![]() ![]() My own enjoyment of this movie was very mixed: I felt frustrated by how often and how far the movie fell short of the books, and tantalized more by what the movie *could* have been than by what it *was*, but I'm glad I didn't miss seeing it. John in the book is a devout Christian (more, he might could be a friend of Christ) John in the movie is darkly hinted to be a son of the Devil. The magical creatures are put in the foreground, and the setting (Wellman's true love) is made a generic Southern backdrop. ![]() It's always hard to put on film what a poetic writer has described - the charm and mystery of Wellman's beloved Carolinan countryside, the old-fashioned courtesies and customs of the mountain people - and this movie does not quite succeed, perhaps because it did not really try. ![]() The special effects are of only medium quality, even for 1973, and I can only suggest looking past them to the down-home, country-flavored fairy tale being told, woven together from fireside stories and folk traditions Wellman heard and adapted. A dark magical fantasy based on several of Manly Wade Wellman's stories about a guitar player who wanders across the rural American Southeast, confronting evil magicians, monsters, and perhaps the Devil himself. ![]()
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