Queen Christina

Starring:Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Ian Keith, Lewis Stone, Elizabeth Young, C. Aubrey Smith, Reginald Owen, Georges Renavent, David Torrence, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Ferdinand Munier, Lawrence Grant, C. Montague Shaw, Barbara Barondess, Cora Sue Collins, Richard Alexander, Edward Norris, Akim Tamiroff, Edward Gargan, Fred Kohler
Director: Rouben Mamoulian
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com essential video
Arguably Greta Garbo's best MGM movie--depending how you feel about Camille and Ninotchka--this tale of the 17th-century Swedish monarch who preferred men's togs to gowns plays the most provocative games with the great star's ambisexual personality. At her request, Rouben Mamoulian directed (all three Garbo's-best-movie candidates were done by the best directors she worked with: Mamoulian, George Cukor, and Ernst Lubitsch). Two sequences are legendary: Christina memorizing the room at a snowbound inn where she has first experienced love; and the long, concluding closeup of a queen become ship's-figurehead--as blank as a tabula rasa, and filled with all the meaning and emotion seven decades of audiences have chosen to see there. Those scenes are anthology pieces, but unlike most Garbo pictures, the whole movie is intelligently scripted and sustained. With Lewis Stone, C. Aubrey Smith, and John Gilbert--Garbo's premier silent-era costar--making a tentative comeback as her love interest. --Richard T. Jameson
Description
To escape the burdens of rule, Sweden's Queen Christina rides into the countryside disguised as a boy. There she meets and secretly falls for a dashing Spanish envoy on his way to the royal court. Imagine the envoy's delighted surprise when he and the young "nobleman" must share a bed at an overcrowded inn. Greta Garbo gives a luminous performance in this lavish costume drama, starring with her one-time off-screen fiance John Gilbert and directed by Rouben Mamoulian. "It had been so enchanting to be a woman, not a queen. Just a woman in a man's arms," Christina murmurs to her lover when her true identity is revealed. But she knows her people will not accept her marriage to a foreigner. Torn between her duty and her heart, she must make a fateful decision.

Garbo - The Signature Collection (Anna Christie / Mata Hari / Grand Hotel / Queen Christina / Anna Karenina / Camille / Ninotchka / Garbo Silents)
Average customer rating:

at last.... here she is - in full splendour:-)

Garbo is the face!!! The face is the place!!!

Good work

WOW!!

where is volume 2 ????

Garbo - The Signature Collection (Anna Christie / Mata Hari / Grand Hotel / Queen Christina / Anna Karenina / Camille / Ninotchka / Garbo Silents)
Starring: Greta Garbo
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0009S4IJM
Release Date: 2005-09-06

Amazon.com

Who was Greta Garbo? For a while the greatest of all movie stars, then a celebrated recluse, always "the mysterious lady," Garbo purred, "I want to be alone," and people took her at her word. Of course, the real Garbo is actually the "reel" Garbo, the silvery, suffering creature on the movie screen--the way the light caught her eyes, and the way she slithered around in silk. There are other Garbo films to be seen, but Garbo: The Signature Collection is the essential Garbo, the alpha and omega for fans and beginners. This 10-disc package collects seven of her MGM sound pictures, three silents, and the Turner Classic Movies documentary Garbo, which gives a good career overview and warm testimony from friends and relatives (although more critical perspective on her talent would have been welcome). Some extras and commentaries are mixed in.

The Garbo Silents disc features Flesh and the Devil, one of her sizzling box-office duets with John Gilbert; The Temptress, a wild number with Garbo as a man-killer who follows Antonio Moreno to the plains of Argentina; and The Mysterious Lady, a tight spy picture with Garbo as a Russian agent seducing the susceptible Conrad Nagel. When Garbo finally talked it was headline news, and if Anna Christie has aged a bit, the star's sultry enunciation of "Gimme a visky" retains its historic punch. (The disc includes a German-language version of the film shot at the same time.)

Mata Hari continues the exotic storytelling of Garbo's silent years, as she does an eye-popping turn as the famous German spy. Grand Hotel casts her as a tired, tired ballet dancer, in a star-studded MGM project that played on her public image as aloof and mysterious. The movie was a box-office smash and took the Best Picture Oscar for 1932, and still stands as a glittery gem of the studio system. Under the sympathetic direction of Rouben Mamoulian in Queen Christina, Garbo flourishes in a tale of a Swedish royal who escapes the grind by disguising herself as a boy. She insisted that John Gilbert--his career in tatters and his life near its end--be her leading man. Garbo rarely seemed more spot-on, and the film's final grand adoration of her is justifiably famous.

