Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Bedknobs and Broomsticks is a 1971 American musical fantasy film directed by Robert Stevenson and songs written by the Sherman Brothers. It was produced by Bill Walsh for Walt Disney Productions. It is based upon the books The Magic Bedknob (1943) and Bonfires and Broomsticks (1947) by English children's author Mary Norton. The film, which combines live action and animation, stars Angela Lansbury, David Tomlinson, Ian Weighill, Cindy O'Callaghan, and Roy Snart.
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Bill Walsh
- Angela Lansbury
- David Tomlinson
- Ian Weighill
- Cindy O'Callaghan
- Roy Snart
- October 7, 1971 (United Kingdom)
- December 13, 1971 (United States)
118 minutes (1971 original version)
139 minutes (1996 reconstruction version)
English
$6.3 million[3]
$17.9 million[4]
During the early 1960s, Bedknobs and Broomsticks entered development when the negotiations for the film rights to Mary Poppins (1964) were placed on hold. When the rights were acquired, the film was shelved repeatedly due to the similarities with Mary Poppins until it was revived in 1969. Originally at a length of 139 minutes, Bedknobs and Broomsticks was edited down to almost two hours prior to its premiere at the Radio City Music Hall.
The film was released on December 13, 1971, to mixed reviews from film critics, some of whom praised the live-action/animated sequence. The film received five Academy Awards nominations winning one for Best Special Visual Effects. This was the last film released prior to the death of Walt Disney's surviving brother, Roy O. Disney, who died one week later. It is also the last theatrical film Reginald Owen appeared in before his death next year in 1972; his last two acting credits were for television. It is also the last film work of screenwriter Don DaGradi before his retirement in 1970, and death on August 4, 1991.
In 1996, the film was restored with most of the deleted material re-inserted back into the film. A stage musical adaptation has been produced. The musical had its world premiere at the Theatre Royal, in Newcastle upon Tyne, on 14 August 2021 before embarking on a UK and Ireland tour, until May 2022.[5]
Plot[edit]
In August 1940, during the Blitz, three orphaned children named Charlie, Carrie, and Paul Rawlins are evacuated from London to Pepperinge Eye near the Dorset coast where they are placed in the reluctant care of Miss Eglantine Price, who agrees to the arrangement temporarily. The children attempt to run back to London, but after observing Miss Price attempting to fly on a broomstick, they change their minds. Miss Price reveals she is learning witchcraft through a correspondence school with hopes of using her spells in the British war effort against the Nazis, and offers the children a transportation spell in exchange for their silence. She casts the spell on a bedknob, and adds only Paul can work the spell, as he is the one who handed the bedknob to her. Later, Miss Price receives a letter from her school announcing its closure, thus preventing her from learning the final spell. She convinces Paul to use the enchanted bed to return the group to London, and locate Professor Emelius Browne.
Browne turns out to be a charismatic street magician who created the course from an old book as a joke, only to be shocked to learn the spells work. He gives the book to Miss Price, who is distraught to discover the final spell, Substitutiary Locomotion, is missing. The group travels to Portobello Road to locate the old bookseller who gave Browne the book, revealing that the spell is engraved on the Star of Astaroth, a medallion that belonged to a sorcerer of that name. The bookseller explains that Astaroth experimented with his magic on animals, giving them anthropomorphism. They later killed him, took the medallion, and fled to a remote island called Naboombu. A 17th-century lascar had claimed to have traveled to Naboombu, but the bookseller never found it. Paul confirms its existence by revealing a storybook he found in Mr. Browne's playroom.
The group travels to Naboombu and lands in a lagoon; there, the bed goes underwater, where Mr. Browne and Miss Price enter a dance contest and win first prize. Just then, the bed is fished out of the sea by a bear, who informs the group that humans are not allowed on the island by royal decree. They are brought before the island's ruler King Leonidas, who is wearing the Star of Astaroth. Leonidas invites Mr. Browne to act as a referee in a football match. The chaotic match ends in Leonidas' self-proclaimed victory, but Mr. Browne swaps the medallion with his referee whistle as he leaves, and the group escapes.
