Die Flucht zum Hexenberg

Alexander Key's popular pre-teen novel concerns two orphaned siblings with supernatural powers taken in by a nefarious millionaire (named Aristotle Bolt!) who wants to exploit their magical abilities for personal gain. Top-notch Walt Disney adventure for families has natural, non-precocious performances from young Ike Eisenmann and Kim Richards as the gifted kids, and their friendship with good-hearted traveler Eddie Albert is sweet but not sticky. The eerie flashbacks to the youngsters' early beginnings are well-captured by director John Hough, who is otherwise forced (perhaps for budgetary reasons) to skimp on genuine atmosphere in place of an elongated chase. Too bad the finale replaces emotion with effects, as these characters are quite remarkable. Followed by a fairly wan sequel, 1978's "Return From Witch Mountain", in which the special effects became the whole show. **1/2 from ****

Honestly, very few things in life fill me with more joy and happiness than re-watching the favorite movies of my childhood during lazy Sunday afternoons, now more or less 20 to 25 years after I last saw them. During the past couple of years, I discovered that I still love them all just as much as back when I was a geeky 9- year-old with an unhealthy interest in macabre kids' films! I'm talking about titles like "Dark Crystal", "The Watcher in the Woods", "Return to Oz", "Island at the Top of the World" and "Something Wicked this Way Comes". "Escape to Witch Mountain" was also on my list of childhood favorites, and re-watching this particular one also became another emotional milestone for me, since I watched it together with my 6-year-old son! We live in Belgium, so he doesn't speak English and he can't properly read subtitles yet, so I pretty much narrated the entire movie to him. But that was a big pleasure since he was clearly just as impressed and intrigued as I was 25 years ago and he truly loved all the legendary scenes, like with the flying RV, the trained bear and the upside down helicopter! Now, nearly a week after having seen the film he still talks about it and he particularly feels proud about having watched a more mature movie whereas his friends at school are still just watching the animated Disney movies!

But anyways, even my more objective opinion states that "Escape to Witch Mountain" is a recommendable film for all types of audiences. It has an engaging plot, good pacing, plenty of versatile action and – most of all – wonderful acting performances. Back when I was 9, I obviously didn't know who Donald Pleasance or Ray Milland were, but over the years I became a horror fanatic and now they are both ranked among my favorite actors of all time. It's good to see that even in Disney movies they remain loyal to their reputations and depict villainous characters that are equally menacing and loathsome as in regular hardcore horror movies! The story introduces two cherubic but orphaned siblings, Tia and Tony, with sensational supernatural powers. The girl Tia can foretell things before they occur and talk to animals, while the boy has telekinetic capacities. Nobody knows where they come from, although Tia has vague recollections of a shipwreck, and they are placed in a boarding school where they clearly don't fit in with the other children. When the girl saves the life of a certain Mr. Deranian (Donald Pleasance) by warning him about an accident about to happen, he is immediately intrigued by her powers and informs his employer Aristotle Bolt (Ray Milland). Their intentions obviously aren't peaceful and even though they offer Tia and Tony a giant room full of toys, the girl senses they are in danger and they flee from the estate. With the - initially reluctant – help of lone tourist Jason O'Day (Eddie Albert), they set out on a dangerous journey in search for their true personalities. "Escape to Witch Mountain" is still a great and adventurous kids' movie, accomplished with a lot more heart and passion than nowadays. I hope to quickly track down the sequel "Return to Witch Mountain" as well, as it has an equally impressive cast featuring Christopher Lee and Bette Davis.

In 1975, I was 11 years old. "Escape To Witch Mountain" played to a packed house at a now-defunct old theatre called, Miracle. People were sitting on the floor because they sold more tickets than they had seats. I'd never seen anything like that before.

My dad and step mom took me to the movie and we got the last of the few remaining seats. They probably only took me because it was a Disney flick. Had to be harmless, right? Hardly. Afterward, they were puzzled by the seemingly surprising UFO angle. I remember being absolutely transfixed. I'm still fascinated with mysterious stuff like UFOs and ghosts. I wasn't supposed to like that stuff but this film made it impossible for me not to.

And I identified with the kid heroes on a deeper level as well. I, myself, was kind of a ragamuffin misfit kid from a broken home who spent weekends with my dad's new blended family. I felt the siblings' pain at being torn from their home. Tia broke my heart. She was as fragile as me, but far stronger when it really counted. Tony was just hot! Older and very cute at 13. And those powers they had? How cool was that? By the time the credits rolled, I knew I'd seen the best movie ever!

