Directed by Bert I. Gordon, specialist in low budget fantasy B-movies, this feature stands out as being atypical in his collection of work. This is due to its not being centred upon over-size beasts, but consisting instead of the director's take on the legend of St George. His co-author on the screenplay for this movie was Bernard C Schoenfeld, who had made his name as writer on many of the episodes of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' in the mid-Fifties, and had previously been nominated for an Academy Award in 1951 for 'Caged'. Unbelievably, the British Board of Censors gave this feature an X certificate, leading it to having to be re-released on a very limited theatrical run with its original title, 'St George & the Seven Curses'. Accordingly the censor was perturbed at some of the special effects, which, given the film's cheap budget, appears to have been quite an impulsive and mistaken decision.
In Gordon's version, George is an orphaned prince brought up by a sorceress, Sybil, whose witchcraft has largely deserted her. This derring-do young Prince is played by former stuntman, and stand-in for Anthony Perkins, Gary Lockwood. On the evidence here, he should have stayed off-camera. In terms of the storyline, when the object of his affection, Princess Helene, is kidnapped by the evil wizard Lodac, the impetuous George tricks his foster mother Sybil, a sorceress in her own right who reared him as her own child when she found him alone, his parents having died of the plague. Locking her up in her magic basement, he not only helps himself to the magic sword in question and the fastest steed in all the world, but also resurrects six ossified knights to accompany him on his quest to rescue her. One can understand why anyone would become smitten with the alluring Anne Helm, former model and dancer at the Copacabana club in New York, who would briefly become the girlfriend of Elvis Presley the following year. It is quickly apparent that were it not for his travelling companion knights, it is doubtful this bumbling buffoon of a hero would have survived long on his arduous journey. If these knights' longevity were determined by acting ability, then their fates may have been radically different. It is unbelievable, given the fact that a voiceover specialist was called in to dub over the contributions of the the actor playing Sir Ulrich of Germany, as the latter's accent was so bad, that the risible Irish accent attempted by John Maudlin not only stood, but also that the latter enjoyed so much dialogue, and that his character was not killed off sooner.
Whilst tackling the seven deadly curses in his path, George must also face the treachery of his rival for the Princess' hand, Sir Branton, played gleefully by stage and TV performer, Liam Sullivan, secretly in league with Lodac. In terms of the special effects, these range from satisfactory, given both the epoch in which the film was made and budgetary constraints, to the quite farcical. The star of the how in terms of the special effects is Lodac's dragon, the model of which was only eight foot long and took four months to construct. It was activated by wires and mechanical controls. Equipped with gas ducts enabling it to spew flames of fire, tragedy was averted by the quick reactions of a standby fireman when its costly innards caught fire. The worst special effect has to be the 25 foot ogre, which in any other universe the knights aboard their steeds could easily have outrun. It seems preposterous to what children can see today, but what perturbed the censor of the day was the seemingly horrifying effect of the voluptuous maiden trying to entice our French knight revealing herself to be a hideous old hag in the employ of Lodac. As an interesting footnote, playing said old hag, as well as the abductor of Princess Helene, was TV's Vampira herself, Maila Nurmi.
With regard to other more notable and experienced members of the cast, they appear to be just going through the motions. As for George's foster-mother, Sybil, English character actress, Estelle Winwood, virtually plays her stereotypical role of that time of an eccentric old woman as if in a trance herself. The film is notable for the presence among the cast of Basil Rathbone, cast as the evil wizard Lodac, who hams it up in pure pantomime fashion. Rathbone claimed he was drawn to play the character as he considered him 'the most villainous, treacherous, wretchedest evildoer it has ever been my very good fortune to play.' Sullivan would later recall that the cast were all entertained during the shoot by Rathbone's colourful anecdotes.
All in all, the contrived plot developments and 'step-by-step' acting are all given lenient treatment by film critics, well aware of this film's true appeal as children's entertainment.
In Gordon's version, George is an orphaned prince brought up by a sorceress, Sybil, whose witchcraft has largely deserted her. This derring-do young Prince is played by former stuntman, and stand-in for Anthony Perkins, Gary Lockwood. On the evidence here, he should have stayed off-camera. In terms of the storyline, when the object of his affection, Princess Helene, is kidnapped by the evil wizard Lodac, the impetuous George tricks his foster mother Sybil, a sorceress in her own right who reared him as her own child when she found him alone, his parents having died of the plague. Locking her up in her magic basement, he not only helps himself to the magic sword in question and the fastest steed in all the world, but also resurrects six ossified knights to accompany him on his quest to rescue her. One can understand why anyone would become smitten with the alluring Anne Helm, former model and dancer at the Copacabana club in New York, who would briefly become the girlfriend of Elvis Presley the following year. It is quickly apparent that were it not for his travelling companion knights, it is doubtful this bumbling buffoon of a hero would have survived long on his arduous journey. If these knights' longevity were determined by acting ability, then their fates may have been radically different. It is unbelievable, given the fact that a voiceover specialist was called in to dub over the contributions of the the actor playing Sir Ulrich of Germany, as the latter's accent was so bad, that the risible Irish accent attempted by John Maudlin not only stood, but also that the latter enjoyed so much dialogue, and that his character was not killed off sooner.
Whilst tackling the seven deadly curses in his path, George must also face the treachery of his rival for the Princess' hand, Sir Branton, played gleefully by stage and TV performer, Liam Sullivan, secretly in league with Lodac. In terms of the special effects, these range from satisfactory, given both the epoch in which the film was made and budgetary constraints, to the quite farcical. The star of the how in terms of the special effects is Lodac's dragon, the model of which was only eight foot long and took four months to construct. It was activated by wires and mechanical controls. Equipped with gas ducts enabling it to spew flames of fire, tragedy was averted by the quick reactions of a standby fireman when its costly innards caught fire. The worst special effect has to be the 25 foot ogre, which in any other universe the knights aboard their steeds could easily have outrun. It seems preposterous to what children can see today, but what perturbed the censor of the day was the seemingly horrifying effect of the voluptuous maiden trying to entice our French knight revealing herself to be a hideous old hag in the employ of Lodac. As an interesting footnote, playing said old hag, as well as the abductor of Princess Helene, was TV's Vampira herself, Maila Nurmi.
With regard to other more notable and experienced members of the cast, they appear to be just going through the motions. As for George's foster-mother, Sybil, English character actress, Estelle Winwood, virtually plays her stereotypical role of that time of an eccentric old woman as if in a trance herself. The film is notable for the presence among the cast of Basil Rathbone, cast as the evil wizard Lodac, who hams it up in pure pantomime fashion. Rathbone claimed he was drawn to play the character as he considered him 'the most villainous, treacherous, wretchedest evildoer it has ever been my very good fortune to play.' Sullivan would later recall that the cast were all entertained during the shoot by Rathbone's colourful anecdotes.
All in all, the contrived plot developments and 'step-by-step' acting are all given lenient treatment by film critics, well aware of this film's true appeal as children's entertainment.