Disney Features 121: ONE OF OUR DINOSAURS IS MISSING

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This 1975 “comedy” showed me that it’s possible to make a terrible film with Peter Ustinov and Helen Hayes, among many other fine British and American actors. It’s based on a book I don’t know, so some of the fault may be there, but certainly the writing by Bill Walsh does it no favors (it was his last film), and the directing by Robert Stevenson can’t seem to help it. The entire film is a load of hogwash that never convinced me for a moment anything happening in it was for real, and perhaps the worst sin was casting Ustinov and Clive Revill as Chinese people.

In 1920s China, a British spy of some kind (Derek Nimmo) steals a secret formula and gets it to London where he’s pursued by Chinese agents led by Ustinov into the British Museum. There he hides the formula on a giant dinosaur skeleton before being captured, but manages to tell his old nanny, who happens to be there (Hayes) roughly where it is, and why it’s important. She rallies a small army of other nannies who begin to act like secret agents themselves, opposed by the Chinese, who steal the dinosaur from the museum. Hayes and friends then steal the dinosaur from them. All kinds of ridiculous things happen that were neither funny nor exciting to me. The running time is 94 minutes, I watched it on Amazