Bedknobs and Broomsticks- Page 3

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 11:16am

According to Wiki (I know), the football match replaced a song called "Solid Citizen."

These are the lyrics I found, but I don't know what the hell it has to do with anything:

Walter was a wastrel,
He never cared for work.
Till the day that we fell in love, on his jobs he’d shirked.
But on the day we married
Ambition struck his heart
He set out to make his mark in life,
Looking proud and smart.

He’s a solid citizen
Solid as they come
Staunch and steady Walter, he’s me rock of Gibraltar.
he’s a solid citizen,
All his life he spends
Mixing mortar with sand and water, making cement.

All together now!

He’s a solid citizen,
Solid as they come,
Staunch and steady Walter, he’s me rock of Gibraltar.
He’s a solid citizen
All his life is spent
Mixing mortar with sand and water, making cement.

Sixty years he labored in the construction trade.
Fame and fortune had passed him by,
No great mark he’d made.
Then the hand of fortune brushed him,
When stumbling from his pub.
He staggered by the building site
And tripped into his tub.

Now he’s a solid citizen
Solid as they come
Staunch and steady Walter, he’s me rock of Gibraltar.
he’s a solid citizen
Fitting how he went
Now he’s standing tall in the bricklayer’s hall
His own monument!
Now he’s standing tall in the bricklayer’s hall
His own monument!

[Kad]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 12:30pm

I could see this working- but only in a highly theatrical, less-is-more, Peter and the Starcatchers/39 Steps/etc. way. The story is so epic and fantastical, moreso than Mary Poppins, there is, as others have said, no financially feasible way to make it happen so that it resembles what is on film.

But I think it could work beautifully with inventive blocking and some ingenuity. Heck, it's basically in the movie's central themes.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 12:44pm

I guess I should clarify that I do like the songs in "Pete's Dragon." I just think they're aimed at young kids, so "not as good" was really not what I meant. They have a bit of a Sesame Street sound to them, with a few exceptions.

But the Gooans song and that Pasamaquatty number are "kiddie theatre" atrocious. They make my ears bleed, and they go on forever. And none of them approach the level of maturity or complexity of the score for Mary Poppins, which is right out of Lerner-and-Loew-Land.

Even Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has a wider appeal in the music than Pete's Dragon. I loved it when I was younger, but there's not much for adults (Candle on the Water being an exception), unless they were young kids when they first saw it.

I know, I'm insulting your childhood. Mine, too. But I watched it again about a year ago, and while I enjoyed much of it from a nostalgia POV, I could see that it was clearly for kids.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 12:48pm

I was trying to avoid stepping on any toes, but I've never warmed to Pete's Dragon. I want so much to like it, but I just don't.

Though I certainly could see why people would.

On the other hand, I love Bedknobs, but again have no problem seeing why others don't.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 1:02pm

By the way, Reg, interesting about that cut song.

I'm not sure how it replaces the soccer game at all. It would be like replacing Do Re Mi in The Sound of Music with a polo match. (vice-versa, in this case)

And for those of you who know Bedknobs and Broomsticks only from the DVD release, you should know that it contains a substantial amount of cut footage and songs. And while I enjoy seeing them, this is not what played in the movie theatre when I was a kid. It's a good 30 minutes longer, and enjoyable as that might be, it does slow the overall pace down quite a bit.

They even went so far as to dub the actors in a few added scenes because they couldn't find the excised audio. Just the video,. Angela did her own redubbing, but many of them are "soundalikes," and the guy who does David Tomlinson's voice is way off. If you know to listen for it, you can tell he's nowhere near a match. I think the worst example of "too much" being put back in is the added footage from Portobello Road. That number goes on for about six weeks on the DVD. I'm exhausted just remembering it.

I hope if/when they release this on Blu-ray, they offer viewers a choice of being able to watch the original theatrical edit or the extended home video release (like they do for Close Encounters, which gives you three versions of the film to choose from).

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 1:12pm

I love seeing the restored "Portobello Road" now, with the Indian regiment, and the Scottish dance, and the Jamaican steel drums, and . . . are those two hookers?

But I don't know that I would have when I was a kid.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 1:19pm

Around 1:13
Hookers, right?

[aliceripleysnumber1]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 1:42pm

best12bars, I can see what you are saying about the music in Pete's Dragon being aimed more towards kids. And I think a part of why I love the songs so much is because of my childhood memories..haha Perhaps if the first time I saw it was as an adult, I may not have enjoyed the music as much. :)

And I couldn't agree more about the extended footage of Portobello Road! It seemed to go on...and on...and on. Heck - I remember watching it as a kid without the added footage and fast forwarding through the dance portion of the song. lol Also, the voice dubbing kind of annoyed me - with the exception of Angela, all of the others were "sound-alikes". And much of the time, not sounding much like the originals. Maybe I just knew the movie too well, so I noticed more.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 2:05pm

It's been a reeeeeeal long time since I have seen this, but aren't the Nazi villians sort of...adorably bumbling in this one?

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 2:07pm

They're a little Hogan's Heroes, but they're definitely the bad guys.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 2:09pm

Reggie, they're definitely hookers.


Oh, and I have to add that one of my favorite lyrics ever is in "Eglantine:"

"Oh I have an acumen
That's nigh super-human."

Not that I understood any of that the first 500 times I saw the movie, but still.

Updated On: 7/28/11 at 02:09 PM

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 2:11pm

Dont think they're hooker, no.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 2:13pm

Portobello Ho's?

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 2:17pm

The 60s obligatory girls out shopping, which can be found in just about any movie musical of the period. Almost as routine as the infamous scream that finds its way into every horror film from the 20s to the 70s.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 2:22pm

If you mean the Wilhelm scream, it went on longer than that. Still does.

Yeah, but why does he look so embarassed when they say "You'll meet all your chums in the Portobello Road." C'mon!

Besty, ha!

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 2:24pm

I think they threw everything AND the kitchen sink into that number.

It starts out as a street-vending scene, and then they drag in every street-vending scene from every movie or musical known to man. You've got the cast of Brigadoon down on MacConnachy Square, the movie cast of Black Orpheus, the Hindi Army, some sailors from Pinafore, two prostitutes posing as shoppers, and I think there are even some dolls in there from It's a Small World.

Crazy stuff. And ENDLESS.

And then of course, after the road clears and everyone goes home and there's nobody left but the main characters walking around an empty street ... THEY STILL HAVE TO SING ANOTHER REPRISE OF THE SONG.

Updated On: 7/28/11 at 02:24 PM

[aliceripleysnumber1]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 2:42pm

LOL and I think I even saw Carol Channing thrown in the mix at one point, too! :-p

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 2:55pm

She was one of the hookers!

[ChiChi]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 9:35pm

No interest in my video from ANYONE???!!!

Seriously, I thought I'd be booed for what a bad idea this was. And it is a bad idea, but clearly a beloved one. And Pete's Dragon would just be exciting on stage. The score is so great. In fact I'm listening to Brazzle Dazzle Day now.

[Owen22]

Posted: 8/4/11 at 1:48am

"You can't have him.
You don't love him.
All you've done till now
Is break his heart.

You'll abuse him.
You'll just use him--
Stop now!
Or I'll take you apart!
(We'd like to see you try it!)"

ME TOO!!!!!

Thank you. Those are my favorite lines from "Pete's Dragon". Sung lines. Helen Reddy has a wonderful bitchy dialogue session with the school marm earlier. Oh, and every time she says the word "Paul", I die laughing. Its the way she says it. "That's Paul"... I'm sorry, I LOVE that movie. Well, I love it when Helen Reddy is around. Thank you Disney for casting her. Cause the movie is generally pretty awful. Was it Jim Dale's first film?

[Paul W. Thompson]

Posted: 8/4/11 at 3:09am

I adored "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" when I saw it in the theaters on first release. I insisted that my mother buy me the vocal selections (no, you can't have them).

As an adult, I adore the fact that this movie is the closest we will get to seeing Angie in her "Anyone Can Whistle," "Mame" and "Gypsy" self, before she morphed slowly into Jessica Fletcher by way of Mrs. Lovett.

