LA BESTIA Y LA ESPADA MAGICA

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By  1983, cinema was changing. There was less and less need for the  double-bill, and a foreign horror film like THE BEAST AND THE MAGIC  SWORD would find difficulty in being exhibited. Then, too, it was not  your typical horror film and took its time tell its story. No more was  this the era of the 1970s when the Spanish horror boom was at its peak.  Along with other creators, Paul Naschy would find it more and more  difficult to get the funding he needed. Naschy kept on, trying his best  to make a film that would have some artistic merit, but also find a  welcome reception in the world and in the United States, which was  always a standard for a foreign film's success. THE BEAST AND THE MAGIC  SWORD was never dubbed or shown in theaters in America. It was even a  stranger in the land of American television. There was no American  pressbook, either. For a long time, the only way to see this film was  through dupey-looking videos sourced from either the Greek or Japanese  videos. Then,  in 2009, Spain's Vellavision distributed a number of Naschy films on DVD and in  proper aspect ratio (mostly). Included was the first DVD of LA BESTIA Y  LA ESPADA MAGICA. For the first time we were able to see what is going  on, the previous video releases having been mediocre.

After  LATIDOS DE PANICO, Naschy looked to helm in Japan. His project was  based on Kyoto, the Beast, an outlaw who had done in various Japanese in  the forest. When captured, he had been punished with a hand-to-hand  fight with a Bengal tiger. He won. Taking that as a starting point,  Naschy wrote a screenplay, initially titled LA BESTIA Y LOS SAMURAIS.  Takeda was very enthusiastic about the project. Julia Saly, who was a  partner with Naschy and Takeda, had a contact in Japan that would be  perfect for Japanese role: Shigeru Amachi. (The timeline here is a  little confusing. Naschy states that he was at a party in Japan where  Amachi and Mifune were present. It is very possible that this party was  after Amachi was involved with the film, though the party seems to occur  before.) Amachi had a long list of acting credits in Japan, starting in  1953, with many action films and historical period pieces. A gentleman  of the "old school," Amachi smoked cigarettes with a holder and had a  servant in tow, affectionately called later by the Spanish that were  filming, a "monkey." Naschy was also looking for funding, and Amachi  agreed and took half of the film's financial responsibility and helped  in other ways. Through Amachi, the large studios of Toshiro Mifune were  used, including the actors and the surrounding scenery.

The  filming presenting many headaches and difficulties. One time, Amachi  walked off the set, angry that he was being shot from the back. Naschy,  himself infuriated at that point, wanted to cancel the entire film, as  Amachi was critical in its making. But Amachi came back and apologized  for his behavior. Another time, at a nighttime shoot, the actress Yoko  Fuji was required to lie down in boat, the temperature freezing at that  point. When he didn't need her, Naschy try to send her to her dressing  room to warm up until he needed her again. The Japanese production  manager contradicted this, saying that Fuji was a professional and  should stay in the boat. A row started between Naschy and the man, but  Naschy won in the end. Then there was the tiger scene, one of the best  in Naschy's filmography. After being told that using a tiger would be  impossible, Naschy heard that a tiger used in the television show  SANDOKAN was available, and it was this tiger that fought Waldemar  Daninsky after being fed 25 chickens beforehand.

Though  Naschy thought highly of the Spanish male actors he was employing,  veterans like Conrado San Martin and Gerard Tichy, he was less  enthusiastic about his Spanish female leads: Violeta Cela and Beatriz  Escadero.

Despite  these difficulties and more, Naschy was satisfied. As Naschy would say  in the VIDEOOZE double-issue devoted to him: "It was very interesting to  film two worlds so opposite and to make them coincide, since it is a  voyage which begins on this continent and ends in the Orient. This  voyage gave us the opportunity to learn the authentic origin of the  legend of Waldemar Daninsky, which is to say we begin in the time of  Otto the Great and finish up on the sixteenth century. Artistically it  is one of my best films."

There  is no doubt that this film is a major one from Paul Naschy. He worked  with Japan and at Toshiro Mifune studios, and continued to bridge the  gap that existed, cinematically, between Spain and Japan. But the film  is too heavy-handed at times. Perhaps it was the absence of Naschy's  best cinematographer, Alejandro Ulloa, or Naschy's own temperament that interpreted this as an  "important" film and therefore hampered him. Or Naschy played his role  too glum, with no presence of levity from him nor anyone else. At times,  particularly in the scenes that arise before Waldemar goes to Japan,  the film seems lifeless and going by route. The film should have been better edited and dispensed with most of the laborious Spanish scenes. There is a sequence in Japan where Waldemar is hallucinating about a past, a scene that is perfect for a recap of the Spanish story.

The  framing of the picture is curious, too. It seems full frame. Perhaps  Naschy was going for a similarity with Japanese films (which ones?), something he  admitted to in talking about the pace of the film, but a full-frame  shooting is a puzzlement, though it is possible that the framing was  compelled in trying to get the film shown in a variety of venues. The new Blu-Ray from Mondo Macabro presents two aspect ratios, just in case. (More of this release soon.)

THE  BEAST AND THE MAGIC SWORD contains some of the best sequences of any  Waldemar Daninsky film, but it is too long, though obviously deserving  to be better known and then appreciated for what it attempted to do.

-- Mirek

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Facts:

During  the first scene and the battle between Irineus Daninsky and Bulcio, in  the stand are seen, dressed of the times, Naschy's wife, Elvira, and his  two sons, Bruno and Sergio.

The  hara-kiri scene compelled applause from the Japanese members of the  crew. For Naschy this was another example of Japan's fatalistic merging  of honor and death.

At  the wrap-up party, Naschy was forced to sing, in Spanish, some of the  classic songs of Spain. The sake may have helped, but Naschy realized  his voice was in no way a match for Amachi, who sang several songs in  wonderful voice,, including the "Waldemar" one that appears at the end  of the film.

Amachi  passed away in 1985, a victim of a stroke and still not seeing the  distribution of his co-financed film in Japan. For Naschy, this film was  the last premiere that his father, Enrique Molina, was able to attend  before he passed away.

A sequel was considered but never made.