Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1962)

"The Magic Sword" Guditete TZatiK? O © Plus Dragons, ogres, demons and wildly imaginative special effects — in vivid color — to thrill youngsters and adventuresome elders. Lively attraction for vacation-time. Pure escapist entertainment, this thrill-filled fantasy overflowing with imaginative Eastman Color special effects shapes up as a solid attraction for the youngsters and the young-inheart. Supported with a colorful promotion campaign by United Artists, this figures to be an above-average grosser whenever the youth trade is out of school, at holidaytime or during Summer vacation. Excitement, a story book romance, and a nice sprinkling of humor have been deftly blended into a fastmoving show by producer-director Bert I. Gordon. And the moppets will go wild over the special effects — a magic sword, a 25-foot ogre, boiling craters, green fire demons, a vampire witch, midgets locked in a cage, hags, a gloomy castle and a two-headed flame-breathing dragon. Basil Rathbone hams it up grandly as an evil sorcerer, while Estelle Winwood gives her comic all as a whacky witch. Handsome Gary Lockwood is Miss Winwood's foster-son, in love with the beautiful princess, and Anne Helm portrays the latter in true fairy tale fashion Bernard Schoenfeld's screenplay finds Rathbone kidnapping Miss Helm. Lockwood, protected by his magic sword, seven brave knights and wicked Liam Sullivan set out to rescue her. Rathbone's black magic eliminates the knights, and Miss Winwood accidentally takes away the power of the magic sword. Rathbone captures Lockwood and forces him to watch Miss Helm being prepared for the dragon. Lockwood escapes, finds his magic powers restored, and slays the dragon. Rathbone kills Sullivan, and Miss Winwood, now changed into a black panther, takes care of Rathbone. The seven knights return to life, and Lockwood and Miss Helm live happily ever after. United Artists. 80 minutes. Basil Rathbone, Estelle Winwood, Anne Helm. Produced and Directed bv Bert I. Gordon. Gary Lockwood, "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" GcalHCM &<xUh$ O O Pius Lukewarm Ford western has star values in Wayne, Stewart, but lacks sustaining action. Will disappoint fans intended for. While it boasts two boxoffice heavyweights (John Wayne and James Stewart), this latest John Ford western is far below the veteran director's one-time championship calibre. "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" comes through as an unintentional parody on all oaters that is mined for guffaws where there should be melodrama, a kind of tedious homeliness where there should be action. Unquestionably, Wayne and Stewart spell strong marquee, but the pace is far too relaxed and slowmoving to boost the picture into the big-grossing category. On the strength of the marquee values, and with some concentrated selling, it should prove adequate in the general market. Unfortunately, it recalls Ford's 1961 western entry with Stewart, "Two Rode Together," which was a minor boxoffice entry. There are some moments that will grip action audiences — a showdown between big, good Wayne and big, bad Lee Marvin (Liberty Valance); another, fatal one that pits Stewart against Marvin, and a couple of brutal beatings. But in the long run, it is irony on which the cinema version of the Dorothy M. Johnson short story hangs its dramatic hat, and there simply just isn't enough of it — or action — to sustain 121 minutes. Wayne is, naturally, the Duke of the range-riding strongmen who can lift their likker and hold their own with the best of em; Stewart is the conscientious dude law school graduate from back East who comes to Shinbone to practice his profes Page 12 Film BULLETIN April 14, 1962 sion, but quickly becomes determined to establish law and orde i in the wild West; Marvin is the stereotype of all badmen, scowling bandit who carries a gun and a bullwhip and is facili with both; Vera Miles is the pretty girl whom Wayne anc Stewart fancy. But it is in the portrayals of the town marsha (Andy Devine) and the crusading newspaperman (Edmunc O'Brien) that the overly-done acting really leaves its mark. The plot has Stewart, now a State senator, and wife Miles returning to Shinbone for the funeral of an old, almost unknown citizer (Wayne). Probed by the young editor of the Star, he tells hi: story, flashback style. Fresh out of law school and on his waj to Shinbone by stagecoach, Stewart is savagely beaten by Marvir and his bandit gang while trying to defend the honor of a lady The lawyer works for his food and lodging as a dishwasher in a restaurant owned by Miles' parents, all the while studying his books for a way to put Valance behind bars. Wayne, who has his cap set for Miles, stands up for Stewart in a subsequent showdown with Valance, but after editor O'Brien and the lawyer team up to fight for statehood, Valance, now in the employ of the wealthy cattlemen who want an open range, returns to town, beats up O'Brien and demands Stewart's blood. The latter, faced with running away or meeting the killer on the street, chooses action. Enter irony. Just as Valance is about to gun down Stewart, Wayne, hiding in the shadows, kills Liberty. Stewart, unaware of what has transpired, gets the credit, the girl and a start on the road to political fame, as The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Wayne disappears into oblivion. Having heard this tale, the editor, who had been taking notes, tosses them into a furnace. "When there's a question of fact or legend in the West," he says, "we write the legend." Paramount. 121 minutes. John Wayne, James Stewart, Vera Miles, Lee Marvin. Produced by Willis Goldbeck. Directed bv John Ford. "War Hunt" Interesting Korean war melodrama by new young team. Youthful producer Terry Sanders and director Denis Sanders have come up with a fascinating little Korean war drama that indicates they are film makers to watch. A modest budget item, but most interesting, "War Hunt" will prove a solid dualler for action houses. Had scripter Stanford Whitmore developed his central characters in more dimension, this could have been a memorable minor film. As it stands, this United Artists release is a realistic and gripping vignette about war; satisfactory from an action and suspense standpoint, but disappointing for what it implies, yet never states. Director Sanders has effectively captured the barrenness of the Korean front where enemy loudspeakers play music in between intensified bombardments, and in one brutal sequence he has caught the horror of men in the midst of battle. He has also brought forth some fine performances from his small cast. John Saxon, a fanatical killer who goes alone at night into enemy outposts, terrifies his fellow G.I.'s, but shows warm affection towards a little Korean orphan; Robert Redford, the sensitive replacement who freezes during his first night of combat; Tommy Matsuda, the engaging orphan who follows Saxon everywhere; Charles Aidman, the war-weary captain. The plot finds Saxon warning Redford not to strike up a relationship with Matsuda, then turning the boy against Redford when the latter loses his nerve in battle. Saxon cannot accept the cease-fire order and disappears into no-man's-land with Matsuda, intent on teaching the boy to become a killer. Redford and Aidman find them in a caved-in bunker. Saxon slashes out at Redford with his stiletto and Aidman is forced to kill Saxon. A grief-stricken Matsuda disappears into the weeds. United Artists. 81 minutes. John Saxon, Robert Redford, Tommy Matsuda. Produced by Terry Sanders. Directed by Denis Sanders