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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)

Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)

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Released 19-Aug-2002

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Childrens Main Menu Introduction
Menu Animation & Audio
Featurette-Magician Mickey (7:16)
Featurette-Trick Or Treat (7:56)
Featurette-Music Magic: The Sherman Brothers (11:27)
Featurette-A Step In The Right Direction (3:48)
Gallery-Bedknobs And Broomsticks Scrapbook
Rating Rated G
Year Of Production 1971
Running Time 133:38
RSDL / Flipper RSDL (104:28) Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Robert Stevenson
Studio
Distributor

Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.
Starring Angela Lansbury
David Tomlinson
Roddy McDowall
Sam Jaffe
Bruce Forsyth
Reginald Owen
Roy Smart
Cindy O'Callaghan
Ian Weighall
Tessie O'Shea
John Ericson
Arthur Gould-Porter
Robert Holt
Case Amaray-Transparent
RPI $29.95 Music Richard M. Sherman
Robert B. Sherman
Irwin Kostal


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.66:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.75:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English
English for the Hearing Impaired
Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits Yes, briefly after credits before restoration credits

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    Whilst it makes no mention of it on the packaging - somewhat unusually for a company renowned for its ability to market - this is actually the 25th Anniversary edition of the film. So what, you might ask? Well, the 25th Anniversary edition of the film actually puts back into the film most of the stuff edited out in the final cut of the film released in 1971, to keep the running length below two hours. I say most of the stuff for the simple reason that one song - A Step In The Right Direction - no longer exists in video form and so was not added back in. For most people, this will be a version of the film that perhaps they have not seen before, and it is a different version - one that in some ways takes a little getting used too.

    Quite where the film fits in the lexicon of Disney films is a bit debatable. Whilst the film was not released until 1971, it actually had its origins way before then. In fact, it was during the hiatus before production of Mary Poppins commenced that Walt Disney first asked the Sherman Brothers to investigate the potential of the story. The first treatments were apparently not well received by Walt Disney, and in any case the issues regarding Mary Poppins had been resolved and production of that classic went full steam ahead. The project was to lay dormant for a while before it too went into production. Whilst mixing of live action and animation was by no means a new thing in 1971, it was still unusual. If my memory serves me correctly, the technique was first tried in films such as Fantasia and The Three Cabelleros, although it has to be said that some of the best examples reside in Mary Poppins. Thus, Bedknobs And Broomsticks is not especially noteworthy in any real sense. It was not a pioneer in a genre and to be honest is not exactly a rip-roaring story either. When one considers the wealth of films that have emanated from the Walt Disney Studios, it is hardly amongst the first films that you would mention. Certainly it is not in the same league as the genuine animated masterpieces (Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, and Bambi amongst others) nor live action/animated blends, of which Mary Poppins remains the obvious choice. Yet Bedknobs And Broomsticks has a certain charm of its own that seems to endure notwithstanding the lack of obvious reason.

    Notwithstanding the preceding, the film was nominated for five Academy Awards in 1972, winning for Best Effects - Best Visual Effects. It was unsuccessful in Best Art Direction - Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, Best Music - Scoring Adaptation and Original Song Score and Best Music - Song (for The Age Of Not Believing). The lack of success in the latter is not a surprise, although equally the success in Best Visual Effects is quite obviously deserved.

    The setting of the story is somewhere in coastal England during the early years of World War II (the exact location is not possible to determine since there is an horrendous melange of accents on offer here). Apprentice witch Eglantine Price (Angela Lansbury) is conducting her witchcraft studies by correspondence from a college of witchcraft run by con artist Emelius Browne (David Tomlinson), but her world is about to be disrupted by the arrival of three orphan children, escaping the blitz in London after their parents and aunt were killed. Of course, it is these three young cockney waifs, Charlie Rawlins (Ian Weighill), Cassie (Cindy O'Callaghan) and Paul (Roy Snart), who discover what Eglantine Price is that sets in motion what is to follow. As a means of keeping the children quiet about what she does, Eglantine gives Paul a bedknob that is infused with the power of the travelling spell acquired from the college. This power is almost immediately needed, as a letter arrives from Emelius Browne advising of the closure of the college owing to the war. Eglantine and the children set off to find Emelius Browne, as Eglantine needs the last lesson in order to complete her plan for doing her bit for the war. The mode of transport is of course the bed to which the bedknob belongs, and the first port of call is London. Here, they locate Emelius Browne who exposes his con artistry by the fact that all the spells he sent Eglantine were just words nicked from a book of sorcery called The Spells Of Astoroth - a book that Emelius only holds one half of. Unfortunately, the magic words Eglantine requires are in the other half of the book...

