The Gnome-Mobile (1967)

Director:

Robert Stevenson

Writers:

Ellis Kadison (screenplay)
Upton Sinclair (book)

Release Date:

19 July 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Family | Fantasy

Tagline:

Laugh & thrill with those lovable kids from MARY POPPINS!

Plot:

An eccentric millionaire and his grandchildren are embroiled in the plights of some forest gnomes who are searching for the rest of their tribe...

Plot Keywords:

Gnome | Forest | Child Driving A Car | Kidnapping | Kidnapper

Cast

Walter Brennan	...	D.J. Mulrooney / Knobby
Matthew Garber	...	Rodney Winthrop
Karen Dotrice	...	Elizabeth Winthrop
Richard Deacon	...	Ralph Yarby
Tom Lowell	...	Jasper
Sean McClory	...	Horatio Quaxton
Ed Wynn	...	Rufus
Jerome Cowan	...	Dr. Ramsey
Charles Lane	...	Dr. Scoggins
Norman Grabowski	...	Male Nurse
Gil Lamb	...	Gas Attendant
Maudie Prickett	...	Katie Barrett
Cami Sebring	...	Violet
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Virginia Aldridge	...	Gnome Maiden (uncredited)
Jackie Andre	...	Married Gnome (uncredited)
Parley Baer	...	The Owl (voice) (uncredited)
Ernestine Barrier	...	Nell (uncredited)
Hal Baylor	...	Male Nurse (uncredited)
Karin Blake	...	Married Gnome (uncredited)
Carla Borelli	...	Married Gnome (uncredited)
Frank Cady	...	Charlie Pettibone (uncredited)
Dee Carroll	...	Secretary (uncredited)
Robert Carson	...	Attendant at Twin Oaks (uncredited)
Marianna Case	...	Gnome Maiden (uncredited)
Amadee Chabot	...	Married Gnome (uncredited)
John Cliff	...	Night Watchman (uncredited)
Ellen Corby	...	Etta Pettibone (uncredited)
Jack Davis	...	Manson (uncredited)
Dorothy Duffy	...	Married Gnome (uncredited)
William Fawcett	...	Chauffeur (uncredited)
Jesslyn Fax	...	The Bluejay (voice) (uncredited)
Susan Flannery	...	Airline Stewardess (uncredited)
Kathy Foley	...	Gnome Maiden (uncredited)
Byron Foulger	...	Hotel Desk Clerk (uncredited)
Kathee Francis	...	Gnome Maiden (uncredited)
Pamela Gail	...	Snapdragon (uncredited)
Susan Gates	...	Gnome Maiden (uncredited)
Sandra Lee Gimpel	...	Gnome Maiden (uncredited)
Nancy Gould	...	Married Gnome (uncredited)
Barbara Halpern	...	Gnome Maiden (uncredited)
Karl Held	...	Paul (uncredited)
Bunny Henning	...	Gnome Maiden (uncredited)
Susan Henning	...	Gnome Maiden (uncredited)
Pamela Howard	...	Married Gnome (uncredited)
Mickey Martin	...	Bellboy (uncredited)
Joyce Menges	...	Gnome Maiden (uncredited)
Carol Merrill	...	Married Gnome (uncredited)
Alvy Moore	...	Gas Station Mechanic (uncredited)
Jimmy Murphy	...	The Raccoon (voice) (uncredited)
William H. O'Brien	...	Dark-suited Man in Lobby (uncredited)
Toni O'Connor	...	Gnome Maiden (uncredited)
Carol O'Kane	...	Married Gnome (uncredited)
Brenda Power	...	Married Gnome (uncredited)
Jacki Ray	...	Gnome Maiden (uncredited)
Pat Ann Reid	...	Gnome Maiden (uncredited)
Dyane Robins	...	Gnome Maiden (uncredited)
Jeanne Shipman	...	Married Gnome (uncredited)
Charles Smith	...	Attendant at Airport (uncredited)
Lee Stanley	...	Singing Gnome (uncredited)
Cindy Taylor	...	Gnome Maiden (uncredited)
Dale Van Sickel	...	Uniformed Guard (uncredited)
Judy Van Worner	...	Gnome Maiden (uncredited)
Mimi Zerbini	...	Gnome Maiden (uncredited)

