THE MOST MAGICAL ONE OF ALL!
During the London Blitz, three children are evacuated to a small village where they’re staying with the eccentric Eglantine Price (Angela Lansbury), a woman who turns out to be a student of witchcraft.
Due to the similarities with Mary Poppins (1964), this adaptation had to wait a while, but in the hands of The Love Bug director Robert Stevenson, it’s worth a look.
Uneven blend between live action and animation (including a disappointing jungle adventure), but sheer charm, great rapport between the two stars and the kids, as well as engaging musical numbers (especially ”Portobello Road”) lift this out of the ordinary.
1971-U.S. Part Animated. 118 min. Color. Produced by Bill Walsh. Directed by Robert Stevenson. Screenplay: Bill Walsh, Don DaGradi. Books: Mary Norton (”The Magic Bedknob”, ”Bonfires and Broomsticks”). Songs: Richard M. Sherman, Robert B. Sherman (”The Age of Not Believing”, ”Portobello Road”). Costume Design: Bill Thomas. Cast: Angela Lansbury (Eglantine Price), David Tomlinson (Emelius Browne), Roddy McDowall (Rowan Jelk), Sam Jaffe, Roy Snart, Cindy O’Callaghan… Bruce Forsyth, Reginald Owen.
Trivia: Ward Kimball directed the animated sequences. Julie Andrews, Leslie Caron and Lynn Redgrave were considered for the part of Price; Peter Ustinov and Ron Moody as Browne. In 1996, the film was restored to its original 141-min. runtime. Later a stage musical.
Oscar: Best Special Visual Effects.
Last word: “We changed Emelius Brown to a fellow in London who is kind of a snake-oil salesman. Basically, it gave this character a lot of fun. The hero of this story truly has to be Bill Walsh. He was the guy who made the conversion and made the story viable which, I thought, was kind of special. We had a lot of fun writing the songs for this thing. I must say it was always fun working with Walsh and Da Gradi, the writers. Da Gradi visualized everything and made things happen directly before your eyes as he talked.” (Richard M. Sherman, Animated Views)
