Movie Number 33: Double Switch (David Greenwalt, 1987).

Movie number 33: Double Switch (David Greenwalt, 1987).

With the creation of The Disney Channel and the return of the Disney anthology series to the ABC network, the 1980s saw a renaissance in Disney made-for-TV movies. Ironically this was at a time when Disney branded cinema releases had all but ground to a halt; 1984 saw no new Disney movies save for Splash (Ron Howard) and Country (Richard Pearce) both distributed under their newly formed ‘adult’ Touchstone Films banner.

Double Switch premiered in two parts on the newly re-titled Disney Sunday Movie series. This contemporary take on Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper stars George Newbern in the dual roles of geeky high school student Matt Bundy and spoiled yet isolated popstar Bartholomew who switch places for some comedy hi-jinks and poignant life lessons. Elizabeth Shue is the only recognisable name in an otherwise no-star cast; the following year would see her breakthrough role in Adventures in Babysitting (Chris Columbus) and two years later she would inherit the part of Jennifer in Back to the Future Part II (Robert Zemeckis, 1989). With its synth rock soundtrack, legwarmer clad dancers and capitalist aesthetics, Double Switch is a movie which could only have been made in the Eighties, the decade of excess. Juxtaposing high school life and rockstar masquerades, Double Switch is kind of John Hughes lite meets Hannah Montana and one gets the feeling that were this made 20 years later we would be shopping for Bartholomew CDs, lunch boxes and backpacks at The Disney Store.

While barely remembered today, this movie isn’t half bad. Sure the music is a little generic and the comedy is somewhat laboured, but Newbern does well in the lead and if, like me, you enjoyed this when you were 12 you will probably get a nostalgic kick out of it now. Disney’s more faithful adaptation of The Prince and the Pauper (Don Chaffey, 1962) and their similarly themed classic The Parent Trap (David Swift, 1961) are both vastly superior movies. Double Switch is nowhere near as essential as those but is entertaining nonsense all the same.

Movie number 22: The Kid Who Would Be King (Joe Cornish, 2019). Writer/director Joe Cornish’s post-Harry Potter fantasy stars Louis Ashbourne Serkis as otherwise unremarkable schoolboy Alex who stumbles upon King Arthur’s legendary sword Excalibur, launching himself and his friends on a quest to save the world from Arthur’s ancient foe Morgana and a personal quest to find Alex’s absent father. As with other recent medieval themed movies King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (Guy Ritchie, 2017) and Robin Hood (Otto Bathurst, 2018) The Kid Who Would Be King is underperforming at the box office. Do not, however, let its underwhelming commercial impact deter you from experiencing this fun Goonies-esq romp. With pleasing performances from its mostly juvenile cast and some stunningly realised fantasy sequences, The Kid Who Would Be King features an arguably more satisfying narrative than the most recent entry into the Potter franchise, The Crimes of Grindelwald. It also features an outstanding performance from relative unknown Angus Imrie, striking the right balance of austere reverence and sheer oddity as young Merlin the magician. A mix of Arthurian mythology and housing estate humdrum, The Kid Who Would Be King feels distinctly and refreshingly British and carries a welcome anti-Brexit message. It is a good-natured, solidly entertaining family adventure, perfect for the school holidays.

GANGSTER SQUAD: (Dir: Ruben Fleischer, 2013).

Don’t be fooled into thinking that this movie is the first film in the ‘La La Land’ franchise! In spite of featuring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in leading roles against a backdrop of Los Angeles, Gangster Squad is, as its title would imply, a pretty violent yet kinda glossy mob movie.

Josh Brolin heads up a fabulous cast including Gosling, Stone, Nick Nolte, Giovanni Ribisi and Michael Peña in a fictionalised account of the LAPD’s attempts to wrest control of the city from Mob boss Mickey Cohen, a heavily made-up Sean Penn seemingly channelling Al Pacino’s Big Boy Caprice from Dick Tracy (Warren Beatty, 1990). The cast cannot be faulted. Neither can cinematographer Dion Beebe who utilises every conceivable shade of brown in a stylish recreation of 1949 LA.

However, as terrific as the cast is and as lovely as it looks, Gangster Squad is perhaps not quite the movie it may have been. With its dark, noir-ish themes and its vintage Los Angeles setting it kind of gives the impression of wanting to be LA Confidential (Curtis Hanson, 1997). While it is undoubtedly a quality production, it just isn’t as good as that masterpiece.

