Summer Magic

This movie is a remake of a movie called Mother Carey's Chickens (1938) Anne Shirley as Nancy Carey, Ruby Keeler as Kitty Carey, James Ellison as Ralph Thurston, Fay Bainter as Mrs. Carey, Walter Brennan as Mr. Popham, and Donnie Dunagan as Peter Carey.

Both are really good family movies. Summer Magic is more on the musical end and Mother Carey's Chickens is more of the romance side. Both have a lot of love, kindness and care one for another.

This movie (based on a book called Mother Carey's Chickens) is for anyone who spent their Sunday nights watching The Wonderful World of Disney while growing up and wants to share that same feeling with their own children. Turn on the closed caption, gather up your little girls and sing along with the movie.

The Carey family is saved from having to live in "a hovel...that's not in a very nice neighborhood, either" by a mysterious "Mr. Hamilton" via the town postmaster/constable/general store owner Osiam Poppham. The eldest daughter Nancy's (Hayley Mills) boundless enthusiasm and interaction with a fun assortment of characters such as a homeless cousin that "Thinks she's the pink of perfection" to Mrs. Poppham (Una Merkle-whom Hayley Mills fans will recognize from the original Parent Trap movie) who believes in a "good solid black cloud with no silver linings"

Good or bad, happy or sad, come what may this will always be the most magical of the movies I saw in a theater as a child. Already charmed by its Disney-Norman Rockwell-Hallmark look at the Ragtime Age; this 12 year old boy was simply bowled over 30 minutes into the film by his first glimpse of Deborah Walley. Walley was already a teen queen from her "Gidget" film but had escaped my too-young-to-notice teen actresses consciousness until that day at the theater.

In her period costume this vision was the original "Pretty in Pink" and the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. And might explain my lifelong preference for redheads.

At its core "Summer Magic" is a Disney fairy tale cloaked in a "too-good-to-be-true" production design. If the term expressionist nostalgia ever applied to a film it is this one. Disney simply took basic plot elements form the novel and film "Mother Carey's Chickens" (1938), threw in a bunch of "Cinderella" elements, and had Dorothy McGuire softly reprise her performance in "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn".

If you can't find something here with which to connect, whether it is wistful identification or distanced examination of the film language elements, then you are probably already pretty much used up. Liking this film now is just having the willingness to exercise a little self-knowing whimsy.

Cinderella-wise you have a fairy prince, a glass slipper, a wicked step-sister, a wardrobe transformation scene, cute animals, a coach, songs, and a ball.

The songs are along the lines of those seen recently in "Enchanted" but without the elaborate special effects. A couple of these, "Pink of Perfection" and "Femininity", have been popping in and out of my head ever since 1963. Those two and "Ugly Bug Ball" have held up surprisingly well. "Flitterin" and "Beautiful Beulah" are decent if not especially memorable.

"On the Front Porch" was weak then and hasn't improved with age; it should have been trimmed from the film as that is the film's weakest (insert "boring" here) scene. The sequence should be of interest to film students as it is the only time the director has real difficulty keeping the cast focused; definitely a post-production challenge for the editor who did some damage control but could not salvage anything worth keeping.

Viewing the film today I found Wendy Turner (as Lallie Joy Popham-Virginia Weidler's role in the 1938 film) a revelation. Turner's is the most authentic performance; which is interesting because she was originally cast as the youngest of the three girls simply because she was slightly shorter than the 5' 2" Walley, not much was expected of this novice. Her ability to take acting for the camera direction must have been a pleasant surprise for James Neilson. She gets to do an ugly duckling wardrobe transformation sequence worthy of "Cinderella".

As often happened with Disney, elements were included to insure that it appealed to the widest demographic. So you have a shaggy sheep dog (where have I seen that before?), you have a couple of handsome young television actors (Peter Brown and James Stacy), you have a Moochie Corcoran hammy kid, you have the comedy relief of acting veterans Una Merkel and Burl Ives to appeal to parents, and you have liberal use of Disney's stock nature footage.

Although I was too dazzled by Walley to pay much attention to Hayley Mills this was probably her best performance for Disney, it was certainly the most difficult part she was given. Her acting was more polished than it had been in "Pollyanna" and the out-of-place English accent taught us young Disney viewers all about the concept of suspension of disbelief.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

I have fond memories of watching this movie on TV when I was about 7 years old. Looking back on it now, it's pretty typical Disney family-fare from the early 60s. Hayley Mills is cute, as usual, as the older sister in the Carey family. Eddie Hodges is not bad either as her brother. Burl Ives is enjoyable. His "Ugly Bug Ball" sequence with little Jimmy Mathers is cute, corny and memorable. Deborah Walley is fun as cousin Julia, and it's fun to see her and Mills irritating each other. There are some cute songs in here, by the Sherman brothers, but you have to wonder what they were thinking when they wrote them. In addition to the aforementioned "Ugly Bug Ball", we have two of the oddest inclusions in the Disney catalog: "Femininity" (where Walley and Mills teach Wendy Turner how to act like a woman!) and "The Pink of Perfection" (Mills' and Hodges' duet, in reference to Walley's snooty character).

Harmless, good, clean fun for the most part, but not in the same league as "Mary Poppins".

Excellent movie, if you liked Hayley Mills in PollyAnna, look no further. This movie exhibits family values and basic human kindness amid the traditional Disney music and humor. There's nothing wrong with some simplicity and optimism. Today we can use them. Burl Ives and Dorothy McGuire are absolutely wonderful. The story is endearing and the life lessons are timeless. This is a classic. Many thanks to the Hallmark Channel for bringing it to us. I don't recall seeing it when I was growing up, but at 45, its never to late to enjoy vintage Disney. Maybe today's Disney execs should review their history for future successes. I highly recommend it.