The Magic of Lassie

The Magic of Lassie
August 2, 1978
Lassie Productions
Children's, Drama, Musical
VHS
C

Corny and slow-moving as this movie is, you might find some interest in the songs, sung mostly by Pat and Debby Boone and written by the Sherman Brothers.  Unfortunately, the Shermans also wrote the script, which is not exactly gripping, even by the low standards of '70s kiddie flicks.  Jimmy Stewart, then 70, closed out his big-screen career in the role of the caring but crusty grandfather, and yes, he sings.  So does Mickey Rooney, in the role of manager to Mike Mazurki (one of the hoods in Some Like It Hot) as a wrestler named Apollo.

There are a few connections to another dog of a movie, C.H.O.M.P.S. from the following year.  Don Chaffey directed both.  Also, James Reynolds, Officer Wilson here (the one who says, "Right on") would be a reporter there, while William Flatley, one of the truck drivers, would be an engineer in that movie.

Much livelier and more colorful than the actual movie

Charlotte's Web

Charlotte's Web
March 1, 1973
Hanna-Barbera
Children's, Fantasy, Musical
VHS
B

Some of what I feel about this movie is mentioned in my review of the E.B. White book-- http://rereadingeverybookiown.blogspot.com/2012/06/charlottes-web.html-- but I want to add some things.  It is a very 1970s-televisiony movie, but I don't consider that a bad thing.  The Hanna-Barbera animation is "limited" but there are some lovely images, and I like how they captured Charlotte's personality in a few simple facial details.  The voice cast includes performers from The Partridge Family (Danny Bonaduce, Dave Madden) and Bewitched (Agnes Moorehead, the incomparable Paul Lynde as Templeton), as well as you'll-know-them-when-you-hear-them voices (Herb Vigran, Pamelyn Ferdin).  Debbie Reynolds is perfect as Charlotte-- warm, smart, loyal, but also with an edge.  (You can believe she'd suck blood out of flies, or inflict minor revenge on Templeton.)  The script by Earl Hamner, Jr. is both more slapsticky and more sentimental than White's book, but the focus stays mostly on the cycle of life and the importance of friendship.  There are perhaps too many songs by the Sherman brothers, and some of them sound like previous music of theirs, but there are some stand-outs, slow almost mournful tunes like "Deep in the Dark" and "Mother Earth and Father Time," as well as jaunty songs like "Zuckerman's Famous Pig" and the smorgasbord tune.  What chokes me up is not Charlotte's death, which is subtly led up to, but Wilbur's fear that her children will all abandon him, and that line from the book, "It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer."  And it's not often that you find a film adaptation equal to the book.

Of the singers, Jackie Ward sang Linda Evans's songs in Beach Blanket Bingo; and Dick Bolks, Paul DeKorte, Susie McCune, Gene Merlino, Paul Sandberg, and Bob Tebow would all be part of the chorus in Heidi's Song.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
December 18, 1968
Warfield
Musical, Children's, Fantasy, Historical
VHS
B-

Speaking of movies I grew up with....But this one is, although a childhood favorite, something that I criticized, even as a child.  The things that bothered me then are the ones that bother me now: almost everything involving Vulgaria and the Vulgarians, except for the awesome castle (mad King Ludwig's Neuschwanstein).  The first roughly one hour of the movie is delightful (details below), but then Mr. Potts starts telling a story about the Baron of Vulgaria coveting their car.  We get unfunny spies, an unfunny baron who hates his wife to the point of unsuccessfully but repeatedly attempting her murder, unfunny courtiers, and a possibly creepier than intended "child-catcher."  And yet, that last hour or so is bearable because it still has some good songs.

As a child and now, I would've been quite content just hanging out with the Potts family and their new friend Truly Scrumptious.  Heck, I would've loved to have been Jemima Potts when I was a kid.  She's got a nice twin brother, a nice sheepdog, an eccentric but doting inventor father who doesn't care if she skips school, an eccentric but doting grandfather who reads aloud with a great voice ("the big brown bear came lolloping over the hill") and tells Groucho Marx jokes, a car that's fun to play in even before her dad turns it into a phantasmorgical machine, a nice old house with a windmill, beautiful English countryside where it apparently only rains at night, and now this nice, rich, pretty lady who will probably be her new mum.  Jemima and Jeremy seem to spend most of their time outside the "fantasy" sequence laughing.  Then they go to Vulgaria and become idiots, falling for the child-catcher's trick and yapping like puppies.