    So, a search ensues that results in a meeting with Bookman (Sam Jaffe) who happens to have been on a similar quest himself. Both are disappointed to find that the magic words they are seeking are in neither half of the book. Indeed, it seems that they might only exist in one place - the mythical Island of Naboombu. So the bed and its occupants set off on a little adventure to find the magic words, which might only be found in one place and the owner thereof is not exactly enamoured with humans. The result is plenty of hilarity which eventually results in the purloining of the necessary words that might well assist Eglantine in stopping a German invasion.

    Since the film is very obviously highlighted by the effects, this needs to be the first item discussed. Whilst it is quite obvious to see why the film won the Oscar in 1972, it also has to be said that the digital age is not too kind at times. You will get a chance to see plenty of flying guide wires, and hints of harnesses here and there, and some of the effects are a bit naff by today's standards and look rather fake. There are, however, still plenty of effects that stand the test of time and the digital medium pretty well. The best example is of course the climatic battle with the German invaders utilising the historic armoury from the local museum. This sequence today still looks terrific and one is still left wondering just how the heck they did it so well. By the way, the armour used in the film was truly historic for much of it had previously appeared in the films Camelot and El Cid. However, it is not fair to suggest that the film is entirely dependent upon the effects, for there is some good music here. Whilst not likely to go down as the best stuff the Sherman Brothers ever did, there still remain highlights. One obvious highlight is Portobello Road, which is one of the songs restored to full length in this 25th anniversary restoration. For those interested, the other song restored to full length is Eglantine, whilst With A Flair and Nobody's Problems For Me are completely restored after having been excised in the original theatrical version. The restoration also sees a whole chunk of the performance of Roddy McDowall restored to the film. After what was cut from the original film, it never seemed to make sense that he was the third cast member in the credits, so to see it all restored makes more sense (even if it is not exactly essential for the film - his really was a pointless and unnecessary role in the film).

    The performances themselves are competent throughout without being distinctive. David Tomlinson and Angela Lansbury both produce professional performances with little to complain about, other than the fact that both roles could have benefited from a bit stronger characterisation. As indicated, Roddy McDowall was basically a pointless part of this film and was justifiably mainly chopped from the original theatrical version of the film. I hasten to add that this is not his fault, simply that the role served no purpose whatsoever in the film and simply did not need to be there. The kids did a decent job, too.

    Whilst not the strongest film ever made by the Walt Disney Studios, Bedknobs And Broomsticks does have its charms and a thankful lack of the huge dollops of diabetes-inducing saccharine sweetness that perhaps overly pervaded Mary Poppins. It is terrific to see the excisions from the 1971 theatrical release being returned to the film, but it is also regrettable that seamless branching was not employed so that both the original theatrical version and the restored version could be viewed using the same DVD.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The restoration of the film, which included the return of the excised portions thereof, has in general been very well done and this looks about as good as could possibly be expected. That is not to say that it is without any faults, but that it is way better than I was expecting. The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1 and it is 16x9 enhanced. The original theatrical presentation of the film was 1.75:1 according to the Internet Movie Database, which is not that far away from what we have here visually. Whilst the ratio is said to be 1.66:1, it looks a little closer to 1.75:1 visually.

