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Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Nov. 24th, 2009 11:25 pmTonight some friends and I watched Bedknobs and Broomsticks, a 1971 Disney live-action film starring Angela Lansbury and David Tomlinson. It was a favorite of mine as a kid, and someone had the Special Extended Anniversary Edition DVD (where they added in a whole bunch of cut scenes and scene bits back in).
It's kind of cheesy, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I still liked it. Also: it's very feminist. It's Angela Lansbury as a heroic, dedicated, middle-aged single woman who saves the day and leads the troops into battle to drive the Nazis off, while David Tomlinson is the ditzy, plucky comic relief side-kick. It's so totally a role-reversal from the stereotypical movie gender roles, and yet there's no snickering about it, no preaching, no false notes. Both of them come off as real people, understandable people (if slightly exaggerated as befits a Disney movie). Their roles in the film are natural outgrowths of who they are, and Angela Lansbury is definitely a woman and David Tolinson is a man and he's not threatened by her being a hero, he's inspired by it. Also, there's a very low-key romance between the two of them, and when he chickens out and leaves, she's definitely disappointed ... but she sings a song about how she's chosen to be single because it means she doesn't have to spend her life worrying about other peoples' problems and gets on with her life. And it's not false bravado, Lansbury plays it perfectly straight. Also, the whole "middle aged romance"--they're neither of them spring chickens, they're not Romeo and Juliet, they're two relatively staid middle-aged people falling gently in love. Not to mention, the special effects (of which there are many, both green-screen and wire work) are extremely good for the era, if occasionally slightly more psychedelic than one expects from Disney.
On the bad side, the shorter version is better. They cut a lot out, and none of it was necessary to the movie. The long version really drags. The only thing I'd keep out of all the scenes and partial scenes that they added back in is the song Miss Price sings after Professor Brown leaves, and it's pretty short.
Also, I'm not quite sure about the exoticism of the Portobello Road dance sequence. It's a very long dance sequence in the middle of the movie, set in London at a street market, that's mostly a variety of British soldiers and sailors on leave dancing with the locals. There are different segments in different regional styles. Most are from the British Isles, but they also have an Indian group and a Black group with steel drums do a segment apiece. On the one hand, it's lifting up that the whities weren't the only ones fighting that war; on the other it's definitely got a vibe of "watch the exotic colored people dance!"
All in all, worth the rewatch.
It's kind of cheesy, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I still liked it. Also: it's very feminist. It's Angela Lansbury as a heroic, dedicated, middle-aged single woman who saves the day and leads the troops into battle to drive the Nazis off, while David Tomlinson is the ditzy, plucky comic relief side-kick. It's so totally a role-reversal from the stereotypical movie gender roles, and yet there's no snickering about it, no preaching, no false notes. Both of them come off as real people, understandable people (if slightly exaggerated as befits a Disney movie). Their roles in the film are natural outgrowths of who they are, and Angela Lansbury is definitely a woman and David Tolinson is a man and he's not threatened by her being a hero, he's inspired by it. Also, there's a very low-key romance between the two of them, and when he chickens out and leaves, she's definitely disappointed ... but she sings a song about how she's chosen to be single because it means she doesn't have to spend her life worrying about other peoples' problems and gets on with her life. And it's not false bravado, Lansbury plays it perfectly straight. Also, the whole "middle aged romance"--they're neither of them spring chickens, they're not Romeo and Juliet, they're two relatively staid middle-aged people falling gently in love. Not to mention, the special effects (of which there are many, both green-screen and wire work) are extremely good for the era, if occasionally slightly more psychedelic than one expects from Disney.
On the bad side, the shorter version is better. They cut a lot out, and none of it was necessary to the movie. The long version really drags. The only thing I'd keep out of all the scenes and partial scenes that they added back in is the song Miss Price sings after Professor Brown leaves, and it's pretty short.
Also, I'm not quite sure about the exoticism of the Portobello Road dance sequence. It's a very long dance sequence in the middle of the movie, set in London at a street market, that's mostly a variety of British soldiers and sailors on leave dancing with the locals. There are different segments in different regional styles. Most are from the British Isles, but they also have an Indian group and a Black group with steel drums do a segment apiece. On the one hand, it's lifting up that the whities weren't the only ones fighting that war; on the other it's definitely got a vibe of "watch the exotic colored people dance!"
All in all, worth the rewatch.