Magnesium thin films for marine engine parts such as the engine block and the cylinder head cover etc. were prepared on the magnesium alloy(AZ91D) substrate by Thermo-electron activated Ion-plating method. The influence of gas pressure and substrate bias voltages on the crystal orientation and morphology of the films was investigated with X-ray diffraction and field emission scanning electron microscope(FE-SEM), respectively. Moreover, the effect of crystal orientation and morphology of the magnesium films on the its hardness property was investigated as well. From the results, the hardness of the films was increased in Ar gas pressure due to the grain boundary strengthening and occlusion effects.