43.759 died of the plague, and then I took you in 0:43:43.840 --> 0:43:46.200 and raised you as my own son. And we learned 0:43:46.239 --> 0:43:49.520 that Sybil has been a kind and loving mother to George, 0:43:49.600 --> 0:43:53.399 but being an ancient sorceress, she doesn't get him because 0:43:53.440 --> 0:43:56.399 he's mortal, so she doesn't really understand that humans are 0:43:56.400 --> 0:43:57.920 not children at the age of twenty. 0:43:58.840 --> 0:44:02.279 Yeah, I mean, he's a difficult age right now. But 0:44:02.440 --> 0:44:04.560 on the other hand, it I think there's a lot 0:44:04.560 --> 0:44:07.239 of evidence to support the idea that Sybil has just 0:44:07.440 --> 0:44:09.120 had to do a lot of guess work in how 0:44:09.120 --> 0:44:13.800 to raise a boy, a mortal boy like he seems 0:44:13.840 --> 0:44:17.360 like maybe he hasn't been as exposed to like other kids, 0:44:17.400 --> 0:44:20.440 growing up into a wider world. He's had maybe a 0:44:20.480 --> 0:44:24.240 little bit too much access to magical items, and she's, 0:44:24.440 --> 0:44:26.040 as we'll see, you know, kind of spoiled him a 0:44:26.040 --> 0:44:30.319 bit too. So again it makes for this George ends 0:44:30.400 --> 0:44:33.840 up being this very weird hero in this picture because 0:44:34.280 --> 0:44:36.400 you know, he doesn't have the same sort of origin 0:44:36.440 --> 0:44:40.360 story introjectory that you would expect of your Dragon Slayer character. 0:44:40.960 --> 0:44:43.799 He's lived a very privileged in many ways upbringing, but 0:44:43.840 --> 0:44:48.000 also a very there's been a lot of deprivation in 0:44:48.040 --> 0:44:50.399 his upbringing, it seems. Yeah. 0:44:50.560 --> 0:44:53.920 Yeah. Also, this is where we get the scene where 0:44:54.200 --> 0:44:57.319 he's really he's moping. He's upset because of you know, 0:44:57.360 --> 0:45:00.120 her denials here, and then she tries to cheer him 0:45:00.200 --> 0:45:03.800 up by turning into a panther. But she doesn't do anything. 0:45:03.880 --> 0:45:07.080 It's not like she turns into a panther and I 0:45:07.120 --> 0:45:09.480 don't know, like spins plates on her head or something. 0:45:09.520 --> 0:45:11.560 She just is a panther. And then she's not. 0:45:12.120 --> 0:45:13.000 That should be enough. 0:45:13.239 --> 0:45:17.600 I can't do that, That's true. I can't either. What 0:45:18.160 --> 0:45:20.359 am I gainsaying this for? Yeah, okay, she turns into 0:45:20.400 --> 0:45:23.240 a panther and doesn't do anything, But that's that's pretty impressive. 0:45:23.800 --> 0:45:28.759 But he says, mother, not that trick again, Like she's 0:45:28.800 --> 0:45:33.360 like blowing raspberries on his belly or something. Anyway, this 0:45:33.480 --> 0:45:37.879 leads Sybil to take George on a She like takes 0:45:37.960 --> 0:45:40.839 him down into a kind of dungeon to show him 0:45:40.880 --> 0:45:43.839 the birthday presence she's going to give him next year 0:45:43.880 --> 0:45:47.799 when he turns twenty one. And these presents include a 0:45:47.880 --> 0:45:51.640 magical white stallion called Bayard that is faster than any 0:45:51.680 --> 0:45:55.360 horse on earth, a magical suit of armor that cannot 0:45:55.400 --> 0:45:58.719 be pierced by any weapon, and a magic sword that 0:45:58.760 --> 0:46:01.040 has a name. I was trying to hear what I 0:46:01.080 --> 0:46:07.040 think it's called Escalon, which that sounds right, okay. Escalon 0:46:07.520 --> 0:46:11.120 defies all swords in battle, neutralizes black magic, and it 0:46:11.160 --> 0:46:14.719 can open or close any door, portcullis, or portal with 0:46:14.760 --> 0:46:15.240 a touch. 0:46:15.920 --> 0:46:18.799 So basically, she's like, George, you're gonna be a level 0:46:18.840 --> 0:46:23.200 one character, but I have three legendary magical items for you. 0:46:23.640 --> 0:46:25.560 That's just right out of the gate. You're going to 0:46:25.560 --> 0:46:27.080 totally destroy these cobonts. 0:46:27.560 --> 0:46:30.440 Yeah, he's a level one fighter with the with the 0:46:31.239 --> 0:46:38.319 Saber of Doors, I guess. Yeah. Oh. Also, George just 0:46:38.360 --> 0:46:41.680 starts like groaning with pleasure when he holds the magic sword. 0:46:41.800 --> 0:46:43.360 He's like, Oh, it feels like it's part of my 0:46:43.400 --> 0:46:49.040 own body. Also in the room, she just happens to 0:46:49.080 --> 0:46:52.560 mention these are not presented as part of his birthday presence. 0:46:53.760 --> 0:46:56.600 It's just like, oh, yeah, those six night statues there 0:46:56.640 --> 0:46:59.560 against the wall, these are the six most valiant knights 0:46:59.560 --> 0:47:02.520 in the world, which were turned to stone by Sybil's brother, 0:47:02.920 --> 0:47:05.640 which makes me wonder, Wait a minute, was Sibil's brother 0:47:05.760 --> 0:47:07.879 a good sorcerer? Or a bad one. 0:47:08.600 --> 0:47:11.120 Uh yeah, Yeah, it sounds like maybe he was the 0:47:11.160 --> 0:47:14.600 bad sort, because these are six noble knights that were 0:47:14.920 --> 0:47:21.080 evidently defeated, imprisoned, you know, made eternal servants of this 0:47:21.800 --> 0:47:25.960 Witchcraft family. Yeah. I think there's a lot to suggest 0:47:26.080 --> 0:47:30.480 that this is not a beneficial fate that was bestowed 0:47:30.560 --> 0:47:31.040 upon them. 0:47:31.440 --> 0:47:34.160 But here George comes up with a clever trick. He 0:47:34.239 --> 0:47:38.800 manages to trick Sibyl into going down into an enchanted 0:47:38.880 --> 0:47:42.560 sub basement to I don't know what he did, just 0:47:42.600 --> 0:47:44.280 to go down there and look at it, I guess. 0:47:44.400 --> 0:47:47.200 And then as soon as she goes down ahead of him, 0:47:47.200 --> 0:47:51.480 he taps the stone trapdoor of the access to this 0:47:51.560 --> 0:47:55.319 basement and it closes behind her, trapping her inside. Now 0:47:55.360 --> 0:47:56.840 he's free to go save the princess. 0:47:58.120 --> 0:48:01.439 Yeah, he said, barries his mama so that he can 0:48:01.480 --> 0:48:02.600 god and pursue his love. 0:48:02.920 --> 0:48:06.000 Seems kind of cruel, Yeah, But also they do. I 0:48:06.000 --> 0:48:08.640 feel like they drop a few things to emphasize that, like, oh, 0:48:08.680 --> 0:48:11.520 she is an immortal sorceress, so it's not like she's 0:48:11.560 --> 0:48:14.279 gonna die of thirst down there or anything. But she 0:48:14.680 --> 0:48:15.600 still doesn't like it. 0:48:16.920 --> 0:48:18.040 She's like, oh, you scamp. 0:48:18.600 --> 0:48:21.600 So he then uses his sword to unfreeze the knights 0:48:21.600 --> 0:48:24.560 because I guess they were frozen by black magic. And 0:48:25.000 --> 0:48:27.120 we're going to meet all the knights in the next scene. 0:48:27.120 --> 0:48:29.080 But they wake up, and then there's one with a 0:48:29.120 --> 0:48:35.319 French accent who is like, oh, thank you. But here 0:48:35.360 --> 0:48:37.680 we go straight to a scene another scene in the 0:48:37.680 --> 0:48:40.400 throne room room of the castle, where at the beginning 0:48:40.440 --> 0:48:42.080 of the scene it's just like a repeat of what 0:48:42.080 --> 0:48:44.720 we already saw, like Sir Branton is promising to rescue 0:48:44.760 --> 0:48:48.319 the princess, but at this point he kneels in front 0:48:48.320 --> 0:48:51.120 of the king he makes this solemn vow to rescue her, 0:48:51.480 --> 0:48:53.960 and the king is like, hmm, that's a strange ring 0:48:54.080 --> 0:48:57.520 with a picture of a dragon on it. Sir Branton, Well, 0:48:57.600 --> 0:49:01.160 let's not pay any attention to that. They are interrupted 0:49:01.200 --> 0:49:04.600 by George, who is now calling himself Sir George. He 0:49:04.719 --> 0:49:07.840 barges into the throne room. He's dressed in his magical armor, 0:49:07.880 --> 0:49:10.759 he's got his magical sword, and he is accompanied by 0:49:10.800 --> 0:49:14.640 his six unfrozen cave men lawyer knights, and they all 0:49:14.640 --> 0:49:18.720 introduce themselves and show off their accents. So we've got 0:49:19.200 --> 0:49:22.240 and they're they're each like from a country of Europe. 0:49:22.280 --> 0:49:24.799 So the strange thing about this is it's not set 0:49:24.840 --> 0:49:27.240 in like an alternate land. It's not you know, Middle 0:49:27.239 --> 0:49:30.880 Earth or something. It seems to be set in Christian 0:49:31.160 --> 0:49:35.520 Europe in Earth. So we have Sir Denis of France, 0:49:36.040 --> 0:49:37.640 they say, Dennis. I don't know if that would be 0:49:37.680 --> 0:49:41.080 Deni in real life, but Sir Denis of France, Sir 0:49:41.120 --> 0:49:45.240 Pedro of Spain, Sir Patrick of Ireland, Sir Anthony of Italy, 0:49:45.640 --> 0:49:49.520 Sir James of Scotland, and Sir Ulrich of Germany, and 0:49:49.560 --> 0:49:52.880 they all sort of like say a hello in their accents. 0:49:52.960 --> 0:49:56.279 The German Knights. Sir Ulrich said he looks at the 0:49:56.360 --> 0:49:57.719 king and he's like mine Kaiser. 0:49:59.360 --> 0:50:02.520 And that's actually the voice of Paul Freese, the noted 0:50:02.760 --> 0:50:06.640 voice actor who worked on such things as The Bullwinkle Show, 0:50:06.920 --> 0:50:11.000 The Last Unicorn and just tons of of of various 0:50:11.360 --> 0:50:13.880 animated shows of old like he was in you know, 0:50:14.239 --> 0:50:17.440 The Return of the King, The Flight of Dragons, you know, 0:50:17.480 --> 0:50:20.480 the Frosty Snowman specials and so forth. 0:50:20.960 --> 0:50:21.839 Oh I did not know. 0:50:22.360 --> 0:50:25.040 Yeah, yeah, he's a he's a frequent name and all 0:50:25.080 --> 0:50:25.319 of those. 0:50:25.400 --> 0:50:28.360 Well, here we get some conflict because Sir George is 0:50:28.719 --> 0:50:31.359 he shows up, he stands next to Sir Branton. He's like, yeah, 0:50:31.400 --> 0:50:34.200 I'm also going to save the princess, and I'm also 0:50:34.360 --> 0:50:37.440 going to marry her. And Sir Branton doesn't like this. 0:50:37.600 --> 0:50:40.080 He tries to fight George. George doesn't want to draw 0:50:40.080 --> 0:50:43.120 his sword, so Branton strikes first, but just ends up 0:50:43.160 --> 0:50:47.680 shattering his sword on George's magical armor. And eventually the 0:50:47.760 --> 0:50:51.360 King he's he literally says, I like these knights. So 0:50:52.239 --> 0:50:54.000 he decides, well, they're all going to have to go 0:50:54.120 --> 0:50:57.400 save the princess together. They'll have to work together, George, 0:50:57.480 --> 0:50:59.920 the six Knights, and the scheming creep Branton. 0:51:00.800 --> 0:51:03.640 Yeah. The King sort of reminds them here that, like, 0:51:03.960 --> 0:51:07.160 actually the important thing is saving her from the wizard. 0:51:07.280 --> 0:51:09.560 We're getting a little sidetracked in the whole, like who 0:51:09.600 --> 0:51:11.600 should get to marry her things? Yeah. 0:51:11.680 --> 0:51:22.399 Yeah. Meanwhile, at Lodak's castle, we are going to check 0:51:22.400 --> 0:51:24.720 in with the princess. Now, Princess Helene is being taken 0:51:24.719 --> 0:51:26.719 to her cell and there she meets a couple of 0:51:26.880 --> 0:51:32.520 other princesses who are sisters. And this scene sort of 0:51:32.960 --> 0:51:37.160 suggests that Lodak is running like a full time princess 0:51:37.360 --> 0:51:42.319 dragon feeding operation. Like he's processing incoming princesses on a 0:51:42.320 --> 0:51:46.480 bi weekly basis, so he always has some princesses in 0:51:46.520 --> 0:51:49.120 the hopper when he feeds the ones that have already 0:51:49.160 --> 0:51:51.040 been there to the to the dragon. So I think 0:51:51.040 --> 0:51:54.880 he's like seasoning them in the dungeon while the dragon 0:51:55.040 --> 0:51:57.480 eats the ones that have been there already. 0:51:57.640 --> 0:51:59.760 Yeah, and it also makes me wonder are there attached 0:51:59.800 --> 0:52:03.879 skins for these princesses as well that result in some 0:52:03.920 --> 0:52:08.680 sort of revenue income or magical item income. Yeah, it 0:52:08.719 --> 0:52:11.000 seems like a big operation because this is not some 0:52:11.120 --> 0:52:16.920 dusty old sorcerer. This man has a fabulous wardrobe, He 0:52:16.960 --> 0:52:19.240 has a big cut castle to upkeep, He has various 0:52:19.280 --> 0:52:22.120 pets and curses to take care of. You know, you 0:52:22.239 --> 0:52:24.280 gotta stay busy to keep that afloat. 0:52:24.800 --> 0:52:28.160 It is indicated that that he asks for ransom. He 0:52:28.239 --> 0:52:31.360 doesn't for Princess Helene because he says that she is 0:52:31.360 --> 0:52:34.600 a special case. But what we're led to believe is 0:52:34.600 --> 0:52:37.160 that normally, yeah, he's got princesses coming in all the time, 0:52:37.200 --> 0:52:39.319 and he gets there, he gets their king fathers to 0:52:39.320 --> 0:52:42.920 pay money. So these princesses think that they're going to 0:52:42.960 --> 0:52:45.560 be fine because their father will pay the ransom required 0:52:45.600 --> 0:52:49.120 to save them. Unfortunately, Lodac says their father did not 0:52:49.280 --> 0:52:52.200 pay up, and instead he sent a company of knights 0:52:52.280 --> 0:52:55.319 to rescue them, and the knights all died facing his 0:52:55.400 --> 0:52:59.359 seven curses. I have questions about this, like would there 0:52:59.480 --> 0:53:03.799 be an enough princesses to sustain this kind of operation indefinitely? 0:53:03.920 --> 0:53:07.480 Like how does Loadak not exhaust the supply of princesses 0:53:07.520 --> 0:53:08.080 at this rate? 0:53:08.680 --> 0:53:11.000 I mean, maybe he's working internationally. We don't know, Like 0:53:11.040 --> 0:53:14.759 he's just in Christian Europe, Medieval Europe at this point, 0:53:14.800 --> 0:53:17.719 but maybe he's also jetting off to uh and to 0:53:18.080 --> 0:53:21.560 you know, to East Asia. At times he's heading he's 0:53:21.600 --> 0:53:24.480 heading to Africa, South America, like he's got a full, 0:53:25.840 --> 0:53:29.520 full global operation going here. Maybe he franchises. 0:53:31.400 --> 0:53:34.320 I wonder if sometimes like he can't get a princess 0:53:34.360 --> 0:53:36.279 and it's just like this week, I had to feed 0:53:36.320 --> 0:53:40.800 my dragon an earl. Anyway, he tried a basil rathbone, 0:53:40.800 --> 0:53:43.439 tries to make Helene watch the other princesses being fed 0:53:43.480 --> 0:53:45.759 to the dragon, but she won't look, and we don't 0:53:45.760 --> 0:53:49.279 get to see the monster yet. So then Lodak explains, Hey, 0:53:49.320 --> 0:53:50.960 you know, there are some Knights who are coming to 0:53:51.000 --> 0:53:54.600 rescue you, but don't worry, they will fail. First of all, 0:53:54.600 --> 0:53:57.279 he says, Sir Branton is coming, and she seems not 0:53:57.480 --> 0:54:00.759 excited by this prospect, so I guess she doesn't like him. 0:54:01.200 --> 0:54:03.040 She's like, I'd like to be saved, but. 0:54:04.520 --> 0:54:06.000 Not a big fan of Sir Brant. 0:54:06.000 --> 0:54:06.239 Here. 0:54:06.960 --> 0:54:10.320 But there's also somebody coming named Sir George, and despite 0:54:10.360 --> 0:54:13.239 having never met him and not knowing who who he is, 0:54:13.600 --> 0:54:15.640 she's like, oh, George sounds cool. 0:54:16.160 --> 0:54:19.440 Yeah, and his main main attraction being that he's not 0:54:19.520 --> 0:54:20.080 Sir Branton. 0:54:20.120 --> 0:54:22.560 I guess, oh, that's a good point. Maybe she's just 0:54:22.640 --> 0:54:27.160 excited that it's anybody but Sir Branton. So Lodak is like, well, 0:54:27.200 --> 0:54:29.240 I'll show you the young fool. And then once again 0:54:29.280 --> 0:54:33.000 we tune into Magical Remote Surveillance TV. So, like on 0:54:33.080 --> 0:54:36.400 a screen on the wall, Lodak shows George Branton and 0:54:36.440 --> 0:54:39.719 the other Nights approaching the First Curse. What is the 0:54:39.760 --> 0:54:42.480 first Curse? Well, you know what, I really like the 0:54:42.560 --> 0:54:44.520 set and the landscape they set up here. It is 0:54:44.640 --> 0:54:48.480 quite creepy. So they go into this this landscape of 0:54:48.640 --> 0:54:53.040 strangely shaped trees that at first I was like, what 0:54:53.080 --> 0:54:55.680 are we looking at? It almost looks like trees that 0:54:55.719 --> 0:54:57.680 have been pulled up out of the ground and you 0:54:57.719 --> 0:55:01.800 can see the whole root structure around in this pyramid 0:55:01.920 --> 0:55:05.560 shaped kind of structure. But no, I don't think that's 0:55:05.560 --> 0:55:07.400 what it is. I think it's actually supposed to be 0:55:08.040 --> 0:55:11.239 trees that have been knocked over in some way at 0:55:11.320 --> 0:55:14.640 like ten feet up off the ground. But I gotta 0:55:14.640 --> 0:55:16.960 give him credit. I really like this set. It does 0:55:17.080 --> 0:55:20.360 make me feel uneasy what lives here? And then we 0:55:20.440 --> 0:55:23.040 find out it's an ogre. It's a big old ogre 0:55:23.200 --> 0:55:27.360 that starts trying to smash the knights, And I also 0:55:27.480 --> 0:55:31.320 the ogre design. It's gross looking, it's creepy. 0:55:32.320 --> 0:55:35.920 Yeah, this monster has like that. Obviously this is going 0:55:35.960 --> 0:55:40.600 to be something akin to amazing Colossal Man, but yeah, 0:55:41.120 --> 0:55:44.040 in terms of just being this giant humanoid. But yeah, 0:55:44.120 --> 0:55:47.360 also has this kind of like were wolfy wolfman quality 0:55:47.400 --> 0:55:51.640 to it, and also seems I don't know, I ended 0:55:51.719 --> 0:55:54.040 up feeling more sorry for this creature than anything because 0:55:54.040 --> 0:55:56.640 he doesn't really do much. He just kind of stands 0:55:56.640 --> 0:56:01.200 there and howls while Knights attempt he's got like. 0:56:01.840 --> 0:56:03.920 One thing that looked creepy to me about him is 0:56:03.960 --> 0:56:06.600 that it's like he's got different kinds of teeth in 0:56:06.640 --> 0:56:08.920 his mouth, So they're not just like a row of 0:56:08.960 --> 0:56:11.920 sharp teeth. It's like he has teeth from three different 0:56:12.000 --> 0:56:14.040 kinds of creatures all in the same mouth. 0:56:14.680 --> 0:56:16.879 This may also be the character I've read. I think 0:56:16.920 --> 0:56:20.160 Michael Weldon points out that Richard Keel is in this 0:56:20.280 --> 0:56:24.239 movie but is completely uncredited. This would seem to be 0:56:24.480 --> 0:56:26.680 the role you would have him in if you had 0:56:26.719 --> 0:56:28.040 an uncredited Richard Keel. 0:56:28.560 --> 0:56:31.480 I wonder, But I know what you're saying about feeling 0:56:31.560 --> 0:56:33.759 sad for the creature, because it almost does seem like 0:56:33.800 --> 0:56:36.000 he's just trying to hang out in this little blasted 0:56:36.080 --> 0:56:39.239 landscape here, and then these things come in and start 0:56:39.280 --> 0:56:41.000 poking at him with spears. 0:56:40.760 --> 0:56:44.040 And yeah, I know what's happening. Yeah, he didn't ask 0:56:44.120 --> 0:56:46.640 to be the first curse maybe, I mean, that's the thing. 0:56:46.680 --> 0:56:47.960 He's somebody who is cursed. 0:56:48.360 --> 0:56:52.080 Yeah, that's true. So there's a long battle scene. George 0:56:52.160 --> 0:56:56.640 eventually defeats the Ogre by galloping in circles around him 0:56:56.680 --> 0:56:59.879 on his magically fast horse, and the Ogre is trying 0:56:59.920 --> 0:57:02.359 to like follow him in order to crush him, but 0:57:02.800 --> 0:57:04.880 round he goes round around in circles, and then the 0:57:04.880 --> 0:57:07.800 Ogre becomes dizzy and falls over, and then George pokes 0:57:07.880 --> 0:57:09.320 him in the heart with his sword. 0:57:10.000 --> 0:57:12.680 Yeah. Can't be that satisfying of the victory, honestly. 0:57:13.080 --> 0:57:14.880 Oh, and some of the Knights are killed here. So 0:57:15.120 --> 0:57:17.920 Sir Ulrich and Sir Pedro are killed by the Ogre 0:57:18.160 --> 0:57:20.560 and they have a little funeral for them and show 0:57:20.600 --> 0:57:23.160 them being buried, and Sir Brandon skips the funeral he's 0:57:23.160 --> 0:57:27.280 scouting ahead. Meanwhile, there are just like some scenes in 0:57:27.320 --> 0:57:30.440 the castle where Helene is running around. She like sneaks 0:57:30.440 --> 0:57:32.680 out of her cell and is running around getting scared 0:57:32.720 --> 0:57:37.040 by various things, one of which is shrunken people inside 0:57:37.040 --> 0:57:39.720 a cage. There's like dull sized people in a little 0:57:39.720 --> 0:57:42.760 cage saying help us, help us, like attack of the 0:57:42.760 --> 0:57:47.120 puppet people. Yeah, a Lodax castle also has like these 0:57:47.360 --> 0:57:51.000 like blue ghules and guys with conical heads, and people 0:57:51.040 --> 0:57:55.560 in plague doctor like bird masks, and just various people 0:57:55.600 --> 0:57:56.240 being scary. 0:57:56.640 --> 0:57:59.960 Yeah, but mostly cone heads. There a lot of coneheads. 0:58:00.320 --> 0:58:02.200 So on the road the Knights travel on to the 0:58:02.240 --> 0:58:05.560 next curse, which is a vile, misty swamp full of 0:58:05.640 --> 0:58:09.800 bubbling acid pools. In this swamp, the Knights become separated 0:58:09.840 --> 0:58:13.280 from one another and Sir Anthony falls into a bubbling 0:58:13.320 --> 0:58:16.960 acid pool. George tries to go save him, and Branton 0:58:17.120 --> 0:58:22.120 intentionally knocks George into the pool. Somehow, George doesn't realize 0:58:22.200 --> 0:58:23.760 this later. I don't know if he thinks it was 0:58:23.800 --> 0:58:26.600 an accident or he doesn't realize somebody kicked him. I'm 0:58:26.640 --> 0:58:27.080 not sure. 0:58:27.400 --> 0:58:30.360 But the result is pretty gruesome because we don't get 0:58:30.440 --> 0:58:32.440 You might expect it from a movie like this. You 0:58:32.520 --> 0:58:35.120 might expect it to be like that high school biology 0:58:35.160 --> 0:58:39.240 classroom skeleton rising to the surface. No, what we get 0:58:39.320 --> 0:58:40.400 is is a big grimmer. 0:58:40.760 --> 0:58:45.200 It's like a skull with very bleached white, gritted teeth, 0:58:45.600 --> 0:58:48.040 and then where the flesh would be over the skull 0:58:48.160 --> 0:58:51.440 is just like bubble gum has been stretched over the bone. 0:58:52.880 --> 0:58:55.080 But the bubblegum that's had all the flavor chewed out 0:58:55.120 --> 0:58:55.280 of it. 0:58:55.440 --> 0:58:59.200 Oh yeah, it's a nasty looking And it happens like 0:58:59.280 --> 0:59:03.320 immediately Anthony's He's like swimming in the pool, going and 0:59:03.400 --> 0:59:05.600 being like help, help, and then it cuts away and 0:59:05.600 --> 0:59:08.040 then cuts back and now he's just the skull. 0:59:08.120 --> 0:59:10.360 Done for fatality. 0:59:10.360 --> 0:59:12.800 But George survives the acid pool. I think because of 0:59:12.800 --> 0:59:15.080 his magical armor. I assume that's the reason. 0:59:16.160 --> 0:59:18.160 Yeah, he's indestructible on this stuff. Now. 0:59:18.320 --> 0:59:22.040 Meanwhile, back at the witch Hut, Sybil finally escapes the basement. 0:59:22.800 --> 0:59:26.200 She realized owing her her friends there in the witchholder 0:59:26.320 --> 0:59:30.880 like playing chess, and she realizes George is in danger, 0:59:31.480 --> 0:59:34.400 so she decides she has to intervene to save him. 0:59:34.400 --> 0:59:38.160 But first she's gonna watch him on magic TV. So 0:59:38.760 --> 0:59:42.720 we see her watching in the magic mirror. The camp 0:59:42.800 --> 0:59:45.240 of the Knights after Anthony also has died, So now 0:59:45.240 --> 0:59:47.520 there are only three of the other Knights left, I think, 0:59:47.560 --> 0:59:51.360 Sir James of Scotland, Sir Patrick of Ireland, and Sir 0:59:51.360 --> 0:59:55.440 Denis of France. And at the camp, Sir Branton is 0:59:55.480 --> 0:59:57.560 giving a speech trying to convince the other Knights to 0:59:57.600 --> 1:00:00.840 abandon the journey. He's like, go home, you, you don't 1:00:00.840 --> 1:00:03.800 have to risk your lives anymore. But the other Knights refuse, 1:00:04.520 --> 1:00:08.120 and Sir Patrick mocks him. He says his tongue is 1:00:08.240 --> 1:00:12.400 like the honey from a clover patch. Is that an expression? 1:00:12.440 --> 1:00:13.120 I've never heard that. 1:00:13.880 --> 1:00:15.480 I've only ever heard it in this movie. 1:00:16.840 --> 1:00:19.720 So while the other night's sleep, Sir Branton sneaks off 1:00:19.760 --> 1:00:22.680 alone to a house in the countryside, all for an 1:00:22.840 --> 1:00:26.800 illicit rendezvous with Loadak. So here we get a big twist. 1:00:27.280 --> 1:00:30.760 Turns out they have been conspiring together from the beginning. 1:00:31.120 --> 1:00:33.959 Remember that ring with a dragon on it that Sir 1:00:34.040 --> 1:00:36.560 Branton had and the King noticed and then nobody said 1:00:36.560 --> 1:00:41.160 anything about. So it works like this. Lodak lost his 1:00:41.320 --> 1:00:45.600 magic ring a while back. Sir Branton found it. Lodak 1:00:45.680 --> 1:00:48.120 wants the ring back, but he can't take it because 1:00:48.160 --> 1:00:51.920 the ring protects itself against being taken by force. So 1:00:52.440 --> 1:00:55.000 they make a deal. In exchange for the return of 1:00:55.040 --> 1:00:59.120 the ring, Lodak will help Sir Branton win the hand 1:00:59.120 --> 1:01:02.360 of Princess Helene and the reward of half of the 1:01:02.440 --> 1:01:05.840 King's kingdom for her rescue. So he would do that 1:01:05.880 --> 1:01:08.800 by staging this abduction and then allowing Sir Branton to 1:01:08.840 --> 1:01:09.520 bring her back. 1:01:10.400 --> 1:01:13.800 I love it. Yeah, a nice side scheme to everything here. 1:01:13.840 --> 1:01:14.680 The plot dickens. 1:01:15.240 --> 1:01:18.400 It is a good twist and but clearly the party. 1:01:18.720 --> 1:01:20.800 One thing I like about it is that they're not 1:01:21.000 --> 1:01:25.560 just cleanly in league like the parties involved here distrust 1:01:25.600 --> 1:01:28.880 one another. They are both snakes, and they're both wondering, 1:01:28.960 --> 1:01:31.680 how will the other one try to betray me? Right? 1:01:31.800 --> 1:01:33.520 Yeah, either one will stab the other one in the 1:01:33.560 --> 1:01:35.200 back once they have what they want. 1:01:35.600 --> 1:01:38.400 Oh and then suddenly, while they're talking, Lodak is like, oh, 1:01:38.440 --> 1:01:41.560 Sir Denis of France is coming, you know he So 1:01:41.600 --> 1:01:45.080 Sir Denis noticed Branton leaving the camp early in the morning, 1:01:45.360 --> 1:01:48.600 and he followed him to investigate. While everybody else is sleeping. 1:01:48.840 --> 1:01:52.080 Lodak detects he's coming, but don't worry. He has a plan. 1:01:53.200 --> 1:01:56.200 It's some kind of horrible love trap, Like he sees 1:01:56.280 --> 1:01:59.400 Sir Denis coming and then he's like, ah, he's a 1:01:59.440 --> 1:02:03.640 Frenchman and so I will get him with a pretty woman. 1:02:03.880 --> 1:02:07.200 So suddenly, a while Dennis is approaching this house that 1:02:07.240 --> 1:02:10.760 he's trying to investigate, just like a pretty lady just 1:02:10.880 --> 1:02:15.280 wanders onto the screen singing Freira Shaka, and Sir Dennis 1:02:15.360 --> 1:02:20.320 is like, there can't be anything suspicious about this. So 1:02:20.440 --> 1:02:23.760 he's just like monto more, I'm in love. He is 1:02:23.800 --> 1:02:27.880 successfully catfished by magic. I guess you would call this witchfished. 1:02:28.560 --> 1:02:31.960 And so he's like they're just sitting there smooching, and 1:02:32.080 --> 1:02:35.880 then suddenly she transforms into a witch and tries to 1:02:35.920 --> 1:02:39.280 bite his neck. And the witch has like the witch 1:02:39.360 --> 1:02:42.560 is creepy looking, she's got like one eye melting off 1:02:42.560 --> 1:02:44.800 of her head. She tries to bite him in the neck, 1:02:44.840 --> 1:02:47.560 but Sir George comes to the rescue. Dennis is saved 1:02:47.560 --> 1:02:50.920 because George does something like with his magic shield and 1:02:51.000 --> 1:02:54.040 it like emits light that scares the witch and makes 1:02:54.080 --> 1:02:57.160 her vaporize. Oh and then I like how Dennis is 1:02:57.200 --> 1:03:00.720 He just fully plays into the Lodax assumed seo type 1:03:00.720 --> 1:03:03.880 here when he's talking to George, He's like, yeah, Lodak 1:03:03.960 --> 1:03:05.920 got me. He must have known I was French. 1:03:07.400 --> 1:03:08.920 Yeah. I mean it's enough to make you wonder are 1:03:08.960 --> 1:03:12.000 these knights even real? Were they really captured knights or 1:03:12.000 --> 1:03:14.520 were they just made by sorcery and therefore based on 1:03:14.560 --> 1:03:15.720 just broad stereotypes. 1:03:15.880 --> 1:03:19.760 That's funny. Yeah. Oh, and then there's a confrontation where 1:03:20.040 --> 1:03:23.600 George and Dennis go into the house to see Sir Branton, 1:03:23.920 --> 1:03:26.320 but Branton lies his way out of it. And there's 1:03:26.360 --> 1:03:28.840 also after they leave, there's a funny scene where the 1:03:28.880 --> 1:03:33.080 witch like they have a performance review the witch does 1:03:33.160 --> 1:03:37.000 with Lodak, and she's like, I almost killed him. 1:03:37.040 --> 1:03:40.080 I tried, but you know that's not gonna cut it. 1:03:40.120 --> 1:03:42.520 So what does he do? Bam, turns her into a spider. 