Bedknobs & Broomsticks

BEDKNOBS & BROOMSTICKS (U)
D: Robert Stevenson
Disney (Bill Walsh)
USA 🇺🇸 1971
117 mins
 
Fantasy/Musical
 
W: Bill Walsh & Don da Gradi [based on the book by Mary Norton]
DP: Frank Phillips
Ed: Cotton Warburton
Mus: Richard M. Sherman & Robert B. Sherman
PD: Peter Ellenshaw & John B. Mansbridge         
Cos: Bill Thomas
 
Angela Lansbury (Eglantine Price), David Tomlinson (Emelius Browne), Roy Snart (Paul Rawlins), Cindy O'Callaghan (Carrie Rawlins), Sam Jaffe (The Bookman), Roddy McDowell (Mr. Rowan Jelk), Bruce Forsyth (Swinburne)
 
A rather cynical attempt by Disney studios to emulate the success of Mary Poppins, this time with Angela Lansbury as the kindly witch who becomes carer to three children, taking them on adventures on a magical bed to escape the atrocities of the Second World War. 
All the production values are decent, as are the special effects for its age, though some of the animation is nauseatingly headache inducing, even on a small screen. The story and songs are nowhere near as memorable as Mary Poppins and Angela Lansbury doesn't quite have the same screen presence that Julie Andrews brought to her role.
6/10

The cast of Bedknobs & Broomsticks
The cast of Bedknobs & Broomsticks
Did You Know:
The song "The Beautiful Briny Sea" was originally written for a sequence in Mary Poppins that was ultimately dropped.