It's strange, because from what I recall of the Ian Fleming novel, the kids are sharp and get themselves out of a jam.  Of course, the script, co-written by Roald Dahl, bears little resemblance to the novel.  Oddly enough, it is a bit like James Bond movies, with not only Albert Broccoli and Goldfinger involved, but some other points of connection.  Too bad the spies couldn't have been a 1910s version of Bond minions, rather than the forgettable slapstickers that they are.

The movie does resemble the Mary Poppins movie, with Sherman Brothers songs that are surprisingly good (even the Baron and Baroness duet, and I don't mind that the title song is sung four times, because it's catchy), and of course Van Dyke as the male lead, although this time he makes absolutely no attempt at a British accent.  (Poor Benny Hill and the other Vulgarians are saddled with vaguely German accents.)  Like I said, I think that first hour is more entertaining to kids.  As an adult, I noticed that the Caractacus/Truly romance is really rushed, especially since it turns out that her thinking and singing of him as a "lovely, lonely man" is entirely part of his story, although when they return to reality, she doesn't think the idea of them getting married is ridiculous.  He clearly has issues about women-- since he also made up the Baron & Baroness marriage-- but we do see he's good with his children, if not terribly practical.  By the way, he and Lionel Jeffries were both 42 at this point, Van Dyke actually six months older than "Grandpa."

Director and co-writer Ken Hughes would go on to direct Sextette, which is a more definitively bad movie musical.  Richard Wattis, who plays the male secretary at the sweet factory, was Seton in The Importance of Being Earnest.  Phil Collins, then 17, plays a Vulgarian child, although he'd been an onscreen teen in the audience of A Hard Day's Night.  Anna Quayle was Minnie in that and is the baroness here.  Bernard Spear, who's the second spy, would be a tailor in Yentl.

"Deddy, what do you say we pretend we don't see the pirate ship and just head to London?"

The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band

The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band
March 21, 1968
Disney
Musical, Comedy, Drama, Romance
VHS
B-

Now that we're getting into the movies that are younger than I am (though it'll be awhile till we reach any I actually saw on first release), I feel like I should attempt to explain what the deal is with these long, sometimes full-sentence-or-question, and sometimes crazy titles.  (And I don't even own The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies.)  I have a couple overlapping theories.  One is that these titles catch the eye and the attention, even if they take up a lot of room on the marquee.  (From here on out, I'm abbreviating this movie as The...Family Band.)  Another theory is, well, it was the '60s (the trend might have started with Dr. Strangelove's full title in '63), and everything was getting more and more colorful and larger than life.  That some of these movies-- this one and John GoldfarbPCH spring to mind-- actually have title songs only adds to the craziness.

Although the family band plays that title song and others-- including a recurring salute to Grover Cleveland!-- the family isn't fully fleshed out.  (There are four younger girls, and I couldn't really distinguish them, except by hair color.)  Mostly, we see Grandpa Walter Brennan, who rails against "Ree-publicans," and his lovely eldest granddaughter, played by 21-year-old Lesley Ann Warren.  There are a couple other notable family members though, Buddy Ebsen (only 14 years younger than Brennan but playing his son), returning to his dancing roots, and an always smiling 16-year-old Kurt Russell, who would soon sort of replace Tommy Kirk as the campus-hijinx lead in Disney movies like The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes.  (I find them mostly boring, although Computer does have a catchy title tune.  I'm more of a Barefoot Executive kinda gal.)

This film, based on a book by Laura Bower, is set in 1888, when Cleveland was defeated by Harrison.  (And, although no one mentions it, Cleveland in turn would later defeat Harrison.)  The stuff about the electoral college looks even more ironic after the 2000 election, but even in '68 it would take only a few months for the election-day "riot" in this film to seem bizarrely mild, compared to the ugliness surrounding the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.  Yes, it's Disney, but even so, the message that we can put aside our political and other differences must've been a hard one to swallow.

The Republicans are mostly represented by Ebsen, Richard Deacon, and 26-year-old John Davidson.  Davidson's character is courting Lesley AW.  He also urges everyone to move to Dakota, where most of the film is set.  He combines his interests when he sings about the Territory, with a line about "virgin fields" waiting to be "ploughed," sung right at Warren.  Their romance is mostly sweet, although I don't like it when he forces a kiss on her near the end and then makes her join him on a wheelbarrow ride, although she stops being mad when he gives her a wedding ring, so we're supposed to just find it funny and charming.  The two of them try to make each other jealous, he with "Giggly Girl," played by none other than Kurt Russell's future wife, 22-year-old Goldie [Jeanne] Hawn, whose Laugh-In premiered a couple months before this film was released.

Ben Frommer would be in Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?, as would Larry J. Blake, who was in Sunset Blvd.  Delivery boy Hank Jones was in Girl Happy and would be in The Barefoot Executive.  Dakota townsman Peter Renaday would be the roller derby ticket-taker in The Shaggy D.A.  Nine-year-old Pamelyn Ferdin (Laura Bower) would provide the voice of Fern in Charlotte's Web, while nine-year-old Bobby Riha (Mayo Bower) would voice Chinook in Santa and the Three Bears.  Vest Dancer Guy (The Swinger, et al.) shows up, in a period-appropriate vest (far right, below).

The Monkey's Uncle

The Monkey's Uncle
August 18, 1965
Disney
Comedy, Sci-Fi
VHS
C+

The title and some early scenes suggest that this is going to be sort of a teen version of Bedtime for Bonzo, but Merlin's quasi-adoption of Stanley the chimp is less of the focus than various threats to football at Midvale College.  At least that title allows for one of the better title songs of the '60s, sung by Annette and the Beach Boys, with Sherman Brothers lyrics like this:

Annette: I'd live in a jungle gym in order to be with him.  I love the monkey's uncle, and I wish I were the monkey's aunt!
Beach Boys: Monkey's aunt!....

Annette: On the day he marries me
All: What a nutty family tree!
Mike: A bride!
Brian: A groom!
Beach Boys:  A chimpanzee!

That right there raises the movie from a C to a C+.  (This will be far from the last time that the Beach Boys will do a title song that's much better than the movie it's attached to.)

This time, Merlin's misadventures are slightly more realistic, although "man-powered flight" fueled by an adrenaline smoothie pushes this back into sci-fi.  The first half of the movie is about sleep-learning through LPs.  Questionable ethics again pop up, with the judge urging Merlin to find "an honest way to cheat" on exams, for football player Norm and another idiot jock.  Merlin gets some sexist dialogue about Jennifer being stupid and illogical, you know, feminine.  There's a sort of rival for Jennifer, but because this is Disney, we're cheated of a moment when the girl is supposed to come out of the shower, presumably in a towel.  (By the time of Enchanted, it would be a whole other world of course.)

You'll notice that Annette not only looks non-pregnant, but her hair still has red highlights.  This was actually filmed in '64 (I think shortly before or after Uncle Walt found out that Tommy Kirk was gay), but not released for awhile.

Arthur O'Connell, Darius Green III here, was a reporter in Citizen Kane, and more recently played Gidget's first film father.  Similarly, Frank Faylen, who's the anti-football Mr. Dearborne, was Ernie the cabdriver in It's a Wonderful Life, but he's probably better known as Dobie Gillis's TV dad.  Leon Ames is back as Judge Holmsby, with a much larger role than before.  Connie Gilchrist again plays Holmsby's housekeeper.

Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins
August 27, 1964
Disney
Musical, Historical, Fantasy, Children's
DVD
B-

Forgive me, but the magic has faded.  This used to be one of my favorite Disney movies, but watching it now (on the 50th anniversary special edition DVD), I notice things like that the animation isn't as amazing as I remembered, and the bird woman is covered in pigeons (and probably their poo).  Although some people seem to appreciate the "father" plot more now that they're adults, seeing Saving Mr. Banks a few months ago only confirmed that I never cared for Mr. Banks even after he reforms.  (And why is the mother a suffragette on the streets but a "yes, dear" sort of wife at home?)  The "laughing" scenes aren't exactly infectious, and I kept thinking that I'd hate to have a neighbor shoot off a cannon a couple times a day.