Anna Karenina is Garbo's second crack at the Tolstoy heroine, after the silent Love. It's a throbbing performance, even if the movie itself is one of those MGM productions that seems to doze under all its finery and respectability. Camille is scrumptious costume tragedy, with Robert Taylor as co-star and George Cukor as director. Finally, Ernst Lubitsch's Ninotchka (you know--"Garbo Laughs") is a bubbly comedy of frosty Sovietism meeting the champagne pleasures of Paris. Garbo retired two years, ending her reign but keeping the enigma intact. --Robert Horton

Description

Includes the best known films from a timeless and alluring actress of the 1920s and 1930s whose enigmatic beauty in a series of MGM silent films catapulted her to international movie stardom.

DVD Features:
Additional Scenes:THE DIVINE WOMAN: Surviving 9-Minute Excerpt of This Lost 1928 Silent
Alternate endings:Alternate Ending on The Temptress
Audio Commentary:Commentary on Flesh and the Devil by Garbo Author Barry Paris; The Temptress by Greta Garbo: A Cinematic Legacy Author Mark A. Vieira; Mysterious Lady by Film Historians Tony Maietta and Jeffrey Vance
Documentaries:TCM ARCHIVES: GARBO - New Feature-Length Documentary Exclusive to This Set!
Featurette:SETTLING THE SCORE - Goes Behind the Scenes of the TCM Young Film Composers Competition and the Scoring of Notable Silent Movies
Photo gallery:Garbo's Silent Years at MGM
Theatrical Trailer

Customer Reviews:

at last.... here she is - in full splendour:-).......2007-02-18

I`ve grown up with Garbo... Ever since I was a child, Swedish television has indeed appreciated her legacy and I`ve witnessed all the sound films mentioned here:

To my mind, what makes Garbo great is her wonderful sphinx face... and her melancholy, sad remarks... When called upon hysterics and outburts, she is painfully amateurish...

That goes for ANNA CHRISTIE, GRAND HOTEL, CONQUEST, AS YOU DESIRE ME.... In CAMILLE, NINOTCHKA and TWO-FACED WOMAN she shows us the actress, a girl who DID posseess nuances... method acting....

And never more so that in the silent FLESH AND THE DEVIL 1926.
In it she is a man-eater, a sultress, a she-devil and she she in only limited when call upon a confrontation scene with Lars Hanson`s sister...

The film has wonderful closeups of its three stars and the subject remains as fresh as it did in 1926. The scenes in the snow and how she seduces John Gilbert is quite good and I must say - FLESH AND THE DEVIL is still quite watchable even today.

To me the friendship between Gilbert and Hanson is a homosexual one and when Garbo falls through the ice - the men are seen embracing each other - and free of that devil Felicitas.

Their intense friendship fools no one in 2007, but 80 years ago it must have...

Garbo is only 21 in the film, but shows a mature display of acting and womanhood - no wonder the world fell for her and the same goes for the sound MATA HARI...

Garbo is the face!!! The face is the place!!!.......2007-01-27

Magnificent set with a lot of extras. The silent films have commentaries and this whole set is a great tribute to (THE FACE). Garbo is so magnetic on the screen. I was just so astounded by her beauty and her acting ability. I bought it because I saw The Temptress on TCM. After seeing it I had to see more. There is just something about Garbo that words cannot say. The TCM disc about her life was so good. It's hard to believe,however understandable, that she just walked away. What a loss to the screen. Barry Paris and Mark Veira have wonderful biographies available which explain her life story. I was just blown away like never before by the silents Temptress,Flesh and the Devil and Mysterious Lady. Camille is the story of Verdi's La Traviata. Anna Karenina is a period piece film of a Russian. Anna Christie is Garbo's first talkie. It takes 16 minutes before you hear the first ever line from her(Give me a Visky). Grand Hotel is loaded with stars such as the Barrymores and Joan Crawford in what may be her first movie. Mata Hari the spy and Ninotchka the Russian diplomat. You just can't get enough of Garbo and you will never get tired of watching her. Buy it before it goes out of print.

Good work.......2006-12-23

Although I really never "got" Garbo, little too much of a hick with an accent for my taste, these came out well. If you are a fan you'll like them.

