DVD Review: Bedknobs and Broomsticks -- Enchanted Musical Edition (1971)

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Talk about thinking outside not just the box but the entire House of Mouse. Similar to the way that Tom Hanks warned Bitty Schram in A League of Their Own that “there's no crying in baseball,” as far as I'm concerned there's no animation involving Nazis either.

Yet, while you don't typically think of “lighthearted family entertainment” and “World War II” going together like “peas and carrots” to quote Hanks in Forrest Gump, luckily Walt Disney decided to put a whole different spin on their tried and true technique of combining live action with animation via 1971's uneven and overlong yet still beautifully crafted Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

Essentially it was the product of quick thinking along with protecting Walt Disney's investment and ensuring that he'd be able utilize the terrific work coming out of every single department at Walt Disney Studios when it became uncertain yet again if Mary Poppins would be granted movie rights by the woman who invented the Julie Andrews heroine in literary form. Thus, Walt Disney purchased author Mary Norton's duo of books that inspired this film to refocus their energies directly on Bedknobs if Poppins author P.L. Travers told them to go “Feed the Birds.”

In fact, the two films would be ideal for a Disney double feature due to the amount of cinematic overlap between the two in terms of cast and crew such as actor David Tomlinson, director Robert Stevenson, as well as musical and animated numbers that either seem repetitious or were designed for Poppins and then presented in Bedknobs as though it were an unofficial sequel and/or interchangeable.

And although it marks the last time that a Disney feature earned an Oscar (this time for special effects) for eighteen years until The Little Mermaid drew viewers “Under the Sea” in 1989 and the combination of live action and animation surpasses other attempts by the studio including the painfully dull Pete's Dragon, it doesn't hold up nearly as well as the “positively perfect” Mary Poppins.

Yet for a long while it works well “in the most delightful way” as an old fashioned magically tinged period piece wherein an endearing Angela Lansbury takes three displaced London siblings under her wand and spell when they arrive in the country setting of Pepperidge Eye where the children were sent to avoid the horrific Nazi bombings of the city.

And although Lansbury's Miss Price shares Mary Poppins' magic touch, she's less devoted to becoming a nanny or host and far more dedicated to finishing her correspondence course as an apprentice witch. While she tries to hide her vocation from young Carrie, Charlie and Paul, the kids catch on soon enough. And faster than you can sing a song, they journey with her to find a missing spell on her flying bed (which definitely beats walking and is far greener than automobiles) as they make the acquaintance of new friends, sing more songs, and travel to an animated land before Price sets her sights on ridding England of Nazi invaders.

While there's nothing objectionable in the film and the musical numbers are extremely well staged including a standout with “Portobello Road,” and it's fun to see Lansbury in a whimsical and feisty pre-Jessica Fletcher Murder She Wrote characterization which is strengthened when she shares scenes with Tomlinson, overall Bedknobs feels extremely disjointed as the action moves uneasily from the harsh reality of wartime to the animated Naboombu.

Since I am unfamiliar with the source material of author Norton's original two books, I can't speculate if the fault of the films was in trying to combine a few too many plots or characters that were spread out between the two works but I think the movie would've managed to overcome the daunting post-Poppins release by dividing up the action into two separate films or leaving out the Nazi angle altogether since it may confuse small children not to have any reference point for what's happening.

Essentially it was intended as a dazzling work of entertainment to inspire awe in youngsters and engage grade school age children with a more substantive plot. Yet by trying to combine the two, the movie falters irrevocably since pouring everything onto that flying bed obviously isn't the right way for parents to start a dialogue on World War II and the horrific devastation that still echoes throughout society today.

And despite the fact that I admire the craftsmanship and high caliber ingredients stirred into the Bedknobs cauldron and realize that without it that Oscar would've been nonexistent but in my view, the right way to address the material and do it justice would've been by avoiding the combination of animation and live action altogether. And perhaps as Roger Ebert suggested, the filmmakers could've used Naboombu for the setting of one film on its own to satisfy the youngest Mouseketeers. In the same token, by focusing on the characters of the World War II plot as the kids cope with life in the country with an aspiring witch and a phony professor to humorous yet more realistic effect, viewers who today relish the adventures of a young boy who attends a school for witchcraft and wizardry via the Harry Potter franchise would've also found it far more entertaining.

