Last night I returned to my collection of big box ex-rental videos to watch an absolute classic, staple movie from the era of 1980s video rental shops – Wizards of the Lost Kingdom.
Directed by Héctor Olivera under the auspices of Roger Corman during a run of 10 movies that Corman producd in Argentina during the 1980s, and released in 1985 by Concorde Pictures, Wizards of the Lost Kingdom is a swords and sorcery movie that packs into 90 minutes virtually every S&S meme and motif that you can shake a sword at – and then some – albeit with wildly differing degrees of success. (Worth noting, incidentally, is that its original cut was only 58 minutes long, so to pad it out Corman incorporated excerpts from some of his earlier S&S movies, such as Battle Beyond The Stars, Sorceress, and Deathstalker!)
So: virtuous king of a faraway land cruelly betrayed by his haughty queen and slain by his evil supercilious wizardly vizier – check. Youthful rightful heir to the throne forced to flee to escape vizier's clutches – check. Said youthful rightful heir championed by a laconic rebel adventurer armed with a ready supply of quips as well as a hefty sword – check. A motley assortment of monsters, especially of the actors wearing monster masks kind – check. Villainous but inane henchmen who perform more pratfalls and double-takes than Peter Glaze on Crackerjack (an allusion specially for British TV viewers of a certain age to enjoy!) – check. A vertically-challenged comic-relief character (in this instance a hobgoblin) – check. A giant furry friend of the youthful heir (in this instance an albino wookie, or something like that!) – check. And so on.
The plot is both formulaic and episodic. His name notwithstanding, evil wizard and erstwhile king's counselor Shurka (Thom Christopher) does not shirk from killing his noble monarch King Tylor (Augusto Larreta) in order to seize the throne of Axeholme, with the approval of his lover Udea (Barbara Stock), Tylor's traitorous queen. All Shurka needs now to gain absolute power is the magical ring owned by Tylor's good wizard Wulfrik (Edgardo Moreira) – but before he has chance to claim the ring, Wulfrik magics it away to safety with his teenage son Simon (Vidal Peterson) and Simon's huge hirsute companion Gulfax (Moreira again, but now in a white wookie-lite suit) – or so Wulfrik thinks.
Unbeknownst to him, however, the ring falls off Simon's finger at the precise moment that he and Gulfax are teleported out of Tylor's royal castle, the ring falling into the open jaws of a stone pantheresque statue in the castle's throne room where it remains hidden throughout almost the entire movie from the array of servants sent by Shurka to locate it.
Simon and Gulfax, meanwhile, find themselves lost in a forest far beyond the castle, but soon encounter a rugged rogue adventurer modestly (and alliteratively) known as Kor the Conqueror (Bo Svenson). Kor agrees to assist Simon in his goal to return to the castle and avenge the death of his father (whom Shurka has also slain) as well as that of the king, and rescue the king's teenage daughter Princess Aura, whom Shurka has imprisoned but secretly plans to marry, thereby betraying Queen Udea just like she betrayed the king.
The remainder of the movie sees Kor, Simon, and Gulfax fighting a succession of monsters, some serving as henchmen of Shurka, others serving simply as plot devices to keep the movie's momentum from slumping. So we have an alluring maiden named Acrasia (Maria Socas) who bewitches young Simon with her womanly wiles and a flagon of wine before turning into a hideous gigantic insect ready to devour him before he comes to his senses and dispatches her. Whether still inebriated or not I'm not sure, but no sooner has Simon escaped from Acrasia's deadly embrace than he comes up with the bright idea of resurrecting some long-deceased warriors to fight alongside him and Kor, only for the resulting zombies to attack them instead, before being persuaded to return to their earthly resting places.
Then we have a trio of louche lizardmen hassling a poor little hobgoblin named Hurla (Michael Fontaine) until Kor steps in and rids him of his reptilian aggressors, after which a grateful Hurla promises to utilize his magic powers in assisting their quest to defeat Shurka. There is also the charmingly-named Suicide Cave through which Simon and Kor have to pass (Gulfax having wisely sat out this particular challenge by remaining with Hurla), in which they are harassed by a succession of semi-transparent howling ghosts that fly at them from all directions.
And did I mention the rainbow-engendering mermaid-like naiad, the magic-spitting winged lion (which, disappointingly, is nothing remotely as impressive as its image on its video's front cover shown above would have you believe), or the warrior cyclops who captures Kor to ensure that he keeps an earlier promise to marry the cyclops's hideous sister or else be eaten alive? Like I said earlier, the storyline is very episodic, but at least there's never a dull moment!
Thanks to the naiad, Simon, Kor, Gulfax, and Hurla finally reach the castle, just in time to prevent Shurka from forcing Aura to marry him, and Simon retrieves the lost ring from one of Shurka's minions who had just that moment spotted it in the jaws of the stone panther. There then follows the obligatory battle to the death between good wizard Simon and evil wizard Shurka, in which Shurka is obviously destroyed (this is after all a PG-rated movie aimed at a youth audience), Simon is made king, and Kor departs for adventures new elsewhere. The end. (Except that a sequel, imaginatively entitled Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II, was released in 1989, but this did not feature any of the original film's cast or crew.)
Made at a time when CGI was not so much in its infancy as still a cinematic embryo, Wizards of the Lost Kingdom relies extensively upon what in comparison were the very primitive albeit sometimes quite effective special effects available back then – with the notable exception of the winged lion, that is…
Throughout its brief appearance after having been summoned by Simon in a dream, this intriguing entity remains resolutely motionless while suspended in the sky, only its head and mouth moving slightly and its expanded wings fluttering a little. And no, regardless of what the movie video's spectacular front cover artwork depicts so vividly, nobody gets to ride on its back either – due to that winged lion artwork apparently having derived directly from the Dungeons & Dragons board-game box's artwork!
Equally ambiguous is this film's title, bearing in mind that the kingdom isn't lost – usurped yes, but not actually lost. What is lost, at least for most of the movie, is the magical ring that the two rival, regal wizards – Shurka and Simon – are both intent upon possessing. So perhaps a more apt title for it would have been Lords of the Ring – then again, I have the distinct feeling that something like this may have already been used in some capacity…
As a fantasy movie for the more youthful audience, I feel sure that Wizards of the Lost Kingdom would satisfy just as successfully as the many classic Sinbad and Thief of Baghdad-themed films have done for decades of Saturday morning TV viewing – which is why I am puzzled never once in almost 40 years since its original mid-1980s release to have seen it included in any listings for the main UK terrestrial TV channels. So unless it was hired from a video rental shop, or subsequently purchased as a sell-thru video or DVD, this means that generations of pre-internet/streaming youngsters never had the chance to see this engaging family movie, which is a great shame.
Happily, however, at least at the time of posting this present review online here at Shuker In MovieLand, I'm happy to confirm that Wizards of the Lost Kingdom can be viewed free of charge in its entirety on YouTube by clicking here. Or if you'd prefer a taster of what to expect first, please click here to view an official trailer for it.
Finally: to view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.
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