Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971, Robert Stevenson)
15/01/2024
Bedknobs and Broomsticks is a 1971 film directed by Robert Stevenson. The film, which stars Angela Lansbury and David Tomlinson, was produced in mixed media by Walt Disney Productions and is based on the novels The Magic Bedkno; or, How to Become a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons (1943) and Bonfires and Broomsticks (1947) by the British writer Mary Norton.
The British government displaces children in the countryside to protect them from the bombings that the Nazi air force inflicts on London.
When a letter arrives explaining that Miss Price will not be able to have the last lesson of the witchcraft course, the woman uses the brass knob to travel to London and meet the headmaster of the school, Mr. Emelius Browne. So they go to the Portobello Road market to look for the missing part of the book - The Spells of Astoroth - but a criminal forces them to make a deal; in particular she takes them to an old bookseller, an accomplice of hers, and it turns out that he is the one who has the missing part.
The film was started by Walt Disney and his collaborators before P. L. Travers, author of Mary Poppins, gave the green light for a film based on her children's novel. After the great success of Mary Poppins in 1964, Disney pushed to have Julie Andrews in the leading role again. In fact, in Bedknobs and Broomsticks similar magic, music and animated segments appear - moreover directed by the same director Robert Stevenson - and co-starring David Tomlinson, who brilliantly played the part of Mr. Banks. For fear of being identified with the same figure and therefore making a duplicate of the same genre, Andrews refused; a few months later she changed her mind, but Angela Lansbury had already signed on for the part of the protagonist Eglantine Price.
In the Naboombu lagoon scene, the song that Angela Lansbury and David Tomlinson sing was supposed to be used for Mary Poppins, in the Magic Compass episode that took Mary and the children around the world.
The footage for Step, however, was not relocated into the film because it was incomplete, but the new edition includes several newly discovered songs, including an Angela Lansbury solo, Nobody's Problems.
In reconstructing the film, Angela Lansbury, Roddy McDowell and other actors were asked to re-dub their parts on some spoken tracks that were not restorable. Even though David Tomlinson was alive when the film was reconstructed, it was not possible for him to provide post-synchronization for Emelius Browne: so another actor was called in whose intonations, in some cases, were criticized because they did not resemble those of the Tomlinson original.
When the film was screened for the Academy following its restoration, the crowd erupted in a standing ovation after the song Nobody's Problems was performed.
After the premiere (where it was shown in the 139 minute version) the film was cut to 117 minutes.
Songs like A Step In The Right Direction and With A Flair were removed entirely, as was the subplot featuring Roddy McDowall's character, the central dance number to "Portobello Road", cut by 6 minutes, and a solo by Angela Lansbury in Nobody's Problems.
In Italy Bedknobs and Broomsticks was shown at the cinema in October 1972, a year after its release in the United States.
In the 1981 version, in addition to being cut by about 20 minutes which corresponded to the songs The Home Old Guard, The Age of Not Believing and Eglantine, the film featured a different mix.
The DVD, however, brings to light the 117 minute Italian edition (which becomes 112 due to the speeding up of PAL) restoring the lost dubbing parts starting from a 16 mm.
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