I love a 1930s gangster movie almost as much as I love a 1940s crime thriller, so I guess Gangster Squad had a lot of built-in appeal for me and I did enjoy it. It’s just that I have seen this sort of thing done better. As noir homage LA Confidential can’t be beat. If it’s a lovingly recreated 1930s era gangster flick you want, check out Joel and Ethan Coen’s superior Miller’s Crossing (1990).

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BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS (Dir: Robert Stevenson, 1971).

It was inevitable that, sooner or later, I would post a review of Walt Disney Productions’ Bedknobs and Broomsticks. I have watched this movie more times than any other, losing count when I hit three figures. I wouldn’t say it is the best film I have ever seen but I would say it has given me more pleasure over the years than any other.

Often compared unfavourably and, I feel, unfairly with Disney’s 1964 blockbuster Mary Poppins, it reunited most of the creative team and star David Tomlinson from the earlier film. It also shares with it a lengthy ‘Jolly Holiday’-esq animated sequence and a basic premise about a magical governess. Yet the plot, taken from yet having little in common with Mary Norton’s book, about an amateur witch’s attempts to repel a Nazi invasion in wartime Britain with the help of three cockney waifs is markedly different from Poppins and Tomlinson’s performance as a loveable charlatan magician is completely different from the repressed banker and estranged father he portrayed in Poppins.

To be honest, it isn’t as good a film as Mary Poppins. It has a messy, episodic narrative which zealous editing - there are at least five different official versions of the film - was not entirely successful at tidying up. The international and US re-release version, at roughly 100 minutes, has the most satisfying narrative but cuts virtually all of Richard and Robert Sherman’s excellent songs; those that do remain are butchered, the lavish Portobello Road suffering most noticeably. An attempt in 1996 to restore the film to its original, and sadly lost, premier length brings the runtime to 139 minutes but suffers from poor dubbing on scenes where the audio could not be found. In spite of narrative issues the standard, roughly two hour release print is the default and best version of Bedknobs...

Director Robert Stevenson is almost successful at recreating the ole Poppins magic; Ward Kimball’s inventive animated excursion to the Island of Naboombu is the undoubted highlight of Disney Animation’s 1970s output; the effects work, including some incredible puppetry of bodiless suits of armour in the epic climax, hold up well against modern CGI techniques and the performance from stars Angela Lansbury, David Tomlinson and company are exemplary. The Sherman Brother’s songs, including The Age of Not Believing, Beautiful Briny and the spectacular Portobello Road are among their best, perhaps a shade down from their work on Poppins, but there is no shame in coming second place to arguably the greatest musical score ever written for the cinema!

I reiterate, Bedknobs and Broomsticks is not as great a piece of filmmaking as Mary Poppins, but as a child I enjoyed it more. I certainly watched it more often. While perhaps it doesn’t quite add up to the sum of its parts, I think it is highly entertaining, is rightly regarded a classic and should probably be regarded a masterpiece, albeit a flawed masterpiece.

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Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)

Bedknobs and Broomsticks (Dir: Robert Stevenson, 1971).  It was inevitable that, sooner or later, I would post a review of Walt Dis

THE LAND BEFORE TIME (Dir: Don Bluth, 1988).

In 1979 director Don Bluth famously led an animators walk out at the Disney Studios to form his own company Don Bluth Productions. Their first feature length venture The Secret of NIMH (Bluth, 1982) while critically well received was a commercial disappointment and it wasn’t until after Bluth released the groundbreaking coin operated video game Dragon’s Lair that Hollywood once again came calling.

The Land Before Time was to be Bluth’s third feature and his second, following An American Tale (1986), for Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, co-produced by Lucasfilm. This surprisingly downbeat dinosaur adventure is something of a prehistoric Bambi meets The Incredible Journey as longneck Littlefoot, after the death of his mother and separation from his grandparents, teams up with a band of similarly lost young dinos to find their families in the fabled Great Valley.

Just as An American Tail was pitted against Disney’s Great Mouse Detective on original release, The Land Before Time found itself competing against Disney’s Oliver and Company in late ‘88. Unlike the previous meeting, Disney’s movie was box office champ on this occasion. However, I would argue that, on this occasion, Bluth’s movie is superior. Unlike the numerous made for video sequels, the original Land Before Time features some beautiful animation, and while its plot is quite basic and occasionally saccharine, it is sophisticated enough to engage adults as well as children.

At little over an hour The Land Before Time is short and sweet. Stick around for the end titles for Diana Ross’ lovely ballad ‘If We Hold On Together’.

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RIP Stanley Donen