Plot

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.

During World War II in England, Charlie, Carrie, and Paul Rawlins are sent to live with Miss Eglantine Price, who turns out to be an apprentice witch. Charlie blackmails her that if he is to keep her practices secret, she must give him something, so she takes a bedknob from her late father's brass 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 Professor Emelius Browne, the former headmaster of Miss Price's witchcraft-training correspondence-school. She 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.—Matthew Anscher <anscher@radonc.duke.edu>

London orphans Charlie, Carrie, and Paul Rawlins are among a flood of kids evacuated to country villages--in their case, Pepperinge Eye, where a lack of host families means they're assigned to loner Miss Eglantine Price "for now". They discover that she's an apprentice witch by correspondence and promise to keep her secret only if they're allowed to join in the fun. Paul is given a spell to make her late father's brass bed fly them anywhere by means of a magical knob. Unwilling to miss out of the last spell, "Substituary Locomotion", they track down founding Professor Emelius Browne in London. He's a crook who never believed his spells would work, but he eagerly joins the band in the hunt for the other half of the magic book from which he borrowed, but "modernized". It means flying to the magical "Isle of Naboombu" in search of the powerful Star of Astoroth. It's to be put to use in the war effort, just in time as the Germans land in the coastal town for a terror surprise mini-invasion, only to be fought off by a magical army.—KGF Vissers

During World War II, Charlie, Carrie, and Paul Rawlins go to live with Miss Eglantine Price. She is an apprentice witch at a Correspondence College of Witchcraft. It turns out that tracking down the spell for "Substitutiary Locomotion" leads to romance for her and Professor Emelius Browne.

In August 1940, three cockney orphans are sent to the English village of Pepperinge Eye to live with Miss Eglantine Price, who is studying to become an apprentice witch. When she receives a letter from the Correspondence College of Witchcraft in London, she and the children fly on her late father's brass bed (by way of a magical bedknob) to London to meet the headmaster of the defunct school, Professor Emelius Browne. At a vacant estate where he is staying, Miss Price finds half of a book called "The Spells of Astoroth". For the other half, they deal with a shady character known as the "Bookman", and travel to a foreign imaginary animal island known as the "Isle of Naboombu".—Matthew Anscher (c/o Mitchell Anscher) <anscher@radonc.duke.edu>

Bedknobs and Broomsticks

The movie is mainly set in a small South Coast English village, Pepperinge Eye, during World War II: an elderly farmer (Cyril Delevanti) is painting out the sign-posts, the Home Guard are exercising, led by General Sir Brian Teagler (Reginald Owen) and Captain Aisley Greer (Arthur Gould-Porter), and Mrs. Jessica Hobday (Tessie OShea) is allocating homes to children whom have been evacuated from London (sent to the countryside away from the risk of bombing raids). The three Rawlings children, Charlie (Ian Weighill), Carrie (Cindy OCallaghan) and Paul (Roy Smart) are assigned and reluctantly taken in by Miss Eglantine Price (Angela Lansbury). The children are also unhappy, not least at Miss Price's vegetarian lifestyle, and plan to run back to London, but unexpectedly discover, through her attempts to fly on a broomstick, that Miss Price is a trainee witch, complete with black cat ("Cosmic Creepers") and fully fitted magical laboratory ("poisoned dragons liver"); and to ensure their silence about this, she presents Paul, the youngest, with a magical bed-knob with which he can cause the bed to travel anywhere.

Miss Price is eagerly awaiting the last installment of her magic correspondence course from 'Professor' Emelius Browne (David Tomlinson) of the College of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and is very disappointed when it fails to arrive, the College having closed. Using the bed (song: 'Age of Not Believing'), she and the children visit Mr. Browne in London, where he is revealed as a somewhat shady stage-magician turned street-vendor selling magic tricks: he takes Miss Price and the children to his home, a mansion abandoned because of an USN-exploded bomb in the front garden, where the children play in the nursery and he, astounded that Miss Price can actually perform genuine magic, firstly tries to induce her to form a magic variety act with him (song: 'Eglantine'), and then (after being briefly turned into a white rabbit by Miss Price to force him to be sensible) reveals that he copied all the spells used in his correspondence course from an old book, 'The Spells of Astaroth', of which, however, he only possesses the first half, without the words to the "substitutiary locomotion" spell so desired by Miss Price.