Unfortunately it's blessed and cursed with being a product of the Poppins team. And since it doesn't work on that level, it would have been a worthwhile risk to try and bring in either fresh eyes or a decidedly different technique on board so the movies don't seem to simply ooze into one another despite being seven years apart.

While it's still a nice vintage film and boasts a tremendous amount of quality for a family intended work even by today's standards since Disney never fails to go all out to entertain, it doesn't hold up visually quite as well as Poppins but much like its superior predecessor, it manages to surpass other films of 1971 with a contemporary DVD release since as a period piece, the age of the print doesn't grab our attention as it does in other works made by the House of Mouse set that very same year.

Trying to shoot for today's Disney demographic, the DVD ties in the magical theme the studio's loved for years by linking to Disney Channel's TV series The Wizards of Waverly Place in an extra featurette on movie magic. Additionally it also contains some rare footage including a deleted song and Tomlinson recording vocals for “Portobello Road” in the music studio.

Likewise, staying true to the title of an Enchanted Musical Edition, the DVD celebrates those behind the songs and their place in Bedknobs to make sure that it remained a lighthearted family film with animation and Nazis by keeping things spirited and imaginative without any crying in baseball nor too many peas and carrots.

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DVD Review: Mary Poppins (1964) -- 45th Anniversary 2-Disc Edition

Related:

Read the 50th Anniversary Blu-ray Review

Just a Disc-Full of Sugar

"Helps the Medicine Go Down...

In the Most Delightful Way"

January 27, 2009

Previous Version
(40th Anniversary Edition)

"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocous"

View Clips from the 45th Anniversary of the Film
View Clips from the 50th Anniversary Blu-ray Release

The thing about film and especially cinema studies is that on the surface, we're led to believe that a film like Mary Poppins which-- much like its lead character and the actress embodying her (Julie Andrews) is "practically perfect in every way"-- just all came together "spit-spot," with a "step in time" to create one of Walt Disney's personal favorite works.


And thanks to that quintessential Disney magic, it's hard to imagine anything less than perfection involved but it's fascinating to dig deeper and realize the tremendous amount of effort that went into creating something truly "supercalifragilisticexpealidocious."

Poppins is after all the only film Walt Disney was personally involved in to receive a Best Picture nomination and the first studio release to hit DVD format (not to mention one of the longest "in print" titles on video).

Yet when you begin researching the title as a film scholar, you gain appreciation on a whole different level when you realize the decades of work involved in making such a spectacular musical and thanks to this unbelievably thorough set, anyone can become a budding Disney historical super-sleuth.



To begin, I must confess that Mary Poppins is a film that's grown on me over the years. As a child-- I remember being mesmerized by certain sequences such as the animated leap Mary and Bert take with the children into the sidewalk drawing of musical adventure but didn't have the patience for the lengthy film.

But upon viewing this gorgeous 2-disc version released to honor the 45th Anniversary of the beloved Disney favorite, I realize it's not only my favorite Julie Andrews film but one of the best musicals following the '40s, '50s and early '60s heyday.

And it's fascinating to realize what time can do for perspective as a former Disney favorite-- Sleeping Beauty-- became a bit less beautiful a few months back when I realized our leading lady said literally less than a few dozen words in the entire movie but this one, my "Sister Suffragettes" to misquote the song, is "well done" for those of us who "love to laugh."

A movie that held a special place in Walt's heart from the time his daughter, who had read the books by P.L. Travers suggested the series as possible film material more than two decades earlier but Travers proved to be an incredibly stubborn force of nature-- understandably protective of her work and worried that her character and legacy would be forever altered negatively by its cinematic interpretation.

Finally, Travers gave in twenty years later after a personal visit from Walt Disney, who graciously consented to offer her unprecedented approval on a majority of the film's decisions. However, it was this agreement that nearly made the entire feature unravel as the cast and crew recall in a candid fifty minute making-of-featurette some rather heated debates that the author disliked nearly everything they'd created. Thus, the film almost fell through once more when she waited for the thirtieth and final day to offer her consent to relent and let Walt Disney's production get started.