Back home, Miss Price exercises Substitutiary Locomotion, which imbues inanimate objects with life, but they quickly go out of control. When Miss Price is informed that the children can be moved to another home, she decides to let them stay, realizing she has come to care for them and vice versa. The children declare they want Mr. Browne to be their father, but Mr. Browne, wary of commitment, bids goodbye to the group and attempts to take a train back to London. Reaching the railway station, he finds there are no more trains until the morning so intends to sleep on the platform's bench. A platoon of Nazi German commandos land on the coast via U-boat intending to launch a raid on the town and invade Miss Price's house to use as their headquarters, imprisoning her and the children in the local museum. At the train station, Mr. Browne fends off two Germans cutting phone lines and heads back to Miss Price's house where he manages to perform magic for the first time and turns himself into a white rabbit so he can disguise himself to avoid the Germans. He finds Miss Price and the children at the museum and inspires Miss Price to use Substitutiary Locomotion to enchant the museum's exhibits into an army. The army of knights' armor and military uniforms chases the Germans away but as the Germans retreat, they destroy Miss Price's workshop, ending her career as a witch. Though disappointed her career is over, she is happy she played a small part in the war effort.
Shortly afterwards, Miss Price has officially adopted and committed herself to raising the children. Mr. Browne has enlisted in the army and departs with the local Home Guard escorting him, but promises that he will return and shares a kiss with Miss Price. Paul reveals he still has the enchanted bedknob, hinting they can continue on with their adventures.
Reception[edit]
Critical reaction[edit]
Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote that the film is a "tricky, cheerful, aggressively friendly Walt Disney fantasy for children who still find enchantment for pop-up books, plush animals by Steiff and dreams of independent flight." He further highlighted the Naboombu live-action/animated sequence as "the best of Disney, going back all the way to the first Silly Symphonies".[35] Variety wrote that "what it may lack in the charm of [Mary Poppins] it more than measures in inventiveness. Indeed, it is doubtful if special effects or animation have been ever bettered or used to greater advantage. Alone they are a reason for seeing the film", and the reviewer praised the Naboombu sequence as containing "not only sheer delights but technical masterpieces."[36] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film two-and-a-half stars out of four, claiming that, while the film has the "same technical skill and professional polish" as Mary Poppins, "[i]t doesn't have much of a heart, though, and toward the end you wonder why the Poppins team thought kids would like it much."[37] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave Bedknobs two stars out of four, calling the film "a mishmash of story ideas and film styles". He further added that the live action/animated sequence was "one bright spot in the story", but felt "the difference between scenes of sea horses and storm troopers is so great that probably no story could manage it. Bedknobs tries and fails."[38]
Pauline Kael, reviewing for The New Yorker, panned the film, writing that there is "no logic in the style of the movie, and the story dribbles on for so long that it exhausts the viewer before that final magical battle begins." She concluded her review by stating: "This whole production is a mixture of wizardry and ineptitude; the picture has enjoyable moments but it's as uncertain of itself as the title indicates."[39] Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film was "pleasant enough and harmless enough. It is also long (almost two hours) and slow. The songs are perfunctory (nothing supercalifragi-whatever) and the visual trickeries, splendid as they are, are sputtery to get the picture truly airborne. By the standards Disney has set for itself, it's a disappointing endeavor."[40]
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 67% based on 36 reviews, with an average score of 6.1/10; the site's "critics consensus" reads: "Bedknobs and Broomsticks often feels like a pale imitation of a certain magical guardian and her wards, but a spoonful of Angela Lansbury's witty star power helps the derivativeness go down."[41] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 59 out of 100 based on 11 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[42]
Accolades[edit]
At the 44th Academy Awards, the film was nominated in five categories: Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Scoring: Adaptation and Original Song Score, Best Song Original for the Picture, and Best Special Visual Effects, winning the latter award.[23]