WOW!!.......2006-11-10

There is no one that compares with Garbo on the screen today. She had a presence like no other. I am thoroughly enjoying this collection. Well worth the price.

where is volume 2 ????.......2006-09-08

Warner need to release Garbo V2 with her remaining catalog :
-susan lenox: her fall and rise
-inspiration
-romance
-the painted veil
-conquest
-as you desire me
-two faced woman
- silents: Wild Orchids, The Single Standard, The Kiss, A Woman of Affairs,The Torrent and Love

Come On,Warner!! Keep up the good work...

Average customer rating:

Maybe Garbo's best
Queen Christina
Heavy Hangs Garbo's Head
Garbo's Gift to Us
Garbo in her most enigmatic role

Queen Christina
Starring: Greta Garbo , John Gilbert , Ian Keith , Lewis Stone , and Elizabeth Young
Director: Rouben Mamoulian
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Ninotchka
Camille
Anna Karenina (Cliffs Notes Version)
Mata Hari
Anna Christie

ASIN: B0009S4IJC
Release Date: 2005-09-06

Amazon.com essential video

Arguably Greta Garbo's best MGM movie--depending how you feel about Camille and Ninotchka--this tale of the 17th-century Swedish monarch who preferred men's togs to gowns plays the most provocative games with the great star's ambisexual personality. At her request, Rouben Mamoulian directed (all three Garbo's-best-movie candidates were done by the best directors she worked with: Mamoulian, George Cukor, and Ernst Lubitsch). Two sequences are legendary: Christina memorizing the room at a snowbound inn where she has first experienced love; and the long, concluding closeup of a queen become ship's-figurehead--as blank as a tabula rasa, and filled with all the meaning and emotion seven decades of audiences have chosen to see there. Those scenes are anthology pieces, but unlike most Garbo pictures, the whole movie is intelligently scripted and sustained. With Lewis Stone, C. Aubrey Smith, and John Gilbert--Garbo's premier silent-era costar--making a tentative comeback as her love interest. --Richard T. Jameson

Description

To escape the burdens of rule, Sweden's Queen Christina rides into the countryside disguised as a boy. There she meets and secretly falls for a dashing Spanish envoy on his way to the royal court. Imagine the envoy's delighted surprise when he and the young "nobleman" must share a bed at an overcrowded inn. Greta Garbo gives a luminous performance in this lavish costume drama, starring with her one-time off-screen fiance John Gilbert and directed by Rouben Mamoulian. "It had been so enchanting to be a woman, not a queen. Just a woman in a man's arms," Christina murmurs to her lover when her true identity is revealed. But she knows her people will not accept her marriage to a foreigner. Torn between her duty and her heart, she must make a fateful decision.

Customer Reviews:

Maybe Garbo's best.......2007-06-23

Many of the films of the great Greta Garbo are a trial because so often she was the luminous centre in absurd stories with unworthy costars. "Queen Christina" is one of the handful of films which rise to her level.

The films tells of the abdication of Christina of Sweden when she fell in love with a Spanish nobleman. The film starts slowly and not very well establishing Christina's persona as a peace maker surrounded by a court of ambitious war mongers. When it shifts into romance and the usual problem of royalty in films, loyalty and responsibility to country versus personal needs, it improves immeasurably. Garbo is subjected to a barrage of close ups by the director Rouben Mamoulian but they are carefully placed and she survives magnificently, superbly conveying her changing emotions. The object of her love is John Gilbert, a giant silent screen star and ex-lover of Garbo, but here towards the end of his career. He is not completely convincing as a worthy object of her desires. He looks popeyed and weedy. The film has 2 very famous scenes - when Garbo "remembers", filmed to the rhythm of a metronome, the room where she and Gilbert slept together and the ending at the bow of the ship when her blank face is scrutinised and the audience fill in the blanks. The film is sumptuously made in the MGM manner and there is an excellent supporting cast, particularly C Aubrey Smith.

The film's print is dirty and obviously unrestored. There are no extras except the original trailer so if you want to learn more, you will have to purchase it in one of the Garbo Collections which contain documentaries.

Queen Christina.......2007-06-21

Mamoulian's film creaks a bit with some broad playing from secondary actors, but Garbo's luminosity more than makes up for it. She is not only ravishing, but her persona is tailor-made for the strong, mannish role of Christina. Former fiancé Gilbert is also fine as Antonio, which places the subsequent demise of this actor's career squarely at the feet of studio boss L.B. Mayer, who didn't like him. Ian Keith, Lewis Stone, and C. Aubrey Smith lend skilled support in this, one of the screen's crowning early biopics.

Heavy Hangs Garbo's Head.......2006-11-26

As I continued my quest through Greta Garbo's career I came across this film, a big sweeping historical romance that has a pure heart but a very dry tongue. The story involves the Queen of Sweden (Garbo) who rules over a people that are not too bright and advisors that are constantly clamoring for war. Early on Christina calls off the war in the name of the peasants which leaves the warmongers frothing at the mouth. Decisions like this serve to make her character more likeable and little else as the political landscape she presides over has no real consequences. The romantic part of the story kicks in one night when Christian is out and about and gets marooned inside a cabin thanks to a massive snowfall. Also in the cabin are a bunch of drunken Spaniards, and one, Don Antonio (John Gilbert) who is especially attractive. The catch is that this guy believes she is a he, and since he believes it she seems to magically morph into a male. I know that if you need a she to play a he Garbo is your girl, but she makes no effort to hide her femininity so I found this scene to be extremely unlikely. But no matter. Once they are alone she is outed as a female but not as a queen, they fall in love and then must separate.

The thing about historical romances is that it is always the history driving the wedge between the lovebirds, be it a sinking ship or King Charles. So of course Don Antonio is the advisor to King Charles, and of course he has his royal eye on Christina. This all comes to pass when Don Antonio pays a visit to Christina's castle not knowing that she is queen. His presence has negative effects almost immediately. The masses, never known for their smarts, start riots outside over the thought of their queen doing it with a foreigner (who even knew Swedish nationalism existed?). Then, like now, the people were only able to take an interest in politics if it involved a sex scandal that they could be outraged (!) about. Her other lover around the castle gets jealous and we see lots of squabbling, an aspect that was reminiscent of the "Elizabeth I" movie from earlier this year. The ending of the film is actually quite refreshing. For once we see a person look around and realize that the cost of her position is more than she is interested in paying. We humans love to sell out without thinking, here Christina does the opposite. It was not enough to save the film for me. The dealings for castle politics got to be a drag fairly quickly. I also simply don't believe Garbo in this role. She always seems mysterious and haunting, not powerful and appealing. So while the film is perfectly enjoyable I'm giving it a mild thumbs down. I didn't believe the filmmakers when they told me that Christina rose above her position, but I did believe them when they told me she was leaving it. The sad thing is that there is a good movie in here somewhere, just director Rouben Mamoulian couldn't get the story engine humming fast enough to find it. ***

Garbo's Gift to Us.......2006-07-02

In my view Garbo's greatest film, and her most personal. Among my other favorites are Camille and Ninotchka, but Queen Christina is her stand-out classic above all others. I have read that Garbo was personally exicted by and involved in this production to an extent unparalled for her, motivated by the Swedish (her homeland) history and the opportunity to play one of history's most enigmatic figures, the queen who "abdicated her throne for love" (though this portrayal is, of course, largely "Hollywoodized"--you can probably throw most expectations of historical accuracy out the window, just set back and behold).
Here is every aspect of the legendary Garbo in one film: the breathtakingly beautiful woman, the amibiguous sexuality, the great tragienne, the aloofness, the boyish playfulness, the restless longing to escape any enforced tableaux or expectations of others and live her own life by her own terms, all things she had in common with Queen Christina. Here also is her warm, memorable final pairing with her former real-life amor and frequent co-star John Gilbert.
Two legendary scenes stand out: Garbo walking about, as if in a daze, memorizing the inn room in which she and Gilbert have just spent the night (a scene almost lost due to censors), and of course the final, unforgettable closeup, the greatest closeup in the history of cinema--simply stunning, as is the heartbreaking farewell to the dying Gilbert moments before. Not to be missed scenes also are Garbo running out of the castle into the bitter cold, rubbing snow in her face like a child, and the warm relationship with her elderly attendant, C. Aubrey Smith, who dotes on her like a daughter, combing her hair, tending to her every need with tender love and protectiveness. --One of the overlooked subtexts in the film is the parentless Christina's relationships with two major father figures, Lewis Milestone (another frequent co-star) as a palace official, who vehemently protests Christina's decision to step down from the throne, along with the personal attendant, C. Aubrey Smith, with his benevolent, Mark Twain face, caring for Christina in a motherly fashion, wanting only her happiness, wherever that takes her....
In life Garbo indeed appeared reclusive and aloof, though I suspect she was simply a very shy person who perhaps never fully comprehended what it was we all wanted from her. But here, in Queen Christina, actress and woman merge. Garbo opened up for us in a way she had never before and would never again, fully showing us both her great strength and acute vulnerability, and the result is spellbinding, a treasure forever, Garbo's gift to us all, and we are all the beneficiaries.

