Bedknobs and Broomsticks

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.