1:03:51.160 --> 1:03:53.720 All right, So how far into the curses are we now, Joe, 1:03:53.960 --> 1:03:55.200 This is a good question. 1:03:55.520 --> 1:03:58.400 I sort of got confused trying to count the curses. 1:03:58.480 --> 1:04:02.760 So the ogre is the first curse, and the swamp 1:04:02.880 --> 1:04:05.560 with the acid pools, I think that's the second curse. 1:04:05.720 --> 1:04:06.600 Okay, we're at least two. 1:04:06.640 --> 1:04:11.800 In third curse is I think the witch who looks 1:04:12.000 --> 1:04:13.600 like a French lady. 1:04:14.120 --> 1:04:17.360 Yeah, okay, so that would mean we're ready for four 1:04:17.440 --> 1:04:18.000 at this point. 1:04:18.520 --> 1:04:20.320 But when when I think about the rest of it, 1:04:20.480 --> 1:04:23.160 it doesn't add up. I'm like, what are the seven curses? 1:04:24.880 --> 1:04:26.800 Well, the next one is definitely a doozy. 1:04:26.840 --> 1:04:30.160 Oh my lord? Yeah, okay, So at this point I 1:04:30.200 --> 1:04:37.480 think somehow Sir James of Scotland and Sir Dennis of 1:04:37.560 --> 1:04:42.240 France like, go ahead to investigate what's down the road, 1:04:42.480 --> 1:04:47.000 and that leaves Sir George, Sir Branton and Sir Patrick 1:04:47.040 --> 1:04:50.440 of Ireland and the three of them they they they're 1:04:50.480 --> 1:04:54.120 approaching their their comrades. But the comrades who went ahead 1:04:54.200 --> 1:04:58.800 are now just like melted. They're horribly irradiated, covered in blisters. 1:04:58.840 --> 1:05:02.160 Their hair is gone, their skin is like peeling away 1:05:02.720 --> 1:05:04.640 like old wallpaper. 1:05:05.560 --> 1:05:05.680 Is. 1:05:06.440 --> 1:05:11.160 It's disgusting, absolutely disgusting. You see them in like a cave, 1:05:11.320 --> 1:05:17.080 I think, staring into this yellow spiral and they're shirtless 1:05:17.120 --> 1:05:19.400 and their hair is gone. And then they turn and 1:05:19.440 --> 1:05:22.440 look into the camera and they're all messed up, partially melted, 1:05:22.520 --> 1:05:25.280 and then you see their like silhouettes coming over a 1:05:25.360 --> 1:05:28.200 hilltop and then they just disappear. It's like they turn 1:05:28.280 --> 1:05:28.760 to dust. 1:05:29.440 --> 1:05:33.760 Yeah, in a way, almost like a decade appropriate version 1:05:33.760 --> 1:05:35.960 of the Robocot melt scene, you know, because it's like 1:05:35.960 --> 1:05:38.439 they're coming right at us. They look horrible, they look 1:05:38.440 --> 1:05:41.840 in pain. And it's this moment especially where I can think, 1:05:42.080 --> 1:05:44.640 I can rationalize. It's like, Okay, I could see where 1:05:44.680 --> 1:05:47.560 some sensors might have had a problem with the tonal 1:05:47.600 --> 1:05:51.800 inconsistency of this film. One second, it's a chimpanzee playing chess, 1:05:51.960 --> 1:05:53.000 and then later on it's this. 1:05:53.400 --> 1:05:56.800 Yeah, can't you just imagine Sir Branton here in ray 1:05:56.840 --> 1:06:01.800 wise fashion and being like, don't touch me in yeah, 1:06:01.960 --> 1:06:05.480 all right, So those nights. They're gone melted, blasted by 1:06:05.840 --> 1:06:09.240 whatever that the yellow spiral thing was. Now somewhere in 1:06:09.280 --> 1:06:12.360 here this may actually have already happened, or it's somewhere 1:06:12.360 --> 1:06:15.480 in here that there's a whole scene where Sybil back 1:06:15.520 --> 1:06:19.840 at home, is trying to intervene to help George. She 1:06:19.920 --> 1:06:22.720 wants to like brew up a potion and do a 1:06:22.760 --> 1:06:25.920 spell that will help him somehow, but she ends up 1:06:25.960 --> 1:06:29.520 having the exact opposite of her intended effect, and she 1:06:29.760 --> 1:06:33.040 accidentally disables his magic powers instead. 1:06:33.720 --> 1:06:37.120 This is the sibyl is cooking scene that I referenced earlier, 1:06:37.200 --> 1:06:41.240 And even though it doesn't pay off for her, it's 1:06:41.280 --> 1:06:44.280 still a fabulous sequence because again, the music just gets 1:06:44.320 --> 1:06:48.200 super weird. You got those red gels, and yeah, she's 1:06:48.200 --> 1:06:50.360 just cooking away and I love it. 1:06:50.760 --> 1:06:53.360 And you could tell she's improvising, like she she doesn't 1:06:53.400 --> 1:06:55.600 remember the recipe, so she's you know, it's like she's 1:06:55.600 --> 1:06:58.880 playing a solo here, making it up as she goes, Yeah, 1:06:58.960 --> 1:07:00.680 well I think I need the ear of a rabbit. 1:07:00.760 --> 1:07:01.960 That's right, that's it. 1:07:02.800 --> 1:07:04.320 Yeah, she doesn't have the recipe in front of her, 1:07:04.320 --> 1:07:07.200 she doesn't have everything prepared, but oh man, her cauldron 1:07:07.480 --> 1:07:09.240 is an upturned monster skull. 1:07:10.120 --> 1:07:11.080 Yeah that's good. 1:07:11.680 --> 1:07:13.840 So I love everything about this sequence, even if it 1:07:13.840 --> 1:07:16.280 doesn't really pay off the way she's hoping it will. 1:07:17.080 --> 1:07:21.320 So after this, Sir Branton leads George and Sir Patrick Ireland, 1:07:21.360 --> 1:07:25.000 the last of the six Nights, into a cave and 1:07:25.040 --> 1:07:28.320 then he like leads him into the cave I can't remember. 1:07:28.360 --> 1:07:31.120 He kind of like taunts them somehow and makes them 1:07:31.160 --> 1:07:33.680 follow him, and then they go into the cave and 1:07:33.680 --> 1:07:36.880 then he leaves the cave and it the door of 1:07:36.920 --> 1:07:40.280 the cave closes behind him, so they're trapped inside. And 1:07:40.320 --> 1:07:44.120 then these weird green mask ghosts come out. They're like 1:07:44.200 --> 1:07:47.240 floating in the air and wailing, and one of the 1:07:47.240 --> 1:07:51.440 ghosts kills Sir Patrick sort of just by flying into 1:07:51.480 --> 1:07:54.160 his face and then seeping into him. 1:07:54.520 --> 1:07:56.840 Yeah, it's it's kind of a hard to follow sequence, 1:07:57.240 --> 1:08:01.000 but the ghosts are creepy, the music is good. The 1:08:01.040 --> 1:08:04.120 ghost kind of looked like shrunken heads, and like you said, 1:08:04.120 --> 1:08:08.480 also like masks. So uh, yeah, it mostly works. It does. 1:08:08.600 --> 1:08:10.920 The one thing that works less well is that the 1:08:10.960 --> 1:08:14.880 tone of what follows. So Sir Patrick dies and he 1:08:14.920 --> 1:08:20.280 can be heard violently screaming George help me. It's like 1:08:20.439 --> 1:08:25.120 really painful to hear ragged screaming desperate. But then a 1:08:25.320 --> 1:08:29.639 ghost face flies into the wall of the cave and 1:08:30.080 --> 1:08:33.000 a door opens to the outside, so like they were 1:08:33.040 --> 1:08:35.120 trapped inside. Oh and George had tried to use his 1:08:35.200 --> 1:08:37.080 sword to open the door because it's supposed to open 1:08:37.120 --> 1:08:40.920 any doors, but it has been deactivated from afar by Sybil, 1:08:42.360 --> 1:08:44.559 so that didn't work. And so yeah, this ghost face 1:08:44.560 --> 1:08:46.800 flies into the wall, the wall opens up yet again, 1:08:47.360 --> 1:08:51.000 and then the voice of Sir Patrick, still screaming in 1:08:51.080 --> 1:08:54.880 exactly the same way, says George. 1:08:54.479 --> 1:08:59.920 Through the wall. Yeah, and yeah, it's hard to follow 1:09:00.040 --> 1:09:03.360 exactly what has happened here, and which character is it 1:09:03.400 --> 1:09:07.000 that then tells us in a bit here and explains that, oh, 1:09:07.000 --> 1:09:08.480 well it's Patrick's faith. 