Throughout these past few weeks, I've come to the realization that there are a lot of films Disney made that people don't know about.
One of my personal favorites, and one that I've been talking about a lot to guests recently is one that I grew up watching.
The Setting: England, on the cusp of World War II. A small countryside town. Children are being evacuated here from London to keep them safe. We see a group of three waiting to be placed.
A loud boom resounds and a plume of yellow smoke comes around the corner. We see one Miss Eglantine Price (portrayed by the exquisite Angela Lansbury), ride up on a motorcycle. While picking up parcels she is also given the three children, Carrie, Paul, and Charlie to look after.
That night, as the children are sleeping, Eglantine hurries downstairs to a locked room off the kitchen. The parcel she has received is a broom. We learn she has been taking part of a correspondence course for witchcraft. While the broom riding isn't the best, we learn she is quite apt at the spells that come through the mail. The children witness this moonlight ride while trying to sneak back to London. Instead they divert their plans to try and blackmail Eglantine.
When a letter arrives informing her that the course has been cancelled due to the war she decides to go to London to confront the headmaster of the school.
In order to travel, and to appease the children who now know of her unique talent, she gives them a give of a magical bedknob. It can take them, via the bed, anywhere they want to go.
Arriving in London, the children find Professor Emelius Brown - and find him to be a fraud.
They stay the night at an abandoned mansion with a bomb in the front yard. Here we learn that the book Emelius used for the course was torn in half and he discontinued the course because he didn'
t have the rest of the book.
The following scene takes place on Portobello Road. It's a crowded street market where people gather to sell things old, borrowed, new.
Eglantine and Emelius encounter someone who knows where the other half of the book is. We head down to meet the bookseller, who is close to killing them for the sake of the book.
They vanish, via the bed, to the Isle of Naboombu.
Landing in the bay, they float along with the fish until being caught by a fishing bear.
These animated sequences combined with the live actors makes for a pleasant visual aid. While on the Isle they attempt to get the Star of Astaroth from the King, a formidable lion. They assist in a game of football, where Emelius is the referee. At the end of the game, they make a switch and gain the star before quickly heading back to Eglantine's home.
Because the Isle was a magical place, the star has disappeared with it. While trying to recall the words, Paul reads them out loud from his book - which happens to have the whole thing.
Eglantine performs the song for Substitutiary Locomotion, bringing inanimate objects to life. This was the reason she took the course for magic, to help aid in the coming war. The spell works, but backfires when the objects garner a life of their own.
That evening, Emelius heads back to London. While waiting for a train he sees someone cutting the telephone wires and we learn that a platoon of Nazi's have invaded.
Eglantine's cottage is the first landing spot, and we see the family being escorted to the museum in town when they try and get her spell book.
Emelius joins them there and she once again recites the chant for Substitutiary Locomotion. In a final burst of magic, she helps in sending the Nazi's running for the water, believing that she is a hexen (a witch).
I highly recommend watching this film. At only 139 minutes, the restored version is the best adaptation.
Starring the following:
Angelia Lansbury - Miss Eglantine Price
David Tomlinson - Emelius Brown
Roddy McDowall - Mr. Jelk
With a G rating, animated sequences, and a list of catchy songs, this is a film for any family looking for a fun time.
Which film would you like to see on Obscure Movie Day? Got anything nobody's probably heard of? Leave a comment below and I'll catch you next week!
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