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BY ARNOLD T. BLUMBERG & SCOTT ALAN WOODARD Cinema and Sorcery: The Comprehensive Guide to Authors: Arnold T. Blumberg and Scott A. Woodard Editor: Jessica Kristine Publisher: Chris Pramas Graphic Design: Hal Mangold Cover Art: Ozan Art & Christophe Swal Green Ronin Staff: Joseph D. Carriker, Steve Kenson, Jon Leitheusser, Nicole Lindroos, Hal Mangold, Norris, Chris Pramas, Donna Prior, Evan Sass, Marc Schmalz, Owen K.C. Stephens, and Barry Wilson Cinema and Sorcery: The Comprehensive Guide to is published by Green Ronin Publishing, LLC. Cinema and Sorcery: The Comprehensive Guide to Fantasy Film © 2016 by Arnold T. Blumberg and Scott A. Woodard. All rights reserved. Any discussion of trademarked, service marked, or copyrighted material or entities in this book should not be construed as a challenge to their legal owners. The owners of these trademarks, service marks, and copyrights haveSample not authorized or file endorsed this book. Reproduction of material from within this book for any purposes, by photographic, digital, or other methods of electronic storage and retrieval, is prohibited. Green Ronin Publishing 3815 South Othello Street Suite 100, #304 Seattle, WA 98118 Visit us online at greenronin.com. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Stock number GRR4003, May 2016. ISBN: 978-1-934547-71-7 Printed in the United States. DEDICATION

During the writing of this book, a surprising number of key people involved in many of the covered here left this plane of existence for realms unknown. We’d like to dedicate this guide to all the fantasy filmmakers, actors, and other individuals without whom these journeys to lands of wonder and adventure would never have happened. We don’t think any of the other people listed here would blame us, however, if we dedicate this book primarily to one man: someone who shaped our childhoods and the childhoods of millions of others (including, no doubt, many of our readers), a genius who gave life to inanimate objects and not only crafted movies and memories that would last well beyond him but also taught us about the pure beauty and power of imagination. Farewell, (1920-2013), the guiding force behind many of the films covered in this book. Even if he himself is abandoned or forgotten, his work will never fade. Never. It will stand untilSample the end of time. file Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the following for their encouragement and contributions to this book: First and foremost, our “third author,” Rochelle Blumberg. Without her, this book would not exist. She put together the main list of titles with which we started, kept it updated throughout the project, researched countless movies whenever we had annoying questions (“It has swords, but is there in it?” or “There’s tons of magic, but does anyone ever use a sword?”), and wrote the majority of the blurbs for the titles in the index. Green Ronin and Chris Pramas, for agreeing to take on this project. We’re grateful for the chance to pontificate on one of our favorite . The filmmakers and other creators who provided personal insight into some of the films: J. Bassett, Andrew Belling, Greg Costikyan, Luigi Cozzi, Bert I. Gordon, Albert Pyun, William Stout, John Terlesky, Chris Walas, Jim Wynorski, and many more. Keith Topping, one of the pioneersSample of a format file for delving into the rich history of film and television in guides like these; David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker, the men behind Telos Publishing, the publishers of Arnold’s Zombiemania: 80 Movies to Die For (co-authored with Andrew Hershberger) and long-time support- ers of Arnold’s publishing efforts in a variety of capacities; Andy Hershberger; and Marvin A. Blumberg. Scott wishes to thank TaMara for tolerating the many months of obsessive sword- and-sorcery movie-watching and all the subsequent late nights (and ungodly early mornings) at the computer. As promised to you, we included Table of Contents

Dedication...... V Acknowledgements...... Vi Introduction: Taking Up The Sword...... Ix The Movies...... Xiii The Thief Of Bagdad...... 1 The 7Th Voyage Of ...... 9 The ...... 16 Jason And The Argonauts...... 23 The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad...... 30 Monty Python And The Holy Grail...... 36 Wizards...... 45 Star Wars...... 52 Sinbad And The Eye Of The Tiger...... 62 Hawk The Slayer...... 69 Excalibur...... 77 Clash Of The Titans...... Sample file 85 ...... 93 The Sword And The Sorcerer...... 100 The Barbarian...... 109 The Beastmaster...... 122 The Last ...... 130 The Dark Crystal...... 137 Ator, The Fighting Eagle...... 146 Krull...... 152 Hercules...... 159 Conquest...... 166 The Neverending Story...... 171 The Warrior And The Sorceress...... 177 ...... 183 viii • Cinema and Sorcery