1:09:08.560 --> 1:09:13.519 That yeah, Lodak explains it. Actually, So George escapes the 1:09:13.560 --> 1:09:16.360 cave because of whatever that was, the like face flying 1:09:16.400 --> 1:09:18.840 into the wall and the screaming voices door it opened. 1:09:18.880 --> 1:09:22.120 George gets out. There's this lingering shot of Sir Patrick's 1:09:22.160 --> 1:09:25.120 dead body in the cave as the wall closes behind 1:09:25.160 --> 1:09:27.639 George on his way out. Then we see once again 1:09:28.000 --> 1:09:32.679 somebody watching magic remote TV Loadak and Sir Branton are 1:09:32.920 --> 1:09:37.599 looking upon a magic fire scheming, and Sir Branton says, 1:09:37.720 --> 1:09:42.280 was it magic? Loadak says, no, not magic. Sir Branton says, 1:09:42.320 --> 1:09:46.559 then how did George escape. Loadak says, I think, yes, 1:09:46.760 --> 1:09:51.120 something stronger than magic, the power of Patrick's faith. 1:09:53.479 --> 1:09:55.280 Yeah, Like, where does that come from? We have not 1:09:55.600 --> 1:09:59.639 There's been nothing to establish that Patrick was particularly religious. 1:09:59.640 --> 1:10:03.599 All we know is that he is Irish and he 1:10:03.640 --> 1:10:06.240 doesn't even like call out to God or Jesus or 1:10:06.280 --> 1:10:09.559 anything during that final encounter, Like that alone would have 1:10:09.600 --> 1:10:13.639 been if he was like Jesus Christ, save our hero 1:10:13.800 --> 1:10:17.720 or something anything, But no, it's it's just apparently his 1:10:17.800 --> 1:10:20.519 faith was strong enough that God intervened. 1:10:20.560 --> 1:10:23.280 I guess, yeah, I agree with all of that very strange, 1:10:23.320 --> 1:10:26.720 but I think it's funny that Lodak acknowledges that his 1:10:26.880 --> 1:10:30.200 powers are helpless in the face of like prayer, so 1:10:30.680 --> 1:10:33.040 his enemies would just like pray to God to defeat 1:10:33.120 --> 1:10:33.800 him they could win. 1:10:35.400 --> 1:10:38.200 I guess he's kind of like, well, God only gets 1:10:38.240 --> 1:10:42.000 involved directly on rare occasions, so it's gonna happen every 1:10:42.000 --> 1:10:43.800 now and then, but not to the extent that it's 1:10:43.880 --> 1:10:45.599 going to actually derail my plans here. 1:10:46.120 --> 1:10:49.080 Yeah. So anyway, this seems to be the last of 1:10:49.120 --> 1:10:51.599 the seven curses somehow, or maybe there's one still at 1:10:51.640 --> 1:10:54.200 the castle something like. George gallops up to. 1:10:54.520 --> 1:10:57.960 No way, we're past five here this don't know. 1:10:57.800 --> 1:11:01.160 Where are the others. George gallops to the castle on 1:11:01.280 --> 1:11:05.840 his white horse, and as he wanders through the deserted courtyard, 1:11:06.240 --> 1:11:09.559 a heavy wooden door creaks open by itself to allow 1:11:09.640 --> 1:11:13.880 him inside. And Lodak and Branton they know he's here. 1:11:13.640 --> 1:11:18.320 They're watching as he heads towards helene cell, and Lodak says, 1:11:18.360 --> 1:11:20.479 don't worry about it, Sir Branton, It'll all work out 1:11:20.520 --> 1:11:23.840 just fine. So George gets to Helene's cell, he greets her. 1:11:24.160 --> 1:11:28.320 Helene says, George, Oh, I must be dreaming, but you are, 1:11:28.520 --> 1:11:33.360 George or is this just more of Lodak's magic? And 1:11:33.439 --> 1:11:35.880 he I guess he has to be like, Hi, you 1:11:35.920 --> 1:11:37.960 know I've been spying on you in the magic pool 1:11:37.960 --> 1:11:41.280 for years but we have not met. But she is 1:11:41.320 --> 1:11:44.360 happy to see him, and there's some type of parody here, 1:11:44.400 --> 1:11:47.880 because she says Lodak has been showing her visions of 1:11:48.000 --> 1:11:51.599 him just to torture her. So they like both only 1:11:51.640 --> 1:11:55.640 know one another from magical remote surveillance, and this is 1:11:55.680 --> 1:11:58.040 the first time either one has seen the other in person. 1:11:58.520 --> 1:12:02.200 They start smooching. Of course there's kissing there, and what 1:12:02.280 --> 1:12:05.519 about Sir Branton? Who cares? So they try to sneak out, 1:12:06.040 --> 1:12:08.439 but just as they are able to reach the front door, 1:12:08.600 --> 1:12:13.640 Lodak springs a trap. His weird minions magically materialized in 1:12:13.680 --> 1:12:16.880 front of the exit, and George and Helene are caught. 1:12:17.640 --> 1:12:21.920 Sir Branton's treachery is revealed. Branton, thinking that the deal 1:12:21.960 --> 1:12:25.400 has been finished, gives the magical ring back to Lodak, 1:12:26.000 --> 1:12:29.960 and then Helene says she will happily leave with Sir Branton. Huh, 1:12:30.000 --> 1:12:32.320 I thought she didn't really like him. Why was she 1:12:32.439 --> 1:12:34.080 so happy to go with him? I mean, I guess 1:12:34.160 --> 1:12:35.680 it would kind of make sense, you'd be happy to 1:12:35.720 --> 1:12:39.439 leave with anybody. But you know, it's surprising to the viewer. 1:12:39.920 --> 1:12:42.360 But guess what, it's another double cross. We sort of 1:12:42.360 --> 1:12:46.240 saw this coming, didn't we. You can't trust Lodak captured 1:12:46.280 --> 1:12:49.720 well in this production still that I drug rob or 1:12:50.920 --> 1:12:54.559 so Sir Branton is like embracing Helene and she it's 1:12:54.600 --> 1:12:55.960 the witch double cross again. 1:12:56.080 --> 1:12:59.760 Hagged again, but he's not going to get off that. 1:13:00.439 --> 1:13:03.040 No, of course, no, Loadak says, did you think I 1:13:03.240 --> 1:13:05.479 did you really think I'd keep my word once I 1:13:05.520 --> 1:13:10.680 had the ring? And Brandon seems genuinely shocked and betrayed. 1:13:11.200 --> 1:13:14.240 Did you notice like it's weird, how like surprised he 1:13:14.320 --> 1:13:15.040 seems by this? 1:13:15.479 --> 1:13:17.799 But I made a deal with an evil wizard. 1:13:18.240 --> 1:13:21.400 Yeah, it's like we already even talked about this, Like 1:13:21.439 --> 1:13:24.679 how does he I don't know, but Sir Branton says 1:13:24.960 --> 1:13:28.080 she belongs to me. We made a bargain, and Lodak says, 1:13:28.120 --> 1:13:31.599 I don't bargain with mortals. I destroy them. And then 1:13:31.600 --> 1:13:34.799 we get the magical destruction of Branton. What does Lodak 1:13:34.880 --> 1:13:37.320 do to him? Does he summon an ogre to crush 1:13:37.400 --> 1:13:40.200 him like a grape? Does he create another heat tornado 1:13:40.320 --> 1:13:41.599 to melt his flesh away? 1:13:42.280 --> 1:13:42.479 No? 1:13:42.760 --> 1:13:47.000 He transforms Sir Branton into a mounted head on the wall, 1:13:47.080 --> 1:13:49.599 like a stuffed deer head at a hunting lodge. 1:13:50.040 --> 1:13:51.439 And the effect is pretty funny here. 1:13:51.720 --> 1:13:55.240 Yes, it does look funny. In fact, I don't I'm 1:13:55.240 --> 1:13:58.000 not even sure it's not just the actor sticking his 1:13:58.120 --> 1:13:59.280 head through a hole in the wall. 1:14:00.200 --> 1:14:01.720 Been it might have been that simple, or it might 1:14:01.720 --> 1:14:05.240 have been some you know, some optical special effects that 1:14:05.560 --> 1:14:08.040 especially to a modern view, or you know, we're liable 1:14:08.080 --> 1:14:10.719 to miss because we take that sort of thing for granted. Yeah. 1:14:11.520 --> 1:14:15.080 Meanwhile, back at home, we see more of Sybil trying 1:14:15.120 --> 1:14:18.040 to help George. She is trying to remember the words 1:14:18.120 --> 1:14:20.519 to a spell that she knows she could use to 1:14:20.560 --> 1:14:23.960 save George and defeat Lodak, but she can't remember the words. 