    One of the inherent problems with DVD over VHS is that the increased definition can be slightly detrimental to early, effects-laden films. This is certainly the case here and as already indicated, there are guide wires to be seen on occasions, as well as the obligatory strong delineation between live action and animated stuff. This is unfortunately something that cannot be overcome and has to be an accepted part of watching a film like this. In general, the transfer is very nicely defined, with ample sharpness and detail overall. Shadow detail is quite acceptable, although were it a more recent film we would certainly have expected better. Clarity is pretty good, too, and much better than I was expecting, even though there were at times some obvious grain issues. Examples can be found at 16:05, 79:30 and 83:42 and these do not always coincide with effects work, which is a correlation that I would have expected. There did not appear to be any low level noise issues at all.

    The colours are well handled and come up looking very natural and decently saturated. There are a few places where saturation is over-the-top, such as whenever the bed is in action, but this is quite intended. There is some inconsistency here and there in the saturation levels though, and once or twice I was slightly disappointed by the appearance. This is usually evidenced in a slightly pallid flesh tone here and there. Blacks seemed to be well-handled, and once or twice the slightly muted look worked very well - the general muted look during Portobello Road for instance works well as it highlights the brighter dresses worn by the dancers. There seemed to be some colour bleed issues at times, notably cheeks bleeding into the background such as at 14:30.

    Whilst the film has in general been very nicely restored, there are some problems remaining as well as some problems from the mastering process. There is some slight loss of resolution in the movements during the opening credits, which or may not be inherent in the source material. There also seemed to be a very small amount of telecine wobble in the same sequence. There was some generally minor level general shimmer and specific aliasing during the transfer, such as the table edge at 25:27 and the helmet at 114:25. None of this was really that obvious but could catch the eye. The restoration has removed most of the film artefacts from the source material with the result that what is left is barely an issue at all.

    This is an RSDL formatted DVD with the layer change located at 104:28. Since this again was not obvious on my current player and could only be located on my old player, it is not really noticeable and not really disruptive to the film. However, this does seem rather late in the film considering the extras package is not that big.

    There are just the two subtitle options on the DVD, being English for the Hearing Impaired and English. I watched half the film with the two different options and neither of them caused any great concern. The font is perhaps a little more intrusive to the picture than I would normally like, and the white flash as the titles change gets a little off-putting at times, but that would be the extent of the issues here. You should note that the German dialogue is generally accompanied by burnt-in subtitles, but this is not always the case. There are sections of German dialogue where there are no burnt-in subtitles, nor any selectable subtitles, which seems a bit odd.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There is just the one soundtrack on the DVD, being an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Whilst it is definitely a 5.1 soundtrack, the overall sound feels more like a 3.0 effort at times. This is simply a reflection of the nature of the film, which in true Disney fashion does not present a whole heap of low frequency opportunities in order not to frighten the small children.

    One of the problems with the restoration of the deleted footage is that some of the sound elements were not in real flash shape and needed to be redone. Since not all the actors were around to re-do their vocals - notably David Tomlinson - substituted vocal talents were used. Unfortunately not all the efforts at overdubbing were that successful and you can notice when there is an overdub of David Tomlinson in particular. Whilst this represented a rather unique ADR challenge, it has not been wholly successful The result are some sequences where there are obvious audio sync issues (around 48:55 and 68:30 through 69:00 are good examples). On the balance, I would say the ADR sync problems are outweighed by the restoration of the footage but then again your opinion may vary. The dialogue is generally clear and easy to understand.

    The music score for the film comes from Irwin Kostal, with the original songs being from the pens of the legendary Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman. Like so many Walt Disney films, the music is an important element of the film and in general works very well, even if the lyrics at times are a little naff and the whole thing sounds a little forced. Hardly likely to be confused with the best of Walt Disney nor the best of the Sherman Brothers, but that still makes it better than most we hear.