Garbo in her most enigmatic role.......2006-03-26

An irregular, though in the end, definitely great Garbo vehicle.

It is shocking to note how our impression of a film changes along with the time. Ten or fifteen years ago I considered "Queen Christina" Garbo's best work. Today I am not so sure, to my regret and disappointment.

The failure, in my opinion, stands in the over-presence, idolizing of the Garbo image, so much so that the plot, script, everything else practically becomes irrelevant. Can the weight of the great, (wonderful, I must admit) Garbo balance neatly with the quality of the picture? No. The movie starts weak, pretentious, a little theatrical, then it grows in tone, more ambition and a little more depth; towards the end one feels you have been watching a wonderful movie all through and can't get your eyes off the screen. And that's when she acts her greatest scene: on the ship, facing the mysterious horizon, with the sea breeze on her sphinx face, and her eyes... oh, her eyes!

Yeah, folks. This is classic cinema, and I'm not whistling dixie here. It's all worth it, only for those culminating minutes. And as one cannot separate an arm from a body and expect to grow from it another body, one cannot separate the end from the rest of the film. That is why this is a great classic movie.

N.B. I wonder if Christina ever made it to the "house on the cliff" in Spain. Sad and beautiful Spain.

Average customer rating:

Fantastic Movie
Sandra Bullock Does It Again!
Great Purchase
love this!
FAMILY

Hope Floats
Starring: Sandra Bullock , Harry Connick Jr. , Gena Rowlands , Mae Whitman , and Michael Paré
Director: Forest Whitaker
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
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ASIN: 6305168822
Release Date: 1998-11-03

Amazon.com

Cute-as-a-button Sandra Bullock is a homemaker who learns that her husband and best friend are having an affair. The so-called best friend reveals this information on a national chat show, leaving Bullock devastated and disgraced. Heading back to her small hometown in Texas, she seeks refuge with her eccentric mother. Laconic Harry Connick Jr., a former high-school classmate, attempts to bring Bullock out of her depression and win her heart. He has, you see, been carrying a torch for her since they were kids.

You will not need a crystal ball to see where this is going. It works as a middling romance, but is an annoying waste of potential. The script has much to say about finding your true identity, but does so with all the sentimentality and depth of a Hallmark card. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Customer Reviews:

Fantastic Movie.......2007-07-03

Great story line. Music is very good. As usual Sandra Bullock gives a great performance.

Sandra Bullock Does It Again!.......2007-05-30

Sandra Bullock does it again, without nudity or graphic scenes. This is one of the few movies out there that is entertaining the first time you watch it, and the 10th time you watch it. "Hope Floats" is a story about having courage to rebuild life and dream new dreams with what you've got. Sandra Bullock and Harry Connick, Jr. have great chemistry together, and he held his own in the spotlight with a great performance of love and patience. Everyone can relate to this story.

Great Purchase.......2007-05-12

I have not yet viewed the DVD, however, it came when expected and what is great condition. Thanks!!!

love this!.......2007-04-23

This is one of my favorite Sandra Bullock movies! And I adore the ever so hot and sexy Harry Connick, Jr. in this movie-the chemistry is really good between the two...and Gena Rowlands and the story and cast only add to the magic. I love the two children roles in this too. I have probably seen this at least 100 times and never grow tired of it. If you like these two actors, you'll like this movie.

FAMILY.......2007-03-27

THIS IS A FAMILY MOVIE AND MUCH ENJOYED BY US. IT WAS NICE TO FIND A MOVIE, WITHOUT ANY SEX SHOWING, BAD LANGUAGE.

