What's the best, old Dragon Movie I've never seen?

May 18, 2010 11:51 AM

I just got back from a Science Fiction (Fantasy, Horror) convention and one thing we did was "Movie Night". We got Metropolis and showed it. The movie was great. It stimulted conversation, and the members liked it. They want to do it again next year. With a different movie, of course. But next year's theme is "Here Be Dragons". So I need a great old (so I can afford to license it) Dragon Movie.

Metropolis is a HUGE film an historically important film. Many other films were inspired by it in some way. (look it up in Wikipedia!)

I don't expect anything of that caliber. But there MUST be old movies, that are really good, that I can afford to license, that have DRAGONS in 'em.

I just don't know of any.

Any film critics? film students? film bufs? or Great-grandkid of the Greatest Dragon Film Maker in the world out there?

posted by davereed to media & arts (17 answers total)

Enter the Dragon springs to mind... Don't know how much discussion it will spur, though!
posted by kaibutsu at 11:54 AM on May 18, 2010

I'm sure this isn't really what you're looking for, but as a kid I loved Pete's Dragon. Heck, I still love it. It came out in 1977, so I'm not sure it's old enough to meet your needs and it's Disney, so that alone might rule out it being affordable.

There's also Dragonslayer from 1981. I just realized that's also a Disney owned film, so the same issues might apply.
posted by BrianJ at 11:56 AM on May 18, 2010

Is Dragonslayer (1981) not old enough? Pretty much the greatest straight* dragon movie.

*Reign of Fire being the best unserious choice.
posted by Oktober at 11:56 AM on May 18, 2010

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad contains a dragon.

Failing that, maybe Pete's Dragon?
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:01 PM on May 18, 2010

3rding dragonslayer. Non-seriously suggesting The Last Dragon.
posted by lumpenprole at 12:04 PM on May 18, 2010

If you can't get Dragonslayer (which is really your best choice), Fritz Lang's film Siegfried has a dragon that, for the time, was a cutting-edge visual effect. (Same director as Metropolis, so it might go over well.)
posted by Prospero at 12:10 PM on May 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

"Here there be dragons" refers to sea serpents. Serpents > snakes?

Anyway, The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988) would fit your horror/fantasy/trippy expectations.

You're showing this at midnight, right?
posted by TWinbrook8 at 12:10 PM on May 18, 2010

What about the old Rankin-Bass Hobbit? Smaug plays a pretty big part in it...
posted by lumpenprole at 12:14 PM on May 18, 2010

Not especially old, but how about Dragonheart?
posted by Hanuman1960 at 12:17 PM on May 18, 2010

Yes, Dragonslayer. Best dragon movie ever. Takes everything just the right level of serious, and the dragon is done so well it might as well be real.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 1:06 PM on May 18, 2010

The Flight of Dragons. 1982 animated Rankin/Bass flick. James Earl Jones voices an evil wizard. Classic.

Warner just released it on DVD too.
posted by valkyryn at 1:11 PM on May 18, 2010

If you like silent films, Fritz Lang also did a take on the Nibelung legend and the first half (Siegfried, 1924) features a dragon fight. Looks like it's available on DVD.
posted by immlass at 1:45 PM on May 18, 2010

Maybe The Lair of the White Worm if you're willing to take a little liberty with the "dragon" moniker?
posted by JaredSeth at 2:04 PM on May 18, 2010

But yeah, the movie you want is Dragonslayer.
posted by JaredSeth at 2:04 PM on May 18, 2010

OK, Dragonslayer sounds like the movie I want. I'm not so sure about licensing. Anybody know what they want for it?

But I'm considering Lang's Siegfried or maybe even "Lair of the White Worm"
posted by davereed at 2:18 PM on May 18, 2010

Personally, I would go for Willow, though the dragon is not a major plot theme. Too bad you can't get Reign of Fire, kind of a guilty pleasure of mine (fairly recent but did not do well so maybe affordable?)
posted by gudrun at 5:33 PM on May 18, 2010

Go cheesy with a Godzilla movie? he was sort of a dragon, right?
posted by bunny hugger at 7:47 AM on May 19, 2010