Escape to Witch Mountain

Escape to Witch Mountain
March 21, 1975
Disney
Children's, Sci-Fi, Mystery
DVD
B+

This is the oldest movie I own that I saw on first release, although I bought the DVD recently.  I hadn't watched the film in over 30 years, but I remembered loving it as a kid and there was something haunting about it (pun not quite intended).  Watching it again, I could see why I was so enthralled.  I don't quite love it now, but it's still very, very appealing.  Some of the appeal then and now:

• Twelve-year-old Ike Eisenmann and ten-year-old Kim Richards, as Tony and Tia "Malone," are convincing both as siblings and as believable kids with unbelievable powers.
• There's what I call the Harry Potter Fantasy, not the magic so much as the myth that the main characters may be unhappy, orphaned, and picked on by bullies, but their specialness will be recognized and they'll find a society where they're not only accepted but warmly welcomed.  
• The magic is pretty cool though, and the sort of thing that kids (especially younger kids, like seven-year-old me) would want to do or at least see, like the dancing marionettes and the communication with animals.
• A different fantasy is the wealthy lifestyle that the brother and sister experience, although there's a sinister side to it.
• While the movie probably wouldn't induce nightmares, there's a well done menace throughout, starting with the credits that use the motifs of dogs and escape and eerie music, some of which continues through the film.  (Tia wins over the attack dogs.)
• The special effects, until we get to the flying vehicles at the end, have held up well after almost forty years.
• While it's not a traditional mystery, there is a puzzle to solve, as Tia remembers more and more of their shipwreck.
• The California coast looks lovely but also menacing, all those cliffs.
• The starcase is awesome!
• Last but not least, Winky the sidekick cat!

I recall the 1978 sequel as not as good but I haven't seen that since the '80s.  I have no interest in the remakes.

The small role of a psychic was towards the end of Dan Seymour's career; he was the slave-buyer in Road to Morocco and Abdul in Casablanca.  Reta Shaw, who runs the orphanage here, was the cook in Mary Poppins.  Tiger Joe Marsh, who plays Lorko, the guard with a convenient allergy to cats, was the Naked Turk in Son of Blob.

Harry Holcombe, who plays Capt. Malone, would be a priest in The Big Bus.  Dermott Downs, who plays the red-haired bully Truck and comes across as a mean version of Johnny Whitaker, would be Harvey in Freaky Friday.  Paul Sorensen would play a policeman again in The Shaggy D.A.  Donald Pleasence would have a completely different villain role from quiet and sinister Deranian, as brash record producer B. D. Hoffler in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

And I was hooked before the dialogue started.