Directed by
Robert Stevenson

Writing credits
Ellis Kadison		(screenplay)
Upton Sinclair		(book)

Produced by
James Algar	....	co-producer

Original Music by
Buddy Baker

Cinematography by
Edward Colman		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Norman R. Palmer		(as Norman Palmer)

Art Direction by
Carroll Clark
William H. Tuntke

Set Decoration by
Hal Gausman
Emile Kuri

Costume Design by
Bill Thomas

Makeup Department
La Rue Matheron	....	hair stylist
Pat McNalley	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Joseph L. McEveety	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Paul Cameron	....	assistant director
Arthur J. Vitarelli	....	second unit director

Sound Department
Robert O. Cook	....	sound supervisor
Dean Thomas	....	sound mixer

Special Effects by
Eustace Lycett	....	special effects
Robert A. Mattey	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Peter Ellenshaw	....	matte artist

Stunts
Tom Steele	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Calvin A. Maehl	....	gaffer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Chuck Keehne	....	costumer
Neva Rames	....	costumer

Music Department
Evelyn Kennedy	....	music editor
Wayne Robinson	....	orchestrator

Other crew
Walt Disney	....	presenter
David Jonas	....	art styling
Sammy McKim	....	art styling (as Sam McKim)

Production Companies

• Walt Disney Productions

Distributors

• Buena Vista Distribution Company (1967) (USA) (theatrical)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1978) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Abril Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)
• Buena Vista Home Entertainment (BVHE) (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

West Germany:o.Al. | USA:Approved (certificate #21173) (original rating) | Canada:G (video rating) | USA:G (re-rating) (1976) | Canada:F (Ontario) | Canada:G (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Big Basin, California, USA

Company:

Walt Disney Productions

Trivia:

Throughout his career, Walter Brennan approached roles in one of two ways: with teeth or without, as he had false teeth. In The Gnome-Mobile (1967), he had it both ways: teeth in for D.J. Mulrooney, and teeth out for Knobby the gnome.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Schlock! The Secret History of American Movies (2001)

Soundtrack:

The Gnome-Mobile Song

Unbalanced!

I've always remembered Tom Lowell as Canoe, Hayley Mills beatnik boyfriend in That Darn Cat, since I saw that movie in the auditorium back in school in the seventies.

Later, I would learn he was the orderly that Cornelius killed in Escape from Planet of the Apes. I was puzzled as to how he became reduced to such a bit part, then seemed to vanish from sight. He never appeared on Love Boat or Fantasy Island, for crying out loud!

Lo and behold, I come across a movie called The Gnomemobile in the movie store. And it had Tom Lowell in it.

So I buy it. With Lowell as Jasper the gnome, the children from Mary Poppins (which, oddly enough was how they were credited) and Walter Brennan for some unexplained reason in a dual role, this movie could have been on the level of Mary Poppins, Sound of Music, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Willie Wonka.

So what went wrong? Over half the movie is spent on trying to get Grandpa out of the nuthouse.

With a cast involving Maudie PIckett, Ellen Corby, Frank Cady, Richard Deacon and Alby Moore, they all would have stood out well had the movie made them gnomes along with Ed Wynn.

So who was supposed to want to see this movie? If girls were supposed to think Lowell was cute, why does he sit out so much of the movie. He only gets one closeup toward the end as well.

So were small children supposed to like the Mary Poppins children?

Was Grandpa gnome or doodene supposed to be comically likable? Grandpa gnome maybe, but like Lowell, he sat out the majority of the movie.

Once the movie got back to the woods, those beautiful woods, and we see Jasper trying to find a bride, the movie gets cute again.

Even the talking animals, the birds, the owl and the raccoon, were all nice to see, but they aren't seen over five minutes at the beginning, then they are gone.

Effects-wise, especially in regards to the double filming, this was all done very well.

I must have caught some of this decades ago on the Wonderful World of Disney, as it all came back to me in strange shadowy flashbacks.

Still it could have worked, even with gnomes singing that silly song instead of grandpa doodene. Ellen Corby, Frank Cady and Alby Moore would have been hysterical singing that thing.