The Black Cauldron...... 190 Wizards Of The Lost Kingdom...... 198 Highlander...... 204 Legend...... 211 Labyrinth...... 220 Big Trouble In Little China...... 229 The Barbarians...... 237 The Princess Bride...... 243 Deathstalker II...... 252 Willow...... 259 Barbarian Queen II: The Empress Strikes Back...... 267 ...... 272 ...... 279 Dungeons & ...... 286 : The Fellowship Of The Ring...... 294 Versus...... 307 The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers...... 312 : The Of The Black Pearl...... 322 The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King...... 330 : The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe...... 340 Solomon Kane...... 347 How To Train Your ...... Sample file 354 ...... 361 Brave...... 369 : An Unexpected Journey...... 376 A Concordance of Sword-And-Sorcery Movies 1924-2015...... 387 Index...... 480 The Authors...... 481 INTRODUCTION: TAKING UP THE SWORD

“What is best in life?” “To crush your enemies—see them driven before you—and to hear the lamentation of their women.” — (), Conan the Barbarian “The closer we are to danger, the farther we are from harm.” —Peregrin “Pippin” Took (Billy Boyd), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

A sword-and-sorcery story begins like a mythological tale: with a need for a , a for power or fame or perhaps a , a call to arms . . . . It ends with victory against the forces of evil and the chance to forge a new and brighter future. As children, we found a lot to enthrall us in these tales of adventure, and we never lost the sense of wonder that rose with ev- ery sword held aloft, every vanquished, every kingdom restored to peace and prosperity. We—Arnold and Scott—met thanks to a mutual appreciation or , comics, cheesy horror, and a tendency for both of us to turn up at conventions celebrating those and other aspects of pop culture. During a visit together to Dark Delicacies, a Southern boutique that specializes in the horror genre, we discovered and purchased a signed copy of the soundtrack to Deathstalker II and germinated the seed of an idea for this book. The quest began: to revisit and discover the best and worst sword-and-sorcery movies ever made and record our opinions for generations to come. We wrote this guide as fans for fans. At the time of this writing, over 400Sample feature-length sword-and-sorcery file movies exist. You’ll find them in the index, which we compiled by researching from the present day all the way back to the first cinematic treatments in the silent-film era. (We cut off the project in mid-2015 on a case-by-case basis.) We counted only feature-length presentations—theatrical films and made- for-TV movies of 59 minutes or longer—so no miniseries, single or multiple episodes of a TV series, documentaries, fan-made works, or short films.

WHAT IS ?

The most important question we had to ask was, “What is a sword-and-sorcery movie?” With what definition would most people agree? There’s a hero, often from an unspecified ancient time of magic and . There’s a “prin- cess” or land (or both) in peril and an evil wizard or king threatening the good and innocent. must undertake a quest to gather allies, locate an enchanted artifact, or perhaps just test their own heroic hearts. Classical Greek and Roman mythology and from around the world influence and even directly adapt to sword-and-sorcery cinema. ( understood this very well.) This loose framework allows for a lot of variation. x • Cinema and Sorcery