Average customer rating:

Swords, Sandals, Crocodile Men, And Flying Woks
You would think it would be cool...
"Oh Crocodile Queen, your people salute you."
AMAZING !!!
A Different Point-of-View

The Devil's Sword
Starring: Barry Prima , Gudi Sintara , Advent Bangun , Enny Christina , and Rita Zahara
Director: Ratno Timoer
Manufacturer: Mondo Macabro
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Gwendoline - Unrated Director's Cut (aka - The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik Yak)
The Curse of the Crying Woman
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ASIN: B000FI8MMK
Release Date: 2006-06-27

Customer Reviews:

Swords, Sandals, Crocodile Men, And Flying Woks.......2007-02-21

"The Devil's Sword" is a tough movie to get your mind around: it's an Indonesian fantasy film inspired by Dungeons and Dragons featuring some of the worst production values ever. The film opens with a crazy old guy making a magical sword, and abruptly changes course to show us an underwater village in Indonesia where they are welcoming the "invisible queen" back from the briny depths. Through the spectacle of special effects (involving a towel dangling on a string by the looks of it) the queen becomes visible: she is revealed to be the "crocodile queen," and has decorated her abode accordingly. Please note the tasteful bed in the giant golden jaws of a crocodile, and the large gold crocodile statue ornamenting her personal fire pit. Around this time in the film the credits decide to show up, and continue to do so intermittently for about the next fifteen minutes. The music (by Gatot Soedarto) is an annoying 1980's electronic variety and plagues the film for the duration; likewise, please note that E. Muksin Hamzah edited the film. Perhaps someone could take away his scissors now; this is one of the choppiest, most ineptly presented films ever.

The premise of the film is that the queen has an insatiable desire for young men, so she sends for her evil minion and uber-warrior, Banyu Jaga (Advent Bangun) to capture a young groom from a wedding. Banyu Jaga interrupts the wedding to kidnap the groom, but, starting a trend, fighting breaks out. There is magic and sorcery to go along with a lot of leaping around, kung fu, and knifeplay. The fight seems to last forever, but just when the issue seems decided the good uber-warrior, Mandala (Barry Prima, Indonesia's biggest film star) shows up, and it starts all over, but not before mystical "crocodile men" emerge from the ground (wearing hilarious costumes) to confound the forces of good.

Mandala's guru is then bitten by a red snake which results in huge amounts of blood on his pants, and knees that look like gangrenous coconuts: it turns out that the best treatment for this condition is amputation by white-hot sword, but only after Mandala finds exploding, glowing mushrooms to help with the first aid process. (Mr. Hamzah does us no favors in the comprehensibility department here.) After surgery the guru explains that the forces of evil are trying to eradicate all the good warriors from the earth, which leads to a flashback of the guru battling the four evilest warriors in the world, whose chosen weapons are a stick, a whip, hooked knives, and a flying wok on a string (capable of pulling peoples heads off.)

Mandala and the wife of the kidnapped loser seek revenge on horseback. The queen's pot of glowing gravel shows her that they are heading for "the Mountain of Swords," to get the devil's sword. Along the way there is a battle with alligator men on a raft piloted by a skeleton. I am still laughing about the alligator that got beheaded, but still dogpaddled away after arterial spurting reminiscent of the lion in the "Scott of the Antarctic" sketch in "Monty Python's Flying Circus." Needless to say, the four evil guys also want the sword and show up first, with Banyu Jaga wearing ultra-masculine culottes. The evil foursome decide to fight to the death for the right to the sword (crocodile men join the fisticuffs as well,) and after much mayhem resembling the "Three Stooges" (especially the "eye poke" gag...really) Banyu Jaga kidnaps the jilted wife while Mandala finds the devil's sword in a bat-infested cave protected by the most ludicrous Cyclops in cinema history.

When emerging from the cave Mandala and Banyu Jaga go at it again first with conventional weapons, then with laser beams from their wrists. The battle ends in a draw, but Banyu Jaga is punished by the queen for failing to bring her the sword. This is when we first realize that her large decorative crocodile statue is not only stylish, but functional, too, as it blasts Banyu Jaga with fire and laser beams.

Mandala and the jilted wife swim to the queen's cave. I bet you can't guess what happens next. I'm sorry, "more fighting" is the correct answer. The queen hypnotizes Mandala, and the guru and the guru's guru telepathically intervene to snap Mandala out of the spell. We then learn that the queen is really "the devil in disguise," and not the one Elvis sang about: she turns into a hideous hag and uses her scarf as a weapon (and a walkway) during the ensuing battle with the forces of good. Only Mandala and the husband and wife duo make it out of the cave alive, though the queen's status is unclear as she first turns from hag to crocodile then disappears into the swamp. After a bit of marriage counseling, Mandala rides away on horseback majestically.

