The Magic Sword (1901)

Directed by

Walter R. Booth

Genre

fantasy film, silent film

Country

United Kingdom

Runtime

3 min

Rating

6.4 of 10 from 7 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A medieval knight fights an ogre and a witch to rescue a damsel. The film uses early special effects like double exposures to create magic tricks.

whimsicalfantasticaldatedsilenttheatricalsimpleslow-pacedvisually inventive

What happens

The Magic Sword; or, A Medieval Mystery (AKA: Magical Sword) is a 1901 British silent fantasy trick film, directed by Walter R. Booth, featuring a mediaeval knight battling to save a damsel from an ogre and a witch. The film, "is impressively elaborate, with single shots containing multiple trick effects achieved through complex double exposures and superimpositions," and according to Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline, "was so startling that it moved the legendary stage illusionist J.N. Maskelyne (of Maskelyne and Devant fame) to describe The Magic Sword as the finest trick film made up to then." (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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