Its success is owed to his integral involvement and obsession with the work, along with his endless excitement over every single aspect including giving young composers Robert B. and Richard M. Sherman the opportunity of a lifetime to create one of the most instantly recognizable collections of songs in film history.

Likewise, Mary is notable for sending Disney's special effects, animation and technical departments into a frenzy with wirework, challenging choreography, and the blending of animation and live action that hearkened back to Gene Kelly in Anchor's Aweigh, the film broke new boundaries in what could and could not be done onscreen.

Most surprising to film fans was Disney's convincing Dick Van Dyke (with zero training in music or dance) that he was a natural to play the frequent scene-stealer Bert, the film has just gotten more and more impressive over the years.

But perhaps the greatest stroke of luck and find in Walt Disney live action history was in casting Julie Andrews in her first onscreen role. Ultimately, this was due to fortuitous timing as Andrews been publicly passed over by Jack Warner (of Warner Brothers) when that studio took the character of Eliza Doolittle she'd originated on Broadway in My Fair Lady to the screen and offered it to Audrey Hepburn instead.

While most actresses would've taken a break, especially considering Andrews had just given birth, she decided the best defense was offense and accepted the role that would change her career and life.

Mary garnered Andrews not only a Golden Globe award (in a memorable acceptance speech where she had the gall to thank Jack Warner for not giving her Lady which resulted in her being cast in Poppins) but an Academy Award as well in which  ironically she beat out her good friend Hepburn both times.

And following her enchanting portrayal of the magical nanny, Andrews began a film career that skyrocketed from the start as IMDb reveals that Robert Wise and Ernest Lehman immediately cast the actress for Sound of Music after appearing on-set to view rushes from Poppins.

Landing the role following a memorable performance on The Carol Burnett Show-- it seems hard to imagine to viewers today how film history would've differed had she been cast opposite Rex Harrison in the entertaining but lackluster My Fair Lady or if Disney had made the film a decade sooner when actresses like Bette Davis (!) were being considered for Poppins. 

And while luckily to the average viewer tuning in blissfully unaware it all seems quite natural, film scholars and enthusiasts find their minds working overtime when trying to decipher the possibilities, in the end just thankful that the right group of people finally managed to come together at precisely the right time.

This is especially apparent when watching Van Dyke who-- despite being endlessly labeled for his performance as one of the worst impressions of a Cockney accent ever attempted by an American actor-- is irresistibly good as Bert.

The inventive oddball who seems to have a different occupation every time we find him -- Bert's overly flirtatious relationship with Mary upset the author terribly, but the charm and command of Van Dyke's physicality is at his strongest in this film. And he's at the peak of his powers in the film's most remarkable sequence "Step in Time," which seems to go on forever as one of the most awe-inspiringly inventive bits of choreography since Gene Kelly's ballet sequence in An American in Paris.

While the film's children are adorable and it's a bit heartbreaking to realize that over the years we lost the young boy from the film at a tragically young age-- the cast and crew's observations about the wondrous experience make for wonderful DVD fodder on the packed Disc 2 from Walt Disney Home Entertainment.

Rounding out the features that are so plentiful there's too many to list, the disc also includes a Backstage Disney segment on the Mary Poppins Broadway musical (including an MP3 download of that show's version of "Step in Time") along with a great bonus short starring Andrews and including the voice talent of Tracey Ullman called The Cat That Looked at a King which was adapted from P.L. Travers' Mary Poppins Opens the Door. The short feature finds Andrews reprising her role and takes viewers yet another trip down animated memory lane as she steps inside one of those magical sidewalk chalk drawings.

The recipient of five Academy Awards, Poppins is given a gorgeous transfer in this widescreen DVD release that contains not only 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound but the original 2.0 theatrical mix for cinema purists such as yours truly.

And while I can't wait for it to finally arrive on Blu-ray, I'm thrilled to say the quality level (especially on an upconvert Blu-ray player) is mesmerizing and visually even more impressive than this week's other new and excellent modern-made Disney release, The Secret of the Magic Gourd.