And, as a final word--when I was in London, I went way the hell of my way to go all the way to Portobello Road via the Tube (and maybe even a bus), getting there a few minutes before sundown and the closing of the street market for the day. I pretty much cried with joy that I made it in time. I sang the song over and over and over again.... And over again. I couldn't understand why there wasn't a commemorative plaque of some kind, even one for silly middle aged gay Americans, a la the Mary Tyler Moore statue in Minneapolis. I mean, give me something to take a picture of!

Posted: 8/4/11 at 6:16am

To be fair, B&B had a troubled release in general. The DVD version IS an aproximation of the original theatrical premier, but as you know it was cut for the general non Roadshow release. But I think it made sense to put as much of the original film on the DVD as possible, and I was thankful for it, though it would be nice to have a DVD Branching option to play the general release as well (but I LOVE Nobody's Problems so much that I can't imagine the film without it). I find it criminal that the late theatrical re-issue removed ALL the songs, though.

About B&B's cut song, I always thought those lyrics sounded like they could be a British football song--you know the kinda thing crowds would sing (though in a cleaner way, being Disney) to rile them up. On the other hand it kinda reminds me in its irelevence to plot, with Bert and Mary breaking out with Supercalifragilicious at the animated Fox Chase. While that song had more of a connection to plot, so much of B&B (and I *love love* the movie so don't mean this as harshly as it sounds) was meant to echo clear moments in Poppins, that I thought they could be comparable. (Walt famously said to the Sherman Bros when they wrote Supercali, and he was still having trouble getting the Poppins rights from Travers, that he optioned Bedknobs and Broomsticks and the song could easily work there as well...)

I loved Pete's Dragon when I was a kid--I saw it during one of the 80s theatrical re-issues (I loved how Disney used to do that) which Wiki claims was 1984 so I would have been nearly five. I didn't see it again till I was an adult, not long back, and I have to agree with those who find it kinda medicore (like a lot of Disney's films from the time). Some nice character animation on the Dragon by Don Bluth, and Candle on the Water is a guilty pleasure, but too much of it seems to go too far down to the kiddie level for me, more than I like in my Disney (in many ways it feels like a lot of those silly Disney live action movioes from the mid 60s to the early 80s). Some touching moments, and I have sentimental attachment to it still, but... Too much silly non threatening villains, a so so score, and Don Chaffey wasn't the director that, at his best, Robert Stevenson could be.

I know it was a bomb initially, and was constantly edited (even more so than Bedknobs) but can't help thinking Disney should have learned some of their mistakes with Bedknobs that they make much worse in Pete's.


Updated On: 8/4/11 at 06:16 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/4/11 at 6:50am

Actually, Bedknobs & Broomsticks was cut from 139 down to 117 minutes prior to its release, so that was the original running time everywhere. No "road show" version. It ran at that length at Radio City Music Hall, and the reason it was cut down (I kid you not) was due to the long Christmas show on stage that year. It had to be under 2 hours to fit. Then it was released nationally at this trimmed length of 117 minutes.

The re-release in the early 1980s cut it down even more to 99 min.

The DVD restored the footage cut prior to its release to 139 min. But it had never run at that length before.

Posted: 8/4/11 at 7:10am

Wow, I stand corrected. That's kinda tragic - especially the reasoning (again it confuses me that just a few years later they tried to do another LONG family movie musical like Pete's Dragon that similarly was cut straight away, but I guess they didn't see a connection).

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/4/11 at 7:21am

I agree it's tragic that they cut a movie down permanently to fit a rotating Radio City holiday schedule. Who the hell would do that now? It shows you Disney was more interested in the "business" than the "show," back then. I think Walt would have been horrified by that shortsighted decision.

I also think it's great that the original intended length made it to the DVD. But it still can't be called the "original theatrical release" or the "roadshow release," or any release, for that matter. They refer to it as the "restored length."

EDIT: My guess is that there was probably a "creative discrepancy" going on behind the scenes. I'm sure somebody high up thought it was too long, and used the Radio City excuse to cut the film down and tighten it.

I honestly prefer the 117 min. length. Granted, that's the length I saw first, and loved. Every time I watch the DVD now, I enjoy seeing all the added footage, but I can't help noticing how sluggish it feels overall.

Updated On: 8/4/11 at 07:21 AM