    The English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack does the job it is asked to do with ease but certainly is not something that will have the folks at Dolby Laboratories handing out the DVD as a demonstration piece. There certainly is some low frequency effects channel use but nothing approaching what we would normally associate with such a soundtrack. The rear surround channels are reasonably well used but again nothing to really rave about. The result is thus a generally forward based sound that uses the front three channels quite well indeed, which is more than enough for this film. When the rear channels burst into life it is both noticeable and appropriate. The whole thing has a natural sound to it, broken only by the slight audio drop-out at around 62:38.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    When you compare current DVD releases from Buena Vista Home Entertainment with their early efforts in Region 4, the one area where they have really improved is in the extras department in general. This is another reasonable effort, highlighted by the two cartoon shorts.

Menu

    Very nicely done, with appropriate theming as well as appropriate audio and animation enhancement. They are 16x9 enhanced, too.

Featurette - Magician Mickey (7:16)

    When you look at this Technicolor marvel, it is very hard to believe that it dates from 1937! Sure it is by no means perfect, but I have seen plenty of Technicolor efforts from the 1950s and 1960s that look way worse than this. The main issue is the film artefacts floating around the transfer but offsetting that is some great colour and a funny cartoon to boot - thanks mainly due to the presence of Donald Duck. Presented in a Full Frame format, it is not 16x9 enhanced and comes with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. Whilst believing that these cartoons should be accumulated onto standalone DVD compilations, it is nonetheless a welcome inclusion and an enjoyable view. Donald Duck is always guaranteed to amuse, even if Mickey Mouse is supposed to be the star, and has some fun with the deranged duck...

Featurette - Trick Or Treat (7:56)

    Another marvellous colour effort, this time hailing from 1952. Those fifteen years mean even this veteran image looks pretty terrific and were it not for some dot crawl around the beaks on one occasion, the only thing that would have been wrong here would have been some minor film artefacts - and even then way less than I would have expected in this material. Presented in a Full Frame format, it is not 16x9 enhanced and comes with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. Donald Duck again stars but this time it is his three nephews that have the fun - with the help of Witch Hazel.

Featurette - Music Magic: The Sherman Brothers (11:27)

    Basically an interview segment with Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman where they talk about the songs and music they created for the film. Presented in a Full Frame format, it is not 16x9 enhanced and comes with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. This is highlighted by some material that never made it into the final film. Unfortunately the technical quality is not the best at times and there is some distinct blocking in the image, as well as some artefacting, at 1:55. It is also a bit grainy at times.

Featurette - A Step In The Right Direction (3:48)

    As mentioned above, the only segment not restored into the film was the song A Step In The Right Direction, for which the video elements no longer exist (one of those rare instances with the Disney Archives I would have thought). What does exist are still photographs taken during the filming of the sequence and the original audio elements of the song. So the audio elements are played over a sequence of those photographic stills to give some indication of what this would have looked like on film. The song itself is not that great and it is perhaps a good thing that it was not incorporated into the film, but it is good to be able to hear it here. Presented in a Full Frame format, this is not 16x9 enhanced and has Dolby Digital 2.0 sound.

Gallery - Bedknobs And Broomsticks Scrapbook

    In a manner to which we are growing accustomed on Disney DVDs, the scrapbook comprises thirteen pages and thirty eight still images looking at aspects of the film: Concept Art, Production, Publicity and Merchandise. Not as extensive as I would have liked but interesting anyway.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    From the reviews found it would seem that the Region 4 release misses out on:

    The Region 1 release misses out on:

    The difference in cartoons is probably no big deal but the extended featurette, the additional short featurette and the film trailers would probably tip the balance in favour of the Region 1 "Gold Collection" release. Certainly it seems the transfer of the film itself is pretty much on a par.

Summary

    Not the greatest film to ever come from the Walt Disney Studios, but nonetheless one that has some deal of charm. The effects are a bit dated nowadays but still show why they wowed the Academy in 1972. On the whole, another Disney classic that would not be out of place in most people's collections.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ian Morris (Biological imperfection run amok)
Wednesday, September 04, 2002
Review Equipment
DVDDenon DVD-1600, using S-Video output
DisplaySony Trinitron Wega (80cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationYamaha RXV-795
SpeakersEnergy Speakers: centre EXLC; left and right C-2; rears EXLR; and subwoofer ES-12XL

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