Ilya Muromets 1956 Written by Mikhail Kochnev, directed by Aleksandr Puusko. A Russian fantasy film that was released in the US under the name The Sword And The Dragon. Sadly, it was released released in the US by Roger Corman and he chopped 6 to 7 mins out of the film. It was the feature film in episode 617 of the 1994-1995 season of Mystery Science Theater 3000. I'd seen that version several times over the years but not since around 2005.
Ilya Muromets is a big guy who lives in Kiev. He's been unable to use his arms and legs since he was a child. He has to watch some Tugars raid his village. The local men are killed and the some of the women are kidnapped to be entertainment for the Kalin. Some travelers cure Ilya and give him a big sword they'd gotten from a giant warrior.
Ilya sets off to Kiev to help fight the Tugars. On the way he captures a monster. On arrival he presents it to the Knyaz Vladimir the Fair Sun and pals up with a couple of other warriors. Vladimir has an advisor who's selling out the country to the Kalin. He gets Ilya put into prison for 10 years. Ilya's wife and son are kidnapped and sent off to the Kalin. The son is trained to be a warrior, he's also not given any info on who his father is, eventually father and son are pitted against each other. The pair bond when the son finds out Ilya is his dad.
There's even a dragon to fight. The sets are expansive and there's plenty of extras in the battle scenes. The story is a bit draggy but it's entertaining for the most part. Not sure I would need to buy the DVD.
The Blackout: Invasion Earth 2019 Written by Natalya Dubovaya, Ivan Kapitonov and Svyatoslav Podgaevskiy, directed by Egor Baranov.
I had watched this before and have linked that post in the title. I found it as entertaining and still think it's kind of draggin' in the 2nd act. Parts of the movie are impressive but most of us were disappointed in the ending.
Comments