That all said, I still like the chemistry between Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke (his bad accent aside), the kids are cute but not cutesy, and most of the songs are good to great.  The special effects are impressive for their time.  Bill Walsh also cowrote the screenplay for Merlin Jones, which was directed by Stevenson, and obviously this is more ambitious and imaginative.  It's been a very long while since I've read the books, but I think it's fair to say that the best parts of the movie-- like the very catchy "Step in Time" song & dance by the chimneysweeps, have little to do with the actual story.

Arthur Treacher, who's the constable, does not look 70, but it had been almost 30 years since he played Jeeves.  Sam Harris was in several of my movies, going back to the '30s, but this is the last of his I own.  (He would die in 1969, at 92.)  Marjorie Bennett, who plays Miss Lark, was the corset saleslady in Ma and Pa Kettle at Home.  Marjorie Eaton, who's Miss Persimmon, would appear in Harold and Maude.  Hal Taggart was in There's No Business Like Show Business.  Dal McKennon, who does several voices, was one of the detectives in Merlin Jones.

Elsa Lanchester, who appears early in the film as Katie Nannna, would shortly have a more substantial role, as Aunt Wendy in Pajama Party.  Bert Stevens was in a few of my earlier movies, most recently Some Like It Hot, and he would be in I'll Take Sweden.  Ed Wynn, who plays Uncle Albert, would be in Dear Brigitte.  (And, yes, he's the father of Keenan and the grandfather of Ned, so '64 was a year you could see three generations of Wynns at the movies.)  Thurl Ravenscroft, who does the voice of the hog, would be in The Love God?  Bill Lee, who voices the ram, would be a singer in Charlotte's Web.  Reta Shaw, who plays Cook, would be the manager of the orphanage in Escape to Witch Mountain.  Marc Breaux, who voices the cow and was the choreographer for the movie, would more dubiously be the choreographer for Sextette.

The Misadventures of Merlin Jones

The Misadventures of Merlin Jones
March 25, 1964
Disney
Comedy, Sci-Fi
VHS
C+

By this point in their careers, the two young leads were such Disney veterans that she's known in the credits as simply "Annette," and both are recognizably caricatured in the opening cartoon, which is set to Annette singing the title tune.  They'd done some earlier movies together and have a nice, easy-going chemistry.  Unfortunately, they're not given much to work with.  To begin with, Merlin (played by Kirk) is supposed to be a science nerd, but the two main things he experiments with-- mind-reading and hypnosis-- are more in the nature of pseudoscience.  Yes, misadventures ensue, including some questionable ethics.  Not only does a judge nag Merlin into hypnotizing him to commit a misdemeanor (chimp-napping), but the Science professor not only tricks Merlin into harmless activities like eating a raw potato (telling him it's an apple) and drinking water (telling him it's whiskey), but he has Merlin kiss "the first pretty girl he sees."  Jennifer (Annette) is jealous it's not her, but no one in the class seems to have a problem with the girl being kissed against her will!

Still, there are some mildly amusing moments, like when Kirk eavesdrops on the thoughts of other students in the library, including a beatnik poet.  It's never explained how he doesn't hear everyone in the vicinity, or for that matter how when the Science teacher says Merlin will hear only his voice, Merlin misses all the professor's asides to the class.  My favorite bit, as someone who much prefers cats to dogs, is when Merlin hypnotizes his cat to stand up to the bully neighbor dog.

This was originally made to possibly air as two hour-long (including commercials) Disney TV programs, but reedited for theatrical release it proved popular enough to merit a sequel, The Monkey's Uncle (although as Merlin insists, Stanley is a chimp, not a monkey).  Uncle would have some of the cast besides Tommy and Annette reprising their roles:  Norman Grabowski as the jock Norman, Leon Ames as Judge Holmsby, and Connie Gilchrist as the judge's housekeeper.  (He was the father in Meet Me in St. Louis, while she was Norah Muldoon in Auntie Mame.)  The Augusts would also co-write Uncle's screenplay, while Bill Walsh would co-write Mary Poppins, which would feature the voice of Dal McKennon, who's Detective Hutchins here.  Robert Stevenson would direct both Poppins and Uncle.  Burt Mustin, the elderly bailiff, then 80, would do a lot of television and appear in Mame a decade after this.