I was lucky enough to have an older cousin who loved movies and hanging out with me and she bought the Disney movie record for me. I don't know if any of you remember these; Disney used to release LPs of the audio track of some of their movies, usually truncated and featuring narration. In the case of "Escape", it was narrated by Eddie Albert. This thing enabled me to memorize every line of Tony and Tia's dialog and much of that of the other characters, too. I still have it, though the sleeve is long lost. It's tough for me to watch the movie without speaking along with the characters (especially Tia), at least in my head.

My cousin also bought me Alexander Key's book. Boy, Disney sure took liberties, didn't they? Key's book is far more serious and developed and meaningful. I tried to take the best parts from the book and the movie and incorporate them together into the Tony and Tia of my imagination. It deepened them. Too bad there was no fanatic outlet back in those days! It was pretty egolesss of Alexander Key for coming together with Disney on the eventual novelization of "Return". Without Key's kind participation, it would of been an empty exercise. I was especially impressed with how he incorporated the issue of Tia needing to learn to speak.

Through the years, I never "Escape" and I saw it as often as I could. For instance, when "Return" was released, Disney sent the movies out as a double feature. I loved "Return", silly as it was, even though there were things in it that really bugged me. Like the sibs being split apart for most of the movie. I loved them together! I think most of the fans of the first film were most affected by their chemistry. I think we wanted to see more of that. Even so, I really liked the Earthquakes, all of them. And it was fun to see Kim and Ike a bit older and even cuter than before. I also remember seeing "Escape" on an odd revival double-bill with "Bambi" at some point in my teen years. I think I would've followed Kim and Ike anywhere. Heck, I even followed them to "Devil Dog, The Hound Of Hell". You have to see the comments page here at IMDb if you haven't already.

I would've seen "Tuff Turf" even if Kim wasn't in it, but that's a convoluted story for another thread. Suffice to say I have seen TT far too many times and many of them were for Kim. Also, I can honestly say I enjoy the TV edit of "Star Trek II" far more than the theatrical cut because it has more Ike. I even had a good time watching "Blair Witch Mountain..." when it hit the web. I have to agree that it might be fun to revisit Tony and Tia with the original actors today. Hey, last year, the new "Twilight Zone" brought Anthony (Billy Mumy) back and introduced us to his similarly gifted, but far less scary (real life) daughter (Liliana Mumy). And all those people came back from the cornfield. Why not Tony & Tia?

I could rhapsodize for paragraphs about both "With Mountain" films, and I may still do so when I get my special edition DVDs. In the meantime, here's hoping that a whole new generation of kids will discover "Witch Mountain" for themselves.

The 1970's was not a good time for the Disney Studios. Much of the stuff that came from Disney at this time were corny and fluff. This movie however is a rare exception, esp. for it's time.

This film is about a bother and sister, Tony & Tia (Ike Eisenmann and Kim Richards)who have powers(ESP, Levitation and the like)but they don't know how or where these powers come from. Tia is being bothered by memories of an accident that she can't piece together. However, as the film progresses-the pieces come together like a puzzle and they figure out the answer to the question: "Where are we from?"

I must say that the chemistry between Eisenmann & Richards worked so well, people actually believe that they are brother & sister. It's really remarkable how well they worked together-no wonder it looked so real. This is remarkable acting talent on the part of these two and no one could have done it better. This is why I think these two actors are underrated.

I'm not going to go into detail of the rest of the film. Read the other reviews for that. One thing I need to mention is that the special effects were great for it's time. Maybe They were a little Cheesy, but the essence of the story is not the powers these kids have, but they are searching for their home and looking for answers about where they come from. To me, this is the real story-not the special effects.

I just got my DVD copies of both films This and "Return From witch mountain" They done a good job remastering the soundtrack in THX, 5.1 Dolby surround sound. It sounds as good as it does in the theater if you have a home theater system.

I was thrilled to see one of my favourite films, as a child, released on to DVD. I can now share some of my childhood with my own kids. No big surprise, but my older daughter (7) loves it. My younger daughter (2) thought some parts were "scary daddy"; the broom/jail scene was well done! Highly recommend it as a family film for folks that want a nice movie to watch with their kids.