Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)

An apprentice witch, three kids and a cynical magician conman search for the missing component to a magic spell to be used in the defense of Britain in World War II.

Directors:

Robert Stevenson, Ward Kimball (uncredited)

Writers:

Ralph Wright (animation story), Ted Berman (animation story)

Stars:

Angela Lansbury, David Tomlinson, Roddy McDowall

Won 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Angela Lansbury	...	Miss Price
David Tomlinson	...	Emelius
Roddy McDowall	...	Mr. Jelk
Sam Jaffe	...	Bookman
John Ericson	...	Col. Heller
Bruce Forsyth	...	Swinburne
Cindy O'Callaghan	...	Carrie
Roy Snart	...	Paul
Ian Weighill	...	Charlie
Tessie O'Shea	...	Mrs. Hobday
Arthur Gould-Porter	...	Capt. Greer (as Arthur E. Gould-Porter)
Ben Wrigley	...	Portobello Rd. Workman
Reginald Owen	...	Gen. Teagler
Cyril Delevanti	...	Elderly Farmer
Rick Traeger	...	German Sergeant

Storyline

During World War II in England, Charlie (Ian Weighill), Carrie (Cindy O'Callaghan), and Paul Rawlins (Roy Snart) are sent to live with Miss Eglantine Price (Dame Angela Lansbury), who, as it turns out, is an apprentice witch. Charlie blackmails Miss Price that if he is to keep her practices a secret, she must give him something, so she takes a bedknob from her late father's bed and places the "famous magic travelling spell" on it, and only Paul can activate it. Their first journey is to a street in London, where they meet Emelius Browne (David Tomlinson), former headmaster of Miss Price's witchcraft training correspondence school. Miss Price tells him of a plan to find the magic words for a spell known as "Substitutiary Locomotion", which brings inanimate objects to life. This spell will be her work for the war effort.

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Plot Keywords:

bedknob | alternate history | good versus evil | reference to henri de toulouse lautrec | lost island | 

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Taglines:

You'll beWITCHED! You'll beDAZZLED! You'll be swept into a world of enchantment BEYOND ANYTHING BEFORE!

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Musical

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Certificate:

G

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is the last feature film for which longtime Disney studio songwriters Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman wrote songs until The Tigger Movie (2000). They briefly returned in the early 1980s to write songs for EPCOT Center.

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Goofs

Shots of the armor of the knights on horseback alternate between them advancing a few feet when German soldiers are in the shot, and several hundred feet when no other characters are visible.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Captain Ainsley Greer: You there, which way to Pepperinge Eye?
Elderly Farmer: Couldn't say, sir. It said on the wireless to paint out the sign posts in case the Nazis drop in.
Captain Ainsley Greer: I'm not a Nazi, I'm a British officer!
Elderly Farmer: That's what you'd say if you *was* a Nazi, isn't it sir?

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Crazy Credits

King Leonidas is referred to on-screen by name, by is only credited as "Lion."

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Alternate Versions

The video of the 1979 theatrical re-release cuts a further twenty minutes and runs 97 minutes. All songs are cut, except for "Portobello Road", "Beautiful Briny Sea" and some parts of "Substitutiary Locomotion". Other sequences are reduced (such as Professor Browne's wait at the train station) or cut altogether (such as the disappearance of the magical necklace).

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Connections

Featured in S.V.P. Disney: Episode #1.9 (1972)

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Soundtracks

Blow the Man Down
(uncredited)
Traditional
Sung by Dal McKennon

User Reviews

hugely fun romp through the unlikely

This Disney piece has its great strengths in casting the great Angela Lansbury as apprentice witch Eglantine Price, in teaming live action with cartoon, and in some enjoyable special effects. The songs, by the Shermans, are in the main memorable - 'The Age of Not Believing', 'Portobello Road', 'Eglantine', and 'The Beautiful Briny'. Sterling support from David Tomlinson (who was also Mr Banks in 'Mary Poppins') and a trio of Cockney kids round off the movie.

Miss Price - who has a scene-stealing cat who can put across disdain and embarrassment better than any human! - finds that the 'spells' she has received from Mr Brown's college of witchcraft actually work, much to his amazement when she speeds down to London to tell him so (on a bed, naturally - that's where 'The Age of Not Believing' comes in with great charm). She takes in Charlie, Carrie and cute little Paul as evacuees and win them over with her magic dabbling. Her goal is to find the spell for locomotion and this takes them to the evocative flea market of Portobello Road and on to the magical island where the cartoon part of the movie kicks in.

The cartoons are inventive as always, although lacking the quality of the studio when Disney himself was in charge - there's a ballroom where the fish dance in various styles to a swing band and some jazzy singers (and are upstaged by the live action adults who win the dancing cup); then there is a great football match between creatures like hippos, elephants, ostriches, and the like with hapless Mr Brown as the referee. Special effects come into their own when inaminate objects start to have a life of their own (shades of 'Mary Poppins'), especially in the final sequences where an ancient army of knights and heralds take on the Nazis.

'Bedknobs and Broomsticks' drags at times but when it is in full flow, it is a lot of fun. Highly recommended for kids of all ages, and all those Disney devotees out there.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

13 December 1971 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bedknobs and Broomsticks: 25th Anniversary Special Edition

Filming Locations:

Dorset, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min 139 min (1996) (restored) 99 min (re-release) (1980) 130 min (initial US release) (November 1971)

Sound Mix:

3 Channel Stereo (RCA Sound Recording) (5.0) (L-R)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1