Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Leofwine_draca A fantastic-looking Russian fantasy epic which, despite a poor, washed-out print, still manages to convince in its portrayal of a LORD OF THE RINGS-type world packed with monsters, beautiful landscapes, and warring armies. A solemn-sounding narrator tells us the fairytale story as the film progresses and, even with only an eighty-minute running time, it still manages to pack in half a dozen plot twists and plenty of action.Boris Andreyev makes for a different type of hero as Ilja. Normally the heroes are fresh-faced and muscular in these fantasy films; however, he's a bearded Santa Claus lookalike who would appear to be grandfatherly rather than a young and brave fighter! I guess they have a different idea of these things in Russia. Still, with Ilja chucking rocks and tree stumps around at his farm, he would at least make a fair adversary for the likes of Steve Reeves or Kirk Morris. The rest of the cast all look much the same and don't really register with the exception of the Mongol Chieftain who seems to be an foreign equivalent of Vincent Price.Scenes of thousands of warriors marching through countryside are well done and give the film its tagline "A cast of 106,000!". The special effects of the wind demon and the obese merchant are well done, but the dragon (which doesn't actually appear until five minutes before the end) is an unconvincing puppet which at least spits fire fairly regularly. However, the threat is destroyed after the fighters simply chuck buckets of water over their heads and walk up and cut off its heads! Not exactly a powerful adversary after all and one that would be more effective from a distance, I think.Still, the film provides plenty of unintentional laughs, not least of these the dragon. A scene where Ilja walks up after a battle and we see his shield studded with a dozen arrows is pretty funny too. There are some surprisingly violent and cruel scenes involving Mongols being repeatedly skewered by spears and lifted into the air, and three being impaled on one spear at once - not what you would expect to see in a children's epic! Thankfully the film has an imagination which still manages to impress us, like the scene where the chieftain walks up a mountain of soldiers on his horse in able to see more clearly! THE SWORD AND THE DRAGON is a highly entertaining film and should be seen by any genre fan as a genuine attempt at an epic by a foreign country that at least partially works, and what it lacks in professionalism it more than makes up for in spirit.

hte-trasme "Ilya Muromets" looks gorgeous. It's beautifully shot -- such that many scenes almost look more like spectacular paintings rather than shots from a live action film -- and lavishly produced and costumed. One can tell that there was no expense spared on the extensive location shooting, swarming armies, et cetera, and visually this all pays off. Unfortunately, that's mostly all of what this film as going for it, and ninety minutes of scenic decoration eventually becomes too much. The story is based on a very old Russian folk tale, but it seems to me that the writer of its adaptation didn't pay a lot of attention to what would make it into an entertaining film. We end up with a spectacle that is largely plot less for much of its running time, revolving around the hero effortlessly doing some casual superhuman trick, then getting lauded for it by everyone. We get the message that people are supposed to like him a lot, but we don't feel it ourselves. We move past being quite so episodic about halfway through as get some story, but the villains are too cackling and over the top to seem a threat, and the heroes are still presented devoid enough of character, revealing dialogue, or involving story that I didn't find it involving. We jump far ahead in time at various points, but nobody seems to change much, so we end up with a film trying to tell what should be a lot and weighty story that in fact carries none of the impact it should. Then we have a few plot howler moments as well, such as the long-lost son immediately changing his national allegiance and vowing to fight for it as soon as somebody new claims to be his dad. It deserves commendation for fantastic photography and production, but unfortunately the humorlessly uninvolving story keeps it from being very entertaining, so I can't say it didn't deserve the Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment that it ended up receiving.

dbborroughs The story of Ilja Muromets requires severe suspension disbelief. Even in the weirdly dubbed American version it plays as a pro-workers film. There is a political message not so hidden here, but you can ignore it rather easily.The plot is very innocent with a lame hero becoming healed and so that he can go off and fight the invading Mongols. Its grand fantasy with semi-special effects that are wonderfully of the period, and fit the gentle style. (Gentle even with the huge battle scenes) The trick is to give yourself over to it ,on its terms, and you'll have a great time. And yes its completely silly and over the top, despite seeming rather serious.The director, Aleksandr Ptushko, specialized in fantasies of this sort. I think this is the best, with the other films like Ruslan and Ludmila, or Sadko (The Magic Voyage of Sinbad) or Sampo (The Day the Earth Froze) suffering from pacing problems, despite having fantastic visuals. (indeed Sampo is so dull as to put on into a deep coma) If you like this film then try Ruslan or Sadko.If you click into this you'll love it. Since I do I give it 10 out of 10. Your mileage may vary, even as you laugh your ass off at at it.

jeffery-8 I first saw this movie when I was about 12. Most recently I saw it on MST3000 and was appalled that they were making fun of it. It has some laughable moments and the quality of the print and the dubbing was poor even when I was 12 (and the movie was only 7). But the movie has some truly incredible scenes in it (the bad guy riding his horse to the top of hill made of the living bodies of his soldiers) and has a lot of content for a serious student of cinematic techniques.