Dr. Strange

By itself, the film is a very dated and very cheesy 70s film about an evil sorceress who wants to defeat her magical rival. It's somewhat fun to watch. As an adaptation of Doctor Strange, it fails because it takes far too long to transform the titular character from a regular human to the sorcerer supreme. The setup has some decent suspense as a civilian is under the spell of the villain Morgan LeFay and Stephen Strange has to figure out what's going on, all while the current sorcerer is under threat. However, this drags on for too long and the payoff is anticlimactic as Doctor Strange learns his powers too quickly and the special effects are laughable.

This movie is, as far as I know, the first movie ever created based on a Marvel comic book. The first theatrically released one was "Howard The Duck" which didn't come out until 1986 and to this movie's credit, it is probably an improvement. I don't know as much about Dr. Strange as I do Spider-Man or Captain America, as he's simply not quite as well known. This movie mostly faults from waiting until 74 minutes into the movie to actually show the title character in his costume, which I could recognize. Now a lot of it actually was pretty faithful to the comics. You got to see some familiar characters.

Now the thing is, originally I was going to give this movie a lot lower rating, but I did realize something. This was in fact intended to be the pilot for a TV show that was never made. As cheesy as the film was, I actually could excuse its pacing for the fact that it wasn't really meant to be a full movie. The way it went slowly actually did make sense for what it was supposed to be. I never watched any live-action Marvel shows ever. The bad definitely outweighed the good, so it's best to just skip this and watch the awesome Marvel movies released in theaters. **

The current wave of live-action cinematic superheroes is nothing new to our screens. Since 'Superman' first revolutionised the comic book industry in 1939, there have been film adaptations. In the 1940's there were many serials (Batman, Superman, and Captain Marvel for example). Then in the 1950's and 1960's The Adventures of Superman (1952 - 1958) and the campy Batman (1966 - 1968) the superheroes became household names on television. Then, in the 1970's, DC comics, through the ABC television network, produced the highly successful Wonder Woman (1975 - 1979) series, with the Amazonian beauty of Linda Carter. With the prospects of DC's most famous character's big screen incarnation, in Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie (1978), Marvel, with their groundbreaking silver-age characters, needed a platform for their characters. Whilst they had success with their animated Saturday morning shows, live-action and the TV series was the place to promote them.

From 1977 to 1982, Universal television broadcast The Amazing Spider-man (1977 - 1979), The Incredible Hulk (1978 - 1982), and two TV movies, Captain America (1979) and Captain America II: Death Too Soon (also 1979). The quality was of course varied, and the Hulk was its most credible triumph. Then in 1978, writer/producer, Philip DeGuere, produced a feature length television movie of one of Marvels most "psychedelic", cerebral characters, Doctor Strange. Created by comic legend Steve Ditko, it seems like quite a huge leap of faith to create a plausible adaptation within the restrictions of television production. This leads to some of the more fantastical elements of the comic books to be altered, or left out entirely - but this is of course an understandable exclusion.

Doctor Stephen Strange (Peter Hooten), a Psychiatrist working in a New York hospital who has been chosen by Thomas Lindmer (John Mills) to take his place as the new Sorcerer Supreme of Earth. However, an evil Sorceress, Morgan LeFay (Jessica Walter), has plans to kill the Earth- bound magicians. After throwing Thomas off a bridge, Clea Lake (Eddie Benton), has been telepathically controlled by the evil witch, Morgan, and it is down to Dr. Strange to save her from the astral plain, then conquer the cosmic universe to become the sorcerer.

It does have the limitations of 1970's television production, and falls flat very often with the dialogue - including excruciatingly annoying laughter from Strange and Clea, as they laugh at their unfunny exchanges. However, it is an admirable effort to bring a more obscure Marvel character to a live-action context. With Stan Lee as a consultant (as with all the other aforementioned shows), Lee states that this was his most enjoyable experience out of all of them. It was intended as a pilot for a series, but this was never produced - a television interview with Morgan LeFay towards the end, actually gives clues as to the way the show could have gone, and to be honest, it seems like an incredibly good concept. Morgan LeFay would have indoctrinated into her realm of magic the youth of America, through the zeitgeist idea of the self-help programme, something that was big business in the '70's. Alas, the idea was never seen through.

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TV movie (intended as a pilot for a possible series) about the Marvel magical superhero, Dr. Strange. Morgan LeFay (Jessica Walter) is sent to Earth by a demon to prevent an aging sorcerer (John Mills) from passing his power onto someone else. To this end she possesses a young woman named Clea (Anne-Marie Martin) and tries to get her to kill the sorcerer. Clea is traumatized by this, which leads her to being taken to the hospital where she is treated by psychiatrist Dr. Stephen Strange (Peter Hooten), who just so happens to be the sorcerer's intended successor.

While it's easy to dismiss this because it's a TV movie and those are largely cliché-ridden and forgettable today, I should point out that this wasn't always the case. In the 1970s TV movies were actually really good on the average, with a lot more creativity and variety than we see today where it's the same recycled soaps, thrillers, and romantic comedies over and over. This does have a limited budget, so those expecting things like Strange creator Steve Ditko's surreal imagery will be disappointed. But if you leave unrealistic expectations at the door and judge it on its own merits, I think you'll find it's a quality movie. Peter Hooten is a little wooden for a leading man but doesn't embarrass himself. Anne-Marie Martin (billed as Eddie Benton) is pretty good and very easy on the eyes. John Mills classes things up significantly. Jessica Walter is delicious fun as Morgan Le Fay. Perhaps the movie's greatest strength is Paul Chihara's score. Again, TV movies today just don't have this level of quality. Next to the Incredible Hulk TV series, this was the best of Marvel's efforts in the '70s and '80s to bring one of their heroes to life on the small or big screen, excluding cartoons. Those who can't enjoy TV movies or those who are fans of the comic book who can't see past their inflated expectations will not like it and should probably skip it altogether. I think most others who watch it will see it's very good for what it is.

I had first seen this movie years ago on Sci Fi only part way thru and thought of it often but never took the time to try to hunt down a copy. When low and behold I ran into it at a video rental store where you can rent movies for less than $1.00 for three days.

I cant believe how much fun this movie is, I truly love movies from the 70's and this movie has some major 70's fashion going on. I was surprised at how well the cast got into there roles from Peter Hooten playing Dr. Strange and Jessica Walter playing Morgan they both made the movie a lot of fun and the scene's that there in together are great. This is 70's camp at it's very best, the story is not as strong as it could be and the dialogue is a bit goofy at times but the actors bring the movie to life. Oh and I have to mention the lovely Anne Marie Martin she looks great in this movie what a beautiful lady.

There is another review on this movie that states the Greatest Superhero TV series never made and I have to agree. I wonder if the producers were hoping to go to series, because of the way the movie ends. It certainly had some great potential. I hope that some company takes the time to release the 70's marvel movies other than The Incredible Hulk (I do like the hulk to it's just better know than the Dr. Strange and Captain America and Spderman series of the 70's). The kid inside me from the 70's still loves these movies and I hope that some day they can be released on DVD.

DR. STRANGE LIVE ON IN YOUR MYSTIC WORLD...