L'Apprentie sorcière

This Disney piece has its great strengths in casting the great Angela Lansbury as apprentice witch Eglantine Price, in teaming live action with cartoon, and in some enjoyable special effects. The songs, by the Shermans, are in the main memorable - 'The Age of Not Believing', 'Portobello Road', 'Eglantine', and 'The Beautiful Briny'. Sterling support from David Tomlinson (who was also Mr Banks in 'Mary Poppins') and a trio of Cockney kids round off the movie.

Miss Price - who has a scene-stealing cat who can put across disdain and embarrassment better than any human! - finds that the 'spells' she has received from Mr Brown's college of witchcraft actually work, much to his amazement when she speeds down to London to tell him so (on a bed, naturally - that's where 'The Age of Not Believing' comes in with great charm). She takes in Charlie, Carrie and cute little Paul as evacuees and win them over with her magic dabbling. Her goal is to find the spell for locomotion and this takes them to the evocative flea market of Portobello Road and on to the magical island where the cartoon part of the movie kicks in.

The cartoons are inventive as always, although lacking the quality of the studio when Disney himself was in charge - there's a ballroom where the fish dance in various styles to a swing band and some jazzy singers (and are upstaged by the live action adults who win the dancing cup); then there is a great football match between creatures like hippos, elephants, ostriches, and the like with hapless Mr Brown as the referee. Special effects come into their own when inaminate objects start to have a life of their own (shades of 'Mary Poppins'), especially in the final sequences where an ancient army of knights and heralds take on the Nazis.

'Bedknobs and Broomsticks' drags at times but when it is in full flow, it is a lot of fun. Highly recommended for kids of all ages, and all those Disney devotees out there.

I will always have a soft spot for this Disney flick, another of their part live action/part animation entries that sought to recreate the success of "Mary Poppins" and never quite made it. When I was in grade school, every once in a while we would have a movie day, where the whole school would crowd into the cafeteria, and a movie would be projected the old-fashioned way, multiple reels and all. At the time, it seemed like a momentous occasion whenever this day arrived, and "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" is one of the movies I can remember seeing this way.

And from what I remember, it's quite charming. Angela Lansbury never put her name to anything that wasn't at least competent, and she's winning here as a witch with a magic bed (boy, that could be misconstrued, couldn't it?) who can take her and a couple of young kids on magic adventures to far-off places. Come on, what kid wouldn't want a bed like that?

Grade: A

Set during WWII, Bedknobs and Broomsticks is a fun-filled fantasy adventure for kids, starring Angela Lansbury as an apprentice witch who, with the help of three evacuee children and a 'Professor of Witchcraft', thwarts a Nazi invasion.

Brilliantly inventive, with loads of laughs, this movie will delight kids of all ages with its great characters, exciting story and catchy tunes. Lansbury is perfect as Eglantine, the not-quite-perfect witch who takes the three children on the adventure of a lifetime, and her three young co-stars (Cindy O'Callaghan, Roy Snart and Ian Weighill) are equally impressive as the Cockney rascals who aid in battling the nasty Hun.

The special effects are somewhat dated, but let's face it, kids don't care too much about these things, so long as they are entertained. And entertained, they will be. With some impressive scenes which brilliantly mix live action and animation to great effect, and more genuine movie magic than a hundred Harry Potters, it would be hard not to enjoy this wonderful slice of cinematic escapism. In fact, only a rather drawn-out musical number set in Portobello Road mars the film's perfection, but with so much else to enjoy, that can easily be forgiven.

And besides, any film featuring UK television legend Bruce Forsyth as a 'Flash' Harry style spiv is guaranteed a good rating from me.

It's very much in the vein of "Mary Poppins" (1964) this, with a very similar style of live-action and animated sequences used to tell a slightly more menacing story. When three siblings arrive in a rural English village, evacuated from London during the Blitz of WWII, they are placed with the rather eccentric and definitely unwilling "Miss Price" (Angela Lansbury). Things start to look up for all concerned though when the kids discover that she is a trainee witch, and when they meet "Emelius" (David Tomlinson) they embark on some adventures using their magical bed as their vehicle in the search for the missing part of a substitutiary locomotion spell that might just thwart the Nazis. As with "Poppins", the music and lyrics come from the Sherman twins and "Beautiful Briny" and "Portobello Road" are probably the two best from their not so catchy soundtrack this time. Lansbury and Tomlinson work well together with the former on good form as the ostensibly prim and proper, but actually quite feisty and mischievous would-be witch. The three youngsters also perform well, especially the youngest "Paul" (Roy Snart) who just won't let anyone else near the knob that controls the bed! A smattering of familiar faces help to keep the story bobbing along nicely and the animations, tough not so frequent as I would have liked, blend in well with some fun action scenes - especially at the end - and make for an enjoyable, feel-good, family movie.

I saw this film many years ago and I thought it was pure magic. It was a lovely film full of escapism which could be enjoyed by kids and adults alike.

The performances throughout the film by it's actors and actresses are magnificent. The songs are great and the special effects are lovely for it's time. The story is a beautiful one.

I love films like this and I last watched this film around 1986. As I said earlier, it is pure escapism-one of those beautiful films which whisks you away from real life problems into a lovely fantasy world. It is pure brilliance.

I would recommend this film to anyone but particularly to young children born after it was released-even today in 2002 it can be enjoyed.