Professor Popper's Problems

I had the pleasure of watching "Professor Popper's Problems" on the Disney channel in 1989. (They put the extra "s" at the end of the title.) It involves a professor at a British school who has developed a shrinking pill. He and a couple of his boy students test the pill, and sure enough, they shrink to a few inches in height. But growing back to normal is a little more complicated, and making things more complicated still are rivals who want to kidnap the shrunken professor and get the formula from him.

This movie was never a shoo-in for the Academy Awards and it isn't exactly a classic, but it is reasonably pleasant (especially for the kids) and is entertaining.

I taped this movie off of The Disney Channel 20 or so years ago and just watched it again. IMDb says this movie was released in 1974, but TV Guide listed it as 1984. There's no copyright date on the film itself.

A very absent-minded professor and his school boy assistant are about to conduct an experiment, but first they must have their morning tea! The professor accidentally puts brown "reducing tablets" into their cups instead of sugar cubes. Suddenly they shrink! The rest of the movie is basically a children's version of The Incredible Shrinking Man. Bad guys want the professor's formula, and the boy's older sister must find a way to get the professor and her brother to another kind professor so they can be restored to normal size.

I found this movie to be fun, despite the very silly nature of the whole movie. I particularly loved Debra Collins, who plays Liz, the older sister. She spends most of the movie in a miniskirt and looks great in it. The special effects are low budget, and some scenes look like there was only one take (Debra's miniskirt is caught on her bicycle seat), but I enjoyed it anyway. Another Miramax acquisition that needs a DVD release. (See also my review for The End Of The World Man.) By the way, the title I saw it under was Professor Popper's Problems.

I had to get this video from Nebraska in the the US after desperatly trying to find for at least 15 years since I first saw it in 1984 on BBC1 on a Friday. It has been worth the wait; great visuals (for the time, the sets are even better than Land of the Giants, just see the desk and also the spider scene scared me!!), it's funny too; Charlie Drake fits in the role with ease and is hysterical as Professor Popper! The plot is basically trying to get the Professor and his kid assistants back to their normal size. However it is not easy as there are some strangers who want what the Professor has made 'the reducing tablets' (basically green sugar lumps which the Porfessor and Simon accidently put in their tea!!). So what happens is a great adventure on top of a giant desk, trying to get out of a giant drain, the back of a bike and then a ride on some kids rollerskates. It is fantastic and I still enjoy watching it to this day!!! It has quite a few famous faces apart from Charlie Drake of course there is a young Todd Carty from Eastenders, Milo O'Shea and a few others you may recognise from British tv. I could go on all day!

It seems strange that I had to get it from the US of all places!!

Just read comments on this film and I'm trying to buy it because me and my sister were in the opening credits all those years ago, The school it was filmed at was Central Primary school in Watford I've only seen the film once when it was shown at the local cinema at a time when we used to go to the Saturday morning pictures. As a special treat our school was given complete use of the cinema and Todd Carty came down and watched it with us. I do remember it being great fun both to watch but especially watching the making of it. Charlie Drake was good fun even when he wasn't filming. So if anyone might have some info on where I might buy it that would be great.

Deborah