This film is beyond bad on a conventional scale, but I gave it three stars for camp value. The DVD also features several extras including the trailer (wonderfully cheesy) and an interview with Barry Prima, who seems cantankerous. Please also note the biography of Prima, where we find he was born Bertus Knoch, and that he has come out of retirement recently (2006) to play a cross-dresser in "Reality, Love and Rock 'n' Roll." If you are looking to laugh at a movie, this one definitely fits the bill, though I recommend it only for hardened veterans of grade-Z films. The extras note that the film is "one of the best Indonesian fantasy films," but one major newspaper recently ran a review of the film with the much more appropriate headline "The Citizen Kane of Crap." You be the judge.

You would think it would be cool..........2007-02-05

But it is not.

Hey, I'm no snob. I love horrible films, the ones so bad that you LOVE them. But this one does not cut it.

Yeah, there are a lot, in fact numerous, promising features to this film. Crocodile queen, glowing swords from outerspace, dudes running around in cheap alligator costumes, laser statues....but IT SUCKED!

I may laughed times but it was too far and in between. I think i laughed at the crocodile attack on the raft and when some chick got her head taken off but that was it. Other than that, it wasn't memorable enough.

I had to watch it twice. The first time I kept falling asleep. The second time, I was annoyed I spent [...] on it.

I guess it all had to do with the pacing and lifeless acting and all the people who look like they have fish-faces and buggy eyes. It was just there, like a piece of your mom's old furniture you keep around your apartment. Lots of great ideas wasted on that crap-face named Barry Prima.

You want a bad film to enjoy? Check out the multitude of Cunyet Arakin films.

Or better yet, Lee Gordon Demarbre.

"Oh Crocodile Queen, your people salute you.".......2006-10-03

The Devil's Sword (1984) aka Golok setan came out at a time when the Indonesian film industry was thriving (it subsequently crashed in the 1990s), cashing in on various genres popular at the time including the fantasy genre, which came about primarily due to the popularization of the game Dungeons & Dragons in the late 1970s. Directed by Ratno Timoer (Revenge of the Ninja), the film stars popular Indonesian actor Barry Prima (Primitif, Special Silencers), who's probably best known for his character Jaka Sembung from the `Warrior' films. Also appearing is Gudi Sintara, Advent Bangun (The Warrior and the Blind Swordsman), Enny Christina, and Kandar Sinyo, most of who seem to have had a very limited career in film, appearing only in this feature.

As the film begins we see a wizened old man sitting on the ground, his meditations interrupted by a meteorite crashing to Earth. From the meteorite the old man fashions a mystical weapon (it's very glittery) so powerful, he ends up stashing it away for fear it might fall into the wrong hands. Anyway, seems there's evil power about in the form of a being known as the Invincible Crocodile Queen (Sintara), who resides in an underground lair (complete with crocodile motif) and takes sacrifices from a local village in the form of young men to satiate her lusty needs (which seem to be unquenchable). As of late the village has been slacking, so the queen calls upon a powerful warrior minion named Banyu Jaga (Bangun), who appears from exploding rocks, to disrupt a marriage ceremony for the village chieftain's daughter (Christina) by kidnapping the groom, which he does. Eventually this leads to another warrior getting involved, one named Mandala (Prima) as Mandala and Banyu Jaga both studied under the same master. Eventually Mandala confers with his master, who was seriously wounded and left for dead while fending off an attack of evil warriors, to which the old man passes along the secret location to the Devil's Sword, which happens to now reside somewhere within the Mountain of Swords. As Mandala starts off on his quest to retrieve the powerful weapon (with the princess in tow), the Crocodile Queen calls upon Banyu Jaga to recover the sword, the intent being to use it to rule the world...um, okay. Turns out the sword is coveted by a number of Banyu Jaga's brethren, enough so they battle each other, all while Mandala makes the perilous journey to the mountain where he eventually must face off against a slew of even greater challenges, including a shoddy looking ten foot tall Cyclops guarding the sword. As you can imagine things ultimately come to a head as Mandala and the princess (who's got some skills) end up facing off against the Crocodile Queen and her flunkies, many of which are dressed like crocodiles, in the age old battle of good versus evil...

