How Many Disney Movies Was Angela Lansbury in
Angela Lansbury in 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks'
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November 12, 1971
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To the three tiny refugees from the London blitz who come to live with her, Miss Eglantine Price (Angela Lansbury) seems, at first, to be just another eccentric country spinster who drives a motorcycle (that runs on sulphur) and eats nauseating things like roots and nettles.That night, however, they spy her attempting to ride her first broom, side-saddle. ("Technically," say the instructions, "a witch is always a lady.") Miss Price does a couple of barrel rolls, then a nose dive, and crashes, heaplike, into a hedge, whereupon the children decide to blackmail the woman into serving them sausages and fries and into giving them pocket money as well.One needn't worry too much about the children's readiness to blackmail since, almost immediately, they come to love and cherish Miss Price for what she is, an apprentice witch dedicated to helping Winston Churchill save England from the Nazi invasion."Bedknobs and Broomsticks," based on a story by Mary Norton, is a tricky, cheerful, aggressively friendly Walt Disney fantasy for children who still find enchantment in pop-up books, plush animals by Steiff and dreams of independent flight. One of the more attractive props in the film is a brass bed on which Miss Price, the three children and Prof. Emelius Browne (David Tomlinson), the head of the Correspondence College of Witchcraft, fly to the cartoon land of Naboombu in search of the ultimate spell.I suspect the movie will be something of a long, uninterrupted sit for the very children for whom it's intended, and an even longer one for those parents and guardians (both adults and teen-age) who will probably accompany them. Yet, its morals are as unimpeachable as its technical facility—and there really aren't many movies about which you can say that these days.The loveliest part of the film—and the section that can renew one's appreciation of the special gifts of the Disney people—is the live-action-plus-cartoon sequence in Naboombu featuring, among other things, a tumultuous soccer game, played by cartoon animals and refereed by Tomlinson, and an underwater ballet in which Miss Lansbury and Tomlinson dance in slow-motion surrounded by cartoon fish. It recalls the best of Disney, going all the way back to the first Silly Symphonies.If, aside from its technical wizardry, Disney fantasy has any truly distinguishing feature I would say it is the kind of frigid perfection represented by Julie Andrews in "Mary Poppins." If "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" is somewhat less successful than that film, it also benefits from the presence of Miss Lansbury, who is neither an especially winning singer nor dancer, but who can't help projecting a certain healthy sensuality, even in the most proper Disney circumstances.Robert Stevenson directed the movie and Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman wrote the music and lyrics, none of which I can remember."Bedknobs and Broomsticks" opened yesterday at Radio City Music Hall, where it will be the Christmas attraction—six weeks before Christmas. It is rushing the big buying season, gently and harmlessly.
BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS, directed by Robert Stevenson; screenplay by Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, based on a book by Mary Norton; director of photography, Frank Phillips; music and lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman; editor, Cotton Warburton; produced by Mr. Walsh; a Walt Disney Production for release by Buena Vista. Running time: 117 minutes. At Radio City Music Hall, Avenue of the Americas at 50th Street. (The Motion Picture Association of America's Production Code and Rating Administration classifies this film "G—all ages admitted.")Miss Price . . . . . Angela LansburyEmelius . . . . . David TomlinsonMr. Jelk . . . . . Roddy McDowallBookman . . . . . Sam JaffeCarrie . . . . . Cindy O'CallaghanPaul . . . . . Roy SnartCharlie . . . . . Ian WeighallColonel Heller . . . . . John EricsonGeneral Teagler . . . . . Reginald OwenMrs. Hobday . . . . . Tessie O'Shea
How Many Disney Movies Was Angela Lansbury in
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/1971/11/12/archives/angela-lansbury-in-bedknobs-and-broomsticks.html
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