#1 Cheap Bedknobs and Broomsticks Enchanted Musical Edition Reviews
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The DVD came in very good condition and also in a timely manner.
My daughters used to have the video years ago when they were kids, but my older daughter's three children had never seen it. So we were able to enjoy watching it again with her children and my grandchildren on the DVD.
Bedknobs and Broomsticks Enchanted Musical Edition Feature
- BEDKNOBS & BROOMSTICKS: ENCHANTED MUSICAL EDITION (DVD MOVIE)
Bedknobs and Broomsticks Enchanted Musical Edition Overview
Experience the extraordinary animation, enchanting music and Academy Award-winning special effects (1971: Best Effects, Special Visual Effects) of Disney's beloved classic BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS -- now fully restored and remastered in this Enchanted Musical Edition with dazzling new bonus features! Hold on tight for a magical, musical, fun-filled journey! When young Charlie, Carrie and Paul move to a small village during World War II, they discover their host, Miss Price (Angela Lansbury), is an apprentice witch! Although her early attempts at magic create hilarious results, she successfully casts a traveling spell on an ordinary bedknob, and they fly to the fantastic, animated Isle of Naboombu to find a powerful spell that will save England! All-new fun is brewing in this Enchanted Musical Edition, including "The Wizards of Special Effects" feature. Also starring David Tomlinson (MARY POPPINS) and Roddy McDowall, BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS is a heartwarming adventure your family will love sharing again and again!
Mediocre film gets the top Disney treatment - Robert Badgley - London,Ontario,Canada
Bedknobs and Broomsticks released in the U.S.in time for the Christams season of 1971 was an attempt by Disney to recapture the mega success of Mary Poppins seven years before.But B&B would miss that benchmark by a country mile,lacking its`stellar and timeless charm; mostly through the lacklustre appeal and performances of its stars.
The story takes place in August of 1940 in Britain,not too far into the famous Battle of Britain.Invasion by the Germans is uppermost on every Englishmans` mind and the civilian homeguard has been formed as a first line of ``defence``,with special attention to coastal areas.Towns and cities are being regularly bombed by the Luftwaffe and the Government institutes a program of evacuation for its` younger citizens.Many are shipped overseas while many others are shipped to the English countryside.This is where the movie comes in as three orphans arrive in the small coastal town of Dorset.The last to find homes,they are foisted on an unsuspecting local by the name of Miss E.Price(Angela Landsbury).
This seemingly reclusive individual,the youngsters soon find out,has a fascinating secret.She has been taking witchcraft by correspondance through the mail.One night as they are in the process of leaving their digs to return to London they witness a rather unsuccessful attempt by Miss Price to take her maiden flight on a broomstick.The children decide to stay thinking the best way to improve their situation is to conduct some inventive blackmail.For their silence they want the food improved and money.After some wrangling both sides come to an amicable arrangement.
As it turns out Miss Price is missing the spell to Substitutiary Locomotion and needs to find the professor of her course in London.The kids and her hop aboard a brass rail bed and whoosh off to their destination.There they find one Prof.Browne(David Tomlinson) who is in reality a charlatan.His ``course`` was haphazardly put together for his ``pupils`` through the use of an old magic book.While the truth comes out Miss P is still adamant that she wants the other part of the book containing her spell.Through a long search the missing book comes,so to speak,to them.They are forcefully taken to a bookseller who has the part she needs.But it only refers to the words on a medallion,the Star of Astoroth and that is on the island of Naboombu around the neck of its`king,a lion.
Off they go and after refereeing a rather ``physical`` game of soccer,the Prof. relieves the king of his medallion.They return back home only to find the medallion has not made the transition from one world to the other.All the time the medallions`words have been in a book one of the children had been reading.At just this time a sub arrives just off shore and German soldiers take over the town.Through Miss Price`s Substitutiary Locomotion spell she is able to bring to life various and sundry pieces of old military armour and clothing.With her help in the air they are able to send the Germans fleeing the town and from England`s shores.The movie ends with Miss Price and Prof.Browne in love and the latter heading off to war.
What should have been a better movie turned out just the opposite.Landsbury is totally lacking the charm,appeal and I daresay talent of a Julie Andrews.David Tomlinson as the Professor seems like he is totally uninterested in the entire proceedings and sleepwalks his way through the film and it unfortunately comes across to the audience.Disney again thought that the Sherman Brothers would again create some musical magic to help the proceedngs but most of the numbers are really sub par material.There are some nice live/animation sequences here with the island of Naboombu but by the time they get there in the film the preceding time has been so mediocre that the same interest is not there that otherwise should have been.This film is really ``forced-cutesy`` and nothing the stars and the music is able to do can hide its` transparent facade for all to see.
This particular edition of B&B is the 36th anniversary edition,not the original theatrical version.The original movie came in under two hours but Disney pulled every bit of extra usable footage they had and reconstructed the film into a 138 minute juggernaut.The original film was too long and this version makes it that much more interminably long.This DVD releases` saving grace is the quality of the restoration.They have remastered the material here excellently and the film has never looked so good.The extras include a rare snippet of recording session footage with David Tomlinson being conducted by Irwin Kostal singing the Portobello Road number,the trailer,a look at the special effects,the Sherman Brothers and a reconstruction of the only major portion of film they couldn`t reinsert;a Landsbury number called ``A Step in the Right Direction``.As an aside,while you watch some of the scenes closely,especially some of the reinserted footage with Tomlinson,you will hear a definite voice change.There was some judicious overdubbing done to compensate for bad sound or a total lack thereof!
In conclusion while this film may have a limited appeal to children and even less for adults,time has not changed my oppinion of it at all.It was a mediocre film then and it still remains so today.The film was originally touted as a return to a Mary Poppinesque form(which explains its box office returns) but it was,in execution,far from Mary as things could get.The stars have little appeal in this film and Tomlinson especially looks like he wanted to be somewhere else during the entire time.The music is lacklustre and not memorable at all.Another protion of the film touted in adverstising of the day was the live/animation sequences which again are lacking the punch and appeal of other Disney efforts.While the remastering is excellent here this newly extended 36th anniversary edition to about 138 minutes adds just less ecstacy and more agony!
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