1:14:24.040 --> 1:14:26.840 She knows, like, there's like a number of lines and 1:14:26.880 --> 1:14:29.400 they all rhyme with sack, I think, but you can't 1:14:29.439 --> 1:14:33.160 remember the last word in the last line. Turns out 1:14:33.240 --> 1:14:34.040 it is attack. 1:14:34.280 --> 1:14:34.519 I think. 1:14:34.560 --> 1:14:36.760 The last line when she finally does remember it later, 1:14:36.840 --> 1:14:41.200 it's help my son to attack. It seems like that'd 1:14:41.200 --> 1:14:44.600 be kind of obvious, but magic's complicated, It's true. She 1:14:44.720 --> 1:14:48.280 decides to transform into a bird and fly to Lodak's castle, 1:14:48.439 --> 1:14:50.679 and she's going to figure out the spell on the way. 1:14:51.600 --> 1:14:55.679 So at Lodak's castle, Lodak brings Helene to a dungeon 1:14:55.760 --> 1:14:58.880 room where George is shirtless and tied to a rack, 1:14:59.520 --> 1:15:04.880 and he he's, uh, this part's creepy. Yeah, He's like, hmm, 1:15:05.600 --> 1:15:08.519 show me what young mortals in love dude to bid 1:15:08.520 --> 1:15:11.320 farewell before they die. So I think he just wants 1:15:11.360 --> 1:15:13.000 to watch them make out a little. 1:15:13.240 --> 1:15:15.519 Yeah yeah, and and and mock them. But he's like 1:15:16.080 --> 1:15:17.840 two feet away from them, maybe. 1:15:17.840 --> 1:15:21.519 Yes, standing right there, and they're they're smooching, and then 1:15:21.560 --> 1:15:27.160 he's like, m how tender. Uh yeah, but too bad, 1:15:27.200 --> 1:15:29.680 you know, it's it's too late for love now. Now 1:15:29.720 --> 1:15:32.040 you're gonna die. Uh. So they both say they love 1:15:32.080 --> 1:15:35.320 each other, and George is the plan is he's gonna 1:15:35.360 --> 1:15:38.080 have to watch through the window as Helene has fed 1:15:38.080 --> 1:15:40.360 to the dragon, much like she was supposed to watch 1:15:40.360 --> 1:15:42.559 as the other princesses were fed to the dragon. 1:15:43.000 --> 1:15:46.920 Now, have we had the part where Lodak and Sybil 1:15:46.960 --> 1:15:49.559 have their final zoom conference with each other and he 1:15:49.640 --> 1:15:51.960 destroys her mirror. We may we may have skipped over 1:15:52.000 --> 1:15:52.639 that by one. 1:15:52.640 --> 1:15:55.080 I'm sorry. I think I forgot to mention that scene. 1:15:55.160 --> 1:15:59.280 Yes, it's it's wonderfully spicy because like it's like Zdak 1:15:59.400 --> 1:16:02.000 calls in on the magic mirror and he's like, hmm, Sybil, 1:16:02.080 --> 1:16:05.639 you're looking old, and I just stop to a really 1:16:05.720 --> 1:16:08.320 toxic start between these two and they kind of talk 1:16:08.400 --> 1:16:10.880 trash to each other, and then he destroys her mirror 1:16:10.880 --> 1:16:12.559 and he's like, you're not getting interfere with my plants. 1:16:13.160 --> 1:16:17.599 Oh, but Lodack's in for a surprise. So we get 1:16:17.600 --> 1:16:21.320 a scene of Lodac's minions preparing a feast, and one 1:16:21.360 --> 1:16:23.600 of them is supposed to go get the cage of 1:16:23.680 --> 1:16:27.000 shrunken people like the puppet people to put in the stew. 1:16:27.560 --> 1:16:30.559 But he drops the cage and they escape, and it's 1:16:30.600 --> 1:16:32.759 a repeat of attack of the Puppet People. It's literally 1:16:32.800 --> 1:16:36.559 like the shrunken people get out and start like setting 1:16:36.600 --> 1:16:38.920 up traps and wreaking havoc within the room. 1:16:39.520 --> 1:16:42.320 It's nice they condensed all of that into a short 1:16:42.360 --> 1:16:44.400 segment in a much better film. Yeah. 1:16:44.479 --> 1:16:47.360 Yeah, So the puppet people, for some reason, they break 1:16:47.400 --> 1:16:50.799 into George's cell and they bring him his magic sword 1:16:51.280 --> 1:16:53.000 and they use it to cut the ropes that are 1:16:53.000 --> 1:16:56.479 binding our hero. They set him free. George thanks them. 1:16:56.600 --> 1:16:58.679 He tells them that even though the sword has lost 1:16:58.680 --> 1:17:00.800 its magic, it's still a which. 1:17:00.840 --> 1:17:03.479 Yeah, it's like an escalator, you know, it breaks down, 1:17:03.800 --> 1:17:07.360 nish Hedberg pointed out, still stares. That's a good point. 1:17:08.160 --> 1:17:10.920 Yeah, So the dragon is coming to eat Helene and 1:17:10.960 --> 1:17:13.439 she's you know, like tied up there for the dragon 1:17:13.479 --> 1:17:16.120 to eat. She's screaming in terror. And you know what 1:17:16.360 --> 1:17:20.040 I'm gonna say, This dragon looks surprisingly good. I would say, 1:17:20.080 --> 1:17:23.720 actually shockingly good. For a Bert Eye Gordon movie. This is, 1:17:23.760 --> 1:17:27.639 without doubt the best looking special effect I've ever seen 1:17:27.680 --> 1:17:28.519 from mister Big. 1:17:29.200 --> 1:17:32.200 Absolutely looks looks amazing. You know, obviously you see it 1:17:32.200 --> 1:17:35.559 in motion. You know that it's an effect, you know, 1:17:35.920 --> 1:17:38.839 but it's it is very well done, and it's shooting flames. 1:17:38.880 --> 1:17:40.280 It looks dangerous and wild. 1:17:40.439 --> 1:17:43.719 Yeah. So it's like a big two headed dragon breathing fire. 1:17:43.760 --> 1:17:47.960 It has frills on its head heads. And George comes 1:17:48.000 --> 1:17:50.519 in on his horse. He's trying to save Helene, squaring 1:17:50.520 --> 1:17:54.360 off against the dragon with his lance. And then Sybil arrives. 1:17:54.400 --> 1:17:57.400 She she like parks next to Lodak, who is looking 1:17:57.479 --> 1:18:01.360 down from above on a parapet, and Lodak says, Sybil, 1:18:01.560 --> 1:18:05.920 come to watch your boy die. But Sybil, she's busy 1:18:05.920 --> 1:18:08.040 trying to remember the next line of the spell to 1:18:08.280 --> 1:18:11.559 restore George's magic. I gotta say in the performance here, 1:18:11.600 --> 1:18:15.200 she does not seem to have the appropriate sense of urgency. 1:18:15.960 --> 1:18:18.479 She's still just doing her kind of absent minded, only 1:18:18.560 --> 1:18:21.519 half present, you know what was that next line? But 1:18:21.600 --> 1:18:24.920 eventually she does come up, she doesn't just remember it. 1:18:25.080 --> 1:18:29.639 Lodak cues her, you know. Lodak sees that George's magical 1:18:29.720 --> 1:18:33.000 weapons are not working against the dragon, and Lodak says 1:18:33.200 --> 1:18:36.960 he's even lost the power to attack. And then Sibyl's like, oh, 1:18:37.080 --> 1:18:40.320 that's the word attack. Give my boy the power to attack, 1:18:40.640 --> 1:18:42.800 and so now I guess he's powered up once again. 1:18:42.880 --> 1:18:47.320 Oh and then while Lodak is distracted, Sybil steals Lodak's ring. 1:18:47.720 --> 1:18:52.320 That's good, yep, yep. I'm a little foggy on how 1:18:52.320 --> 1:18:54.439 it works though, because we were told earlier you couldn't 1:18:54.479 --> 1:18:56.800 be taken by force, but I guess it can be 1:18:56.880 --> 1:19:00.960 slipped off while you're looking the other way. Too much 1:19:01.000 --> 1:19:02.519 wizard grease on your fingers there. 