Summer Magic (1963)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

James Neilson

Writers:

Sally Benson (screenplay)
Kate Douglas Wiggin (book)

Release Date:

7 July 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family | Musical

Tagline:

HAYLEY'S IN A WHIRL! Breezing through her sixteenth summer!

Plot:

A Bostonian widow moves with her kids to the country.

Plot Keywords:

Maine | Halloween | Guitar | Dress | Mouse

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe.

Cast

Hayley Mills	...	Nancy Carey
Burl Ives	...	Osh Popham
Dorothy McGuire	...	Margaret Carey
Deborah Walley	...	Julia Carey
Una Merkel	...	Mariah Popham
Eddie Hodges	...	Gilly Carey
Michael J. Pollard	...	Digby Popham
Peter Brown	...	Tom Hamilton
James Stacy	...	Charles Bryant
Jimmy Mathers	...	Peter Carey
O.Z. Whitehead	...	Mr. Perkins
Wendy Turner	...	Lallie Joy Popham
Harry Holcombe	...	Henry Lord
Hilda Plowright	...	Mary

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Australia:G | UK:U | USA:Approved (certificate #20390) | USA:G (re-rating) (1992)

Company:

Walt Disney Productions

Trivia:

Originally planned as a vehicle for Annette Funicello.

Quotes:

Gilly Carey: We're out in the sticks, all right.
Nancy Carey: The sticks? It's lovely! Land of promise, land of opportunity!
Gilly Carey: Opportunity for what?
Digby Popham: Well, you got something there. You're the first folks to move into Beulah in more than five years. Most people move away to the city. That's where I'm gonna get as soon as I can.

Movie Connections:

Edited into "Disneyland: Summer Magic: Part 2 (#12.12)" (1965)

Soundtrack:

Summer Magic Overture

This being a Disney comedy of the '60s, naturally there's a turn-of-the-century hot-rodder--named Digby!

As the 1960s progressed, the Disney company got more and more desperate for a hipness factor in their family comedies, bringing in modern artifices to jazz up their relics (here it's Michael J. Pollard playing a hot-rodder). Considering everything else is so archaic, Pollard's appearance is rather odd...the presence of Burl Ives alone should tell you what you're in for. Advertised as a vehicle for sixteen-year-old Hayley Mills, the movie is actually an ensemble piece set during the ragtime era, and the cumbersome outfits and hairdos Hayley wears fail to suit her well; still youthful and spirited, she's heavier here and doesn't have much of a character to work with. Dorothy McGuire glows on cue as the (rather mature) widowed mother of three youngsters forced to move from Boston to a hick-town in Maine. Some of this is pleasant and it's all quite well-scrubbed (featuring yet another Shaggy Dog, and two nature-montages which aren't so much misplaced as they are artistically suspect). Definitely not the best place for one to introduce themselves to Hayley Mills' versatile talents, but as a corny Disney pic for the family it isn't too bad. ** from ****