This is one hell of a funky movie as the makers of the film seem to have taken a whole mess of elements, thrown them into a pot, mixed rigorously, boiled it up good, and spilled out the contents onto celluloid, the result being a story that doesn't make a whole lot of sense (there's a lot of little bits I filled in for myself based on speculation), but is actually entertaining in a markedly cheap and sleazy sort of way. At the very least the story did have some linear qualities, so it really wasn't all that difficult to fill in the blanks once things got moving, and speaking of getting moving, know this, the opening credits are spread out through the first ten minutes which was kind of odd as while you're watching whatever it is you're watching, some credits will pop up initiating a `what the hell?' response. What the story may lack in sense it makes up for in wild and wooly action sequences, which are spread fairly evenly throughout. The choreography isn't all that hot, but I did enjoy the copious blood spurting sequences as various peons and flunkies meet their demise through numerous forms of dispatch including, disembowelment, amputation, decapitation, and so on...as is usually the case the villains were far more interesting than the heroes, sporting cat-o-nine tails whips, snake staves, flying guillotines, etc. As far as Banyu Jaga, he utilized dual, curved swords that he would often stick together to form a wicked pair of hedge clippers, extremely useful in removing victim's body parts, particularly their heads. And then there's the Crocodile Queen herself...as I said, she lives in an underground lair, her throne made up to look like the maw of a giant crocodile, surrounded by a legion of crocodile men (guys in cheap reptile suits). Also present is a giant, silver crocodile statue, standing on its hind legs. The statue is functional as well as ornamental, as it spews fire from its mouth along with laser beams from its eyes. The queen, who's about the best looking female in the film (at least until the end when she reveals her true self), can often be found engaging in a group canoodle, taking on up to seven(!) guys at a time (I guess it's good to be the queen). Surprisingly, given the amount of snogging within the film, there's almost no nekkidness, except for a faraway behind shot of some female minions. There's a couple of really funny bits throughout the film, probably the funniest for me occurring during Banyu Jaga disrupting the wedding early on...nearly everyone gets involved in fighting Banyu Jaga including the villagers, the chieftain, his daughter (who's getting married), and so on...the only one who doesn't get into the scuffle is the groom, who seemed to me somewhat of a milquetoast, and certainly not worth battling a horde of enemies over to retrieve. I did learn quite a bit from this film including the following...

1. The best swords are those forged from glowing meteorites.
2. Crocodile queens are easy to get into the sack.
3. Crocodile queens have a problem with snogging (they can't get enough).
4. A blessing from a crocodile queen usually involves some between-the-sheets action.
5. Boulders can be used as modes of transportation, specifically if you kick a large enough one into the air and then jump on top of it (that's one sweet ride).
6. A parasol can be used effectively to keep a powerful enemy at bay.
7. A cannibal pit is a useful feature for getting rid of minions who've outlived their usefulness.
8. The best way to deal with snakebite is amputation with a white hot sword.
9. If you want to keep a powerful, mystical sword out of the hands of evil, it's probably best to hide it somewhere other than in a place known as the Mountain of Swords as that'd be the first place I'd probably look if'n I were hankering to get my hands on it.
10. A flying guillotine weapons is a pretty cool way to remove one's melon.
11. Having a legion of crocodile men at your disposal is not as cool as it would seem especially given the fact they can not fight for squat.
12. The cycloptic guardian within the Mountain of Swords is ridiculously easy to beat (hint, go for the ocular strike).
13. One would think given the build up tied to a weapon in a movie like this (heck, it's even in title of the film) one would see a whole lot of action involving said weapon, but one would be wrong.
14. Nothing gives a fantasy film that `fantasy' feel like smoke emanating from tons of dry ice thrown in the water.

The picture on this Mondo Macabro DVD release, presented in widescreen (2.35:1), enhanced for 16X9 TVs, looks clean and decent, while the Dolby Digital stereo audio comes through clearly. There are a few extras including a poor looking original theatrical trailer for the film, a featurette titled An Encounter with Barry Prima, which amounts to an impromptu interview with the star who doesn't seem all that keen on being interviewed, a text history about the film, a text piece titled Heavenly Swords: A History of the Sword, and a preview montage of other Mondo Macabro DVD releases.

Cookieman108

AMAZING !!!.......2006-08-24

one of indonisian finest , amazing fx and gory as many indonisian fanstasy & horror .Great extras like an indonisian cinema documentary love the barry prima interview . I hope soon would be released and all the other barry prima movies .

A Different Point-of-View.......2006-07-30

I don't review movies, but having purchased this on the basis of a very enthusiastic review, I must offer a different opinion: the production is among the worst I have suffered through -- about the level of a 1940's/1950'2 sci-fi or western weekly serial. (At which time I was too young and naive to suffer.)

DVD:

DVD

DVD

DVD

Blood Sisters of Lesbian Sin

Substitute 2: School's Out

Edge of Madness (REGION 1) (NTSC)

DVD: Troy Cory Show; Prisoner Of Love; VRA4001; VRA TelePlay

Alive and Kicking