1:19:02.760 --> 1:19:06.519 Now, Loadak doesn't consider himself defeated yet. She takes his ring, 1:19:06.560 --> 1:19:09.400 but he says they will still die. I curse you, 1:19:09.560 --> 1:19:13.479 curse upon curse, and so George, Oh, here's how the 1:19:13.520 --> 1:19:16.120 math works out. Now that I'm remembering it, I think 1:19:16.320 --> 1:19:21.080 the dragon itself is the sixth the curse. And then 1:19:21.280 --> 1:19:26.040 Lodak explains that the seventh curse is himself is Lodak. 1:19:26.800 --> 1:19:27.840 That's fitting. That's fitting. 1:19:27.960 --> 1:19:31.200 Yeah, So Lodak seems ready to blast out some kind 1:19:31.240 --> 1:19:35.720 of killing magic, but then, in a fantastic payoff to 1:19:35.880 --> 1:19:38.840 what seemed like a really pointless setup that we were 1:19:38.880 --> 1:19:43.360 even making fun of earlier, Sybil turns into a panther 1:19:43.760 --> 1:19:48.120 and mauls Lodak, killing him. It's George's favorite trick when 1:19:48.160 --> 1:19:49.040 he was a boy. 1:19:49.479 --> 1:19:52.479 And now it's paid off once more. It's great and 1:19:52.479 --> 1:19:54.519 it's a great moment when Sybil gets her come up 1:19:54.520 --> 1:19:56.680 and see her because again Lodak has not considered her 1:19:56.800 --> 1:20:00.160 threat at all the entire time, and now she she 1:20:00.280 --> 1:20:03.160 has completely defeated him. For George, I get, you know, 1:20:03.160 --> 1:20:05.240 George is the hero. I get. I don't know. I 1:20:05.280 --> 1:20:06.360 feel like Sybil's the hero. 1:20:06.800 --> 1:20:08.720 I mean, Sybil does most of the work, like she 1:20:08.920 --> 1:20:12.240 enchants all of the items that allow George to defeat 1:20:12.280 --> 1:20:16.479 these monsters and stuff. I would say the most the 1:20:16.560 --> 1:20:19.800 craftiest thing that George does of his own accord is 1:20:19.800 --> 1:20:22.599 actually when he tricks Sybil into going in the basement 1:20:22.640 --> 1:20:27.080 at the beginning and traps her there and his it 1:20:27.200 --> 1:20:29.720 is and most of his equipment does the. 1:20:29.720 --> 1:20:32.600 Rest yeah, which again she supplied. 1:20:33.040 --> 1:20:36.000 But anyway, okay, so all is all is restored, All 1:20:36.040 --> 1:20:37.960 is happy now, and we go back to the castle 1:20:38.000 --> 1:20:41.240 where the king is and Helene and George of return 1:20:41.360 --> 1:20:43.720 and it seems like the king approves of George now, 1:20:43.800 --> 1:20:47.080 so of course they're going to get married somehow. The 1:20:47.120 --> 1:20:50.320 Six Nights are alive again. They just are shown walking 1:20:50.360 --> 1:20:53.160 into the throne room. I don't think there's any explanation 1:20:53.280 --> 1:20:57.120 of how they're not dead. Did you pick up anything there? 1:20:57.479 --> 1:20:59.439 I kind of I was thinking about this and I 1:20:59.439 --> 1:21:01.160 was like, oh, I guess it's because you know, Sybil's 1:21:01.160 --> 1:21:05.559 brother whenever he froze them, like he made them his 1:21:05.880 --> 1:21:09.040 sorceress slaves forever. So it's like, you guys are not 1:21:09.080 --> 1:21:11.200 getting out of this just because you died horribly in 1:21:11.240 --> 1:21:14.920 this quest. Like no, no, no, Sybil. You belong to 1:21:14.960 --> 1:21:18.120 Sybil forever and you have to serve her son or 1:21:18.160 --> 1:21:20.559 whoever happens to have the reins here. 1:21:20.800 --> 1:21:23.439 It's like a Warlock pact. It's like, yeah, if you die, 1:21:23.560 --> 1:21:25.799 you still you go to your you're in a Vernas, 1:21:25.880 --> 1:21:29.160 and you still have to serve the warlock. The patron. 1:21:29.600 --> 1:21:31.760 Yeah, they still seem upbeat about it, but I don't 1:21:31.760 --> 1:21:33.000 think they have any choice in the matter. 1:21:33.160 --> 1:21:35.400 Well, who's complaining. We get to hear all those wonderful 1:21:35.439 --> 1:21:39.519 accents again. And and then Sybil is also hanging out 1:21:39.520 --> 1:21:41.880 in the throne room. I guess she's like the court sorceress. 1:21:41.960 --> 1:21:45.639 Now she's gonna she's gonna heal the king's pink eye. 1:21:47.120 --> 1:21:49.680 And I think that's that's as about as happy an 1:21:49.760 --> 1:21:51.120 ending as one could ask for. 1:21:51.520 --> 1:21:55.000 It's really the rise of Sybil too, because she's gonna 1:21:55.000 --> 1:21:57.759 basically be running the place I was not super impressed 1:21:57.760 --> 1:22:01.280 by the king. Uh, Sybil is totally ruling this kingdom. 1:22:01.320 --> 1:22:04.120 Now there's a huge power vacuum left by the death 1:22:04.160 --> 1:22:07.280 of Lodak. So yeah, this is the reign of Sybil 1:22:07.360 --> 1:22:07.800 day one. 1:22:08.280 --> 1:22:12.439 I agree with that. The king's previous most decisive moments 1:22:12.800 --> 1:22:15.000 were things like I like these nights. 1:22:16.080 --> 1:22:19.520 Yeah, more belly dancing please. Yeah. 1:22:19.720 --> 1:22:22.479 Well, I pledge fealty to Lady Sybil. It may she 1:22:22.600 --> 1:22:23.920 rain for ten million years. 1:22:25.880 --> 1:22:28.280 All right. Well this one was a really fun one. Yeah. 1:22:28.280 --> 1:22:31.640 I encourage everyone out there to see this one. If 1:22:31.680 --> 1:22:33.280 if you were a fan of the old MA St 1:22:33.320 --> 1:22:36.200 three k version or the newer Riff tracks. Yeah, do that. 1:22:36.240 --> 1:22:39.479 It's a great film to enjoy rift, but it also 1:22:39.640 --> 1:22:41.920 more than stands up on its own and again, if 1:22:41.960 --> 1:22:43.640 you do seek it out to watch it, watch it 1:22:43.680 --> 1:22:45.439 in the best quality you can get your hands on. 1:22:45.840 --> 1:22:48.360 All right, Just a reminder that Stuff to Blow your 1:22:48.360 --> 1:22:51.040 Mind is primarily a science podcast with core episodes on 1:22:51.080 --> 1:22:53.880 Tuesdays and Thursdays, but here on Fridays we set aside 1:22:53.880 --> 1:22:56.040 most serious concerns to just talk about a weird film 1:22:56.080 --> 1:22:58.200 on Weird House Cinema. If you want to see a 1:22:58.240 --> 1:22:59.920 list of all the movies we've covered over the years, 1:23:00.120 --> 1:23:02.479 can go over to letterbox dot com. It's l E 1:23:02.520 --> 1:23:04.719 T T E R B O x D dot com. 1:23:04.920 --> 1:23:07.559 Our username is weird House. We have an ongoing list 1:23:07.640 --> 1:23:10.439 of all the movies we've covered so far, and sometimes 1:23:10.479 --> 1:23:13.280 a peek ahead at what's coming up next. We're currently 1:23:13.479 --> 1:23:16.559 if the math is all right, I'll correct here. This 1:23:16.720 --> 1:23:19.679 was one forty eight, so we're almost a one fifty. 1:23:19.960 --> 1:23:21.280 Wow, how time goes by? 1:23:21.800 --> 1:23:22.200 Yeah? 1:23:22.479 --> 1:23:26.040 Huge, Thanks as always to our excellent audio producer Jjposway. 1:23:26.439 --> 1:23:28.000 If you would like to get in touch with us 1:23:28.000 --> 1:23:30.400 with feedback on this episode or any other to suggest 1:23:30.479 --> 1:23:32.479 a topic for the future, or just to say hello. 1:23:32.600 --> 1:23:35.080 You can email us at contact at stuff to Blow 1:23:35.120 --> 1:23:42.840 your Mind dot com. 1:23:43.000 --> 1:23:45.920 Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. 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