The Sword and the Dragon (1956) Ilya Muromets
The Sword and the Dragon (1956)
DVDRip | MKV | 714 x 424 | x264 @ 1800 Kbps | Russian AC3 5.1 @ 224 Kbps | 86 min | 1,33 Gb
Subs (idx/sub): English, Russian, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese,
Japanese, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, Swedish
Genre: Fantasy
DVDRip | MKV | 714 x 424 | x264 @ 1800 Kbps | Russian AC3 5.1 @ 224 Kbps | 86 min | 1,33 Gb
Subs (idx/sub): English, Russian, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese,
Japanese, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, Swedish
Genre: Fantasy
Ilya is a cripple without the use of his legs. When he aids some weary travellers, they surprise him by giving him a potion that restores his legs. He immediately becomes powerful and sets off to prove himself to his King. Doing so, he fights the evil Tugars, a wind demon that looks like a cross between a goblin and The Noid, a zeppelin-like ambassador, and the evil Tugars. Ilya gets framed for a crime he didn't commit, then is freed, then finally dispatches the Tugars and their dragon.
I remember seeing this film on the "Million Dollar Movie" on channel 9 {in the New York area} in the early 60s and I also had the Dell comic book adaptation.As a child it was impressive and it still holds up today.Basically its the story of the legendary Ilya Murometz{the Russian Giant}and his attempt to rid his land of the invading Tugars-in reality Mongols-who had their name changed for this film.The film features beautiful color photography, some massive battle scenes set against an Eisenstein like darkening sky, decent special effects like the Wind Demon, the Pig Man , the three headed fire dragon and some musical numbers too,including a sexy belly dancer at the Tugar's camp-adolescent fantasy material! .There probably is a pro Soviet message, but due to the fall of the Soviet Union it is no longer relevant.The acting which has often been criticized is actually pretty good on its own level, its just the English dubbing that somewhat works against it.An early example of the medieval themed "sword and sorcery" genre that became briefly popular in the 80s with films like "Excalibur" and "Conan the Barbarian", this one is entertaining, well produced and has an overall sense of innocence and wonder about it that is hard to resist. It may not be perfect, but it does what it has to do very well. Give it a shot. You might enjoy it.IMDB Reviewer
(click to enlarge)
The Sword and the Dragon (1956) Ilya Muromets
The Sword and the Dragon (1956) Ilya Muromets
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