The term “sword and sorcery” arose in 1961, in a exchange between writers (Elric) and (Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser), who sought to label Robert E. Howard stories that we will discuss later in this book. Leiber felt that “sword and sorcery” conveyed the right blend of setting, elements, and adventure. He might have bor- rowed the structure of the term from Italian “sword-and-sandal” movies prevalent at the time. We painstakingly established criteria for deciding what films to include in the comprehensive index. From them, we then selected fifty to highlight in their own chapters. Although we all have a general idea of what sword and sorcery is, the genre has many offshoots and cul-de-sacs, like those sword-and-sandal films, which feature no fantasy elements like magic or monsters but merely take place in historic or quasi-historic ancient times. Such a film might feature a lead character who has a fantastical origin, like Hercules and Samson. (Hercules is the son of and a human woman, and Samson is a biblical figure granted great power by God.) If we considered a hero’s origin enough to warrant inclusion, we would have to catalogue all those sword-and-sandal films as well as countless biblical epics. We decided that for a movie to merit the label “sword and sorcery,” it needed to reach a “critical mass” of fantasy elements and other factors. Godlike being? No. Godlike being fighting a with a magic sword? Yes. Then there were movies like Reign of Fire, which features dragons as real creatures that exist- ed at the time of the dinosaurs and are therefore not magical. This film turns up on many fans’ sword-and-sorcery lists, presumably because, for most people, the presence of dragons in any form qualifies it. But was that enough for us? Hmm. . . . In addition to establishing criteria that qualified movies as sword and sorcery, we wanted to reflect consensus forged over the years by the fan community. What films did fans embrace as sword and sorcery? That approach, though, could be a—forgive us—double-edged sword. Ultimately, we accepted that we couldn’t nail things down neatly and logically every time. We left out some movies and included others based on what felt right. The heart of the warrior is often a better guide than the mind.Sample file Readers might disagree with some of our choices, so here’s to the debate! Our shopping list went something like this: 1. The movie had to include swords or sword-like weapons. 2. The movie had to have a critical mass of fantasy elements: world/setting, magic wielders, and/ or mythological or supernatural creatures. We considered a period setting important, either throughout or for a significant portion of the movie, but rather than focus on movies set in the sort of loincloth-laden barbaric era in which Conan and the Beastmaster roam, we included fantasy-tinged Arthurian epics and even a few hybrids, like the fairytale/sci-fi adventure Krull. A few of our choices might raise the eyebrows of even a lenient fan, but we stand behind—for example—the first Star Wars as a quintessential sword-and-sorcery film. It has magic (the Force), swordplay (lightsabers), and an ancient setting (“a long time ago . . .”). 3. Magic had to appear as an external force that characters could draw upon, manipulate, or apply to other people or things. If magical powers appeared in the story only as (super) natural abilities inherent to a particular type of creature—say, —then they didn’t qualify as magic or sorcery for our purposes. Introduction • xi

4. Dragons counted. We decided that above all other criteria, if a dragon showed up, it satisfied the magical side of the equation, on the basis that dragons are one of the most ubiquitous and identifiable monsters of this category of storytelling. They derive from source material that inspired and defined the genre. Be a dragon Vermithrax or Toothless, it trumped every other consideration for the “sorcery” designation. Swords or sword-like weapons would still need to fulfill the “sword” part; therefore, children’s movies like Pete’s Dragon do not appear in our index. We decided to include Reign of Fire, because although it’s a science- film in which the dragons are actual ancient creatures, it includes harpoon-like weapons. See how tough this was? We’re glad you appreciate it.

THE 50 FILMS

So how did we pick the fifty movies that inspired this book’s chapters? Even the most dyed- in-the-wool sword-and-sorcery fan has to admit that some of these movies are really bad. And not “so bad they’re good”—just plain awful. Celebrating a genre means acknowledging the full range of fare under its banner, so we decided to spotlight movies that represent the best and worst that sword and sorcery has to offer, from true classics and award-winning blockbusters to horrific misfires and cheesy-fun films best shared with friends. We also tried to focus on films that in some way, shape, or form enhance the gaming experi- ence, either with material directly to gamers or because characters, settings, or storylines inspire gaming scenarios. Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax himself cited fantasy films as sources of inspiration in the earliest versions of that game’s rules (and D&D just celebrated its 40th anniversary in January 2014!). We did our best to select easily obtainableSample films, but file we couldn’t help but put a small num- ber of films on the list that are out of print or awaiting commercial release. We hope that your favorites are here—and perhaps even a few you never saw and might want to check out. If we skipped anything that you think is a glaring oversight, well, we might cover it in Volume 2! We list the fifty films by their English titles. The index cross-references them with any alternate titles. In each chapter, after the title, we list the U.S. year of release, which sometimes differs from the first release in the film’s country of origin or another country. If a gap between domestic and U.S. releases is insanely long—such as between a local release in the 1970s and a U.S. DVD release in the 2000s—we fall back on the earlier date. In some cases, we couldn’t lo- cate an official U.S. release date, so we used the dates of earliest release in the countries of origin for those as well. (These rules also apply to the dates in the index.) After the release date, we list the country or countries of origin/production. The company or companies responsible for production follow, as well as running time, whether the movie is black-and-white or color, and Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) ratings. We took cast-and-crew credits from the films themselves and compared them with several online and print references, including the Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Wherever we encoun- tered a conflict, we deferred to the screen credits.