Growing up in the era of Disney VHS, I remember thinking that the “animated classics” were sacred. Each one was numbered chronologically and every new animated film was proud to announce their number. “Disney proudly presents their umpteenth animated classic…” were words that excited me in their marketing efforts. The number made each film a must-own title, without which my personal Disney vault was incomplete.
Well I believed there was an additional exclusive club, whose number was just 3. These were the live-action/animated Disney musicals (I was at the time unaware that Song of the South and So Dear to My Heart existed). I believed Mary Poppins was number 1, Bedknobs and Broomsticks was number 2, and Pete’s Dragon was the third and final installment in this prestigious collection. And so, ladies and gentleman, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment is proud to announce that their 2nd live-action/animated musical classic, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, is now available to own on Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital HD Combo Pack.
When apprentice witch Eglantine Price is forced to take in three children during World War II, the kids convince her to enchant an object. The object of choice is a bedknob and the enchantment allows them to use it to travel anywhere they ask it to. Eglantine is in search of the missing pages of her training books, which involves professor Emelius Browne in a musical adventure to find the pages and help the British fight the war.
The Sherman Brothers songs are the real highlight of the film. The studio was attempting to recapture the magic of Mary Poppins, and back when Walt was having a hard time persuading P.L. Travers to give him the rights to Poppins, he bought the rights to this film from author Mary Norton. Most of the Poppins creative team was reassembled for Bedknobs. While Poppins is far and away the better film, Bedknobs has its moments that have kept it in popularity over forty years later.
When the film premiered, it was 150 minutes long and Disney planned to release this version in a roadshow format (limited engagements in select theaters). Instead, they shortened it to 120 minutes and gave it a wide release. This is how everyone knew the film until 2001 when Disney used the footage they could find to reassemble the film. The video footage for one song (“A Step in the Right Direction”) could not be found and is absent form this version, which runs 140 minutes. Until this release, the extended edition was the only version ever made available on DVD.
Disney could have used seamless branching to present both version of the film on DVD and Blu-Ray. The same day this film was released on Blu-Ray, Muppets Most Wanted used that very technology to offer the theatrical and extended cuts of that film. But instead, Disney has made the 120 minute theatrical cut the only option. All of the deleted scenes can be found in high definition as a bonus feature, but many fans of the film are upset at Disney’s deliberate choice to not offer both versions in this set.
Video
The film is presented in 1080p in a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.66:1, offering more image on the top and bottom of the screen than its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.75:1 (this ratio was stated in the materials sent to movie theaters with the film reels in 1971). The restoration is well done and fans of preserved grain will be pleased to know it is all here. This film has a soft color palette, but when bright colors are used they pop off the screen.
The DVD features the new restoration as well. It’s less stunning in standard definition, but is an improvement over the last DVD release.
Audio
A DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is presented, which allows the orchestrations to fill every speaker while dialogue stays exclusively in the front speakers. Other audio options are French 5.1 and Spanish 5.1.
The DVD features English, French and Spanish 5.1 tracks.
Bonus Features
Disney didn’t create any new bonus features for this release, but that’s alright because they’ve included all of the previously released bonus features and it is a lot of content.
- Music Magic: The Sherman Brothers – This 20-minute featurette covers the songs of the film, the origin of the music, and the process to restore the film to its original version (ironic since the extended cut is absent from this release).
- Deleted and Extended Songs – While Disney hasn’t preserved the extended cut, the extended scenes are offered as a bonus feature in HD. This section includes “A Step in the Right Direction” (photo reconstruction), “With a Flair,” “Eglantine,” “Portobello Road” and “Nobody’s Problems.” There is a Play All option (runtime 24 minutes).
- Deleted and Extended Scenes – 8 scenes (“Captain Greer,” “Ulterior Motives,” “The First Supper,” “Letter From Professor Browne,” “Extortion,” “Traveling Spell,” “Substitutiary Locomotion” and “Matchmaker”) are offered with a Play All option (runtime 10 minutes).
- David Tomlinson Recording Session – A minute-long clip of David Tomlinson recording the singing track for “Portobello Road” in April of 1970.
- Disney Song Selection – 6 songs from the film are found here in HD with the option to view them with onscreen lyrics. The songs are “The Old Home Guard,” “The Age of Not Believing,” “Eglantine,” “Portobello Road,” “The Beautiful Bring” and “Substitutiary Locomotion.” There is also an option here to watch the entire film as a “Sing-Along.” The lyrics are basic subtitles and do not have a bouncing ball to follow.
- The Wizards of Special Effects – This 8-minute feature makes it seem like you will get to learn all of the effects of Bedknobs and Broomsticks, but it spends more than half this time on the effects of Wizards of Waverly Place.
- Theatrical Trailers – 4 variations of the original trailer are presented, with a Play All feature (9 minutes).
The only bonus features on the DVD are the Theatrical Trailers. This further pushes Disney’s efforts to market this medium as obsolete, seeing as all of the bonus features listed were on the previous DVD, which also had the extended cut.
Packaging and Menu
This 2-disc set is housed in a standard Blu-Ray case with disc holders on either side. The Blu-Ray is on the right and the DVD on the left. Inserts are for your Disney Movie Rewards/digital copy code and an ad for Disney Movie Club. The digital copy is redeemable through iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, Target Ticket and Google Play. I redeemed my copy on iTunes, which also unlocked the film in Disney Movies Anywhere. The iTunes download was the theatrical cut, but some are reporting that they received the extended cut as their digital copy.
The Blu-Ray and DVD have an animated menu featuring the family flying around on the bed while “The Age of Not Believing” plays.
Both discs open with ads for Disney Movies Anywhere, Sleeping Beauty Diamond Edition, Legend of the Never Beast, and a Pinocchio anti-smoking PSA. Sneak Peaks also plays ads for Disney Movie Rewards and DisneyNature Bears.
Final Thoughts
This release loses major points for not offering the extended cut in addition to the theatrical cut and for presenting the film in the wrong aspect ratio. Disney made the right choice in carrying over all of the bonus features to the Blu-Ray disc, but have left the majority of them off the DVD. It’s great to have the film in HD and it’s never looked this good before, it’s just sad that with a tiny bit of extra effort Disney could have pleased everybody by using seamless branching to offer the Extended Cut as well.