 617 - THE SWORD AND THE DRAGON
Genre: Goofy Russian/Finnish Folklore (1956/1960, Color)
Synopsis: This feature is yet another weird, goofy Russian/Finnish fantasy film based on folklore from director Aleksandr
Ptushko, who after such MST masterpieces like
The Day the Earth Froze and The Magical Voyage of Sinbad is already one of my favorite bad movie directors.
This movie is about a “young” man (although he already looks old enough to be eligible for Social Security benefits) named Ilya who, at the beginning of the movie,
can’t move as his village is sacked by Mongol hordes.
So he’s just sitting there when some other Russian happen along and give him a drink that allows him to walk again.
And he rides off on his horse and comes to a three-way fork in the road.
One direction lead to riches, a second leads to a good wife, and the third leads to certain death.
Which way does he go? Why, the way to certain death, of
course (so the fact that he is not very bright is now well established).
Down that path, he runs into the Wind Demon, who tries to blow him
away. But Ilya makes a lucky throw and is able to capture the Wind Demon.
Ilya takes the Wind Demon to the Prince of the land to let him decide what to do with him, but once he gets there, another man lies and claims he kills the Wind Demon.
So Ilya has the Wind Demon demonstrate his power by blowing everyone around, proving that Ilya really captured him and the other guy is a liar.
Right after that incident, a really fat ambassador from the Mongols arrives in the city and demands that the Prince pays a ransom to keep the Mongol hordes from invading and destroying the city.
Ilya promptly kills the ambassador with a spear and promises to protect the land from the Mongols.
Ilya, along with two buddies, is now the protector of Russia or something.
While out on a walk or something, he rescues a woman from some Mongols and they fall in love.
But soon, she is captured again by the Mongols and her son (i.e.
Ilya’s son) is raised as a warrior by the leader of the Mongols.
Meanwhile, back in the Russian Prince’s land, a traitor betrays Ilya and convinces the Prince to lock him up in the dungeon.
But soon, the Mongols are threatening to attack and the Prince releases Ilya with no hard feelings to help fight off the invaders.
Ilya comes up with a goofy plan to pretend to pay off the Mongols in gold but instead get them to kill each other.
Fighting breaks out and the Russian are winning. But then the Mongol leader releases his fire-breathing dragon to attack and
Ilya, his son and his buddies finally succeed in killing the dragon and capturing the Mongol leader.
Host Segments:
- Prologue: Mike and the Bots play Dungeons and Dragons
- Segment One: The Mads are on a date;
the SOL crew entertains them with Supercali-Fragilistic-Expialawacky
- Segment Two: Mike and the bots make a joke, Ingmar Bergman style
- Segment Three: Gypsy sings the same song that Ilya's wife did in the
movie, as Mike and the Bots are her furry animal friends
- Segment Four: Ilya Mourometz visits the SOL
- Segment Five (End): Tom reads Gypsy's review of
Supercali-Fragilistic-Expialawacky;
the Mads freak out when the phone rings (It may be the
women from their date!)
Stinger: The wind demon, assisted by bad editing, falls out of a tree
Don’s Review: This is one goofy movie although with some surprisingly high production values.
The riffing on this was pretty good
throughout, although not as great as on the other earlier goofy Russian films seen on MST, and the host segments were, overall, outstanding, with the highlights being the
Mads’ “dates” and “A Joke by Ingmar Bergman” (which is absolutely hilarious if
you’re ever seen a Bergman film, such as The Seventh Seal). This really is a great episode of the show and one of the best of
Season Six.
Don’s Rating: 
Forrest’s Review: For a long time I thought this
episode was great. I remember seeing it on its initial run in
Season Six, and I remember loving it when I got it on tape about a year ago.
But I recently watched it, and I did not love it as much.
The movie is a lot of fun, probably my favorite of the Finnish
movies, but the riffing never really had me laughing too much.
This movie simply did not have enough to riff on. It seemed more as though Mike and the
Bots were just along for the ride rather than making fun of the movie.
Jack Frost and The Day The Earth Froze were much more goofy and easier to riff, but this one took a lot of effort, and
although the riffing heard is the usual great effort usually demonstrated
in Season Six, there aren't a lot of belly bursting laughs.
There still were a lot of really funny riffs, but there weren't too many super funny ones.
I have mixed feelings with this episode. The riffs did make me laugh, but not as much as the other Finnish movies seen on the show,
even though I enjoyed the movie and host segments tremendously.
I think I'll give it 3.5/5. It was a firm "C+" to "B-" episode.
Enjoyable and funny, but not as funny as the very best episodes.
I think I'll nudge it up to 4/5 Crows because of the hilarious
prologue, the hilarious Supercali-Fragilistic-Expialawacky skit and hysterical Ingmar Bergman Joke skit.
Hell, this is the rare episode where the host segments are better and funnier than the riffing.
In fact, the host segments were so incredibly good, I think I'll push up the rating even more, but average riffing keeps this episode from reaching perfection.
Forrest’s Rating: 
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