Mr. Browne decides the other half of the book is likely to be found in the Portobello Road street-market, so all go there the following day to search for the book, meeting amongst others an old-book-seller (Ben Wrigley). After an extensive song-and-dance-number (song: 'Portobello Road', featuring representatives of many nations which were part of the Allied WWII forces, including Scots, Indians and Jamaicans), as the market is closing, Browne is approached by the sinister 'spiv' Swinburne (Bruce Forsyth) who takes him (and the children and Miss Price, and the bed) to The Bookman (Sam Jaffe) who possesses the other half of the book, but this also does not contain the spell words. It is revealed that the spell is actually inscribed on the 'Star of Astaroth', now in the possession of magically enhanced and human-like animals, formerly owned by the sorcerer Astaroth, on the Isle of Naboombu. Paul, who has taken a cloth book about the Isle of Naboombu from the nursery, now activates the bed-knob to take Mr. Browne, Miss Price, and the three children there. (The following section of the movie, on Naboombu, is animation with live-action from these five individuals).

Arriving at the Isle of Naboombu, the bed and its occupants falls into the lagoon, where it is washed into a sunken ship, the Beautiful Briny Ballroom where the fish are dancing: Mr. Browne and Miss Price join in (song: 'Beautiful Briny Sea'), and win the prize of a gold cup, but then all the fish disperse on seeing a fish-hook descend, which catches on the bed and draws it and the humans to the surface. There they meet a talking bear, who takes them to meet the King's secretary (a secretary bird): the King (a lion) is in a dreadful rage because there is no-one to referee his football match. Mr. Browne volunteers. The football match, between the King's team, the 'Dirty Yellows' (lion, hyena, gorilla, warthog, crocodile, rhinoceros), and the 'True Blues' (ostrich, elephant, cheetah, hippopotamus, kangaroo - yes, there are more players on the King's side) then takes place, the King scoring the winning goal, and Mr. Browne getting thoroughly beaten up, although not fatally injured, to the disappointment of the medical staff (vultures). After the match Mr. Browne pulls the "gypsy switch" on the King, substituting his referee's whistle for the Star of Astaroth round the King's neck: the humans then leave pursued by the King as soon as he realizes what has occurred, who is turned into a rabbit by Ms. Price.

Back in Pepperinge Eye, Miss Price asks for the Star, but as it has come from another world, it has evaporated: however Paul finds the five magic words of the substitutiary locomotion spell on a picture of the Star in his children's book. Miss Price tries out the spell, which animates clothing, with initially uncontrolled effect (also affecting the hat of the local curate, Mr. Jelk (Roddy McDowall): song: 'Substitutiary Locomotion'). Mrs. Hobday arrives to inform Miss Price that alternative accommodation has been found for the children - which saddens them. Mr. Browne, fearing a family type commitment, also decides he should return to London, and goes to the station to await the milk-train.

However, a troop of German soldiers under the command of Colonel Heller (John Ericson) have landed from a U-boat (submarine) on a raid, and take over Miss Price's cottage for their headquarters. She and the children are taken to the local castle, now a museum, and locked in: they are joined by Mr. Browne, who has also spotted the Germans and managed to turn himself into a white rabbit in order to escape. Using the substitutiary locomotion spell, Miss Price animates the entire contents of the museum, some hundreds of costumes of Vikings, Knights, Cavaliers, Hussars etc., plus drums, trumpets and a trio of bagpipe players, and launches these against the Germans, herself directing them from her broomstick. The Germans, including their sergeant (Rick Traeger) are driven with numerous comic effects back to the U-Boat, although they detonate explosives which destroy Miss Price's magical laboratory. Miss Price is slightly injured, at which the whole substitutiary locomotion activated army collapses. The Home Guard arrive to see the Germans leaving, and to claim the victory. The movie ends with the children remaining with Miss Price, and Mr. Browne joining the army but vowing to return, escorted by the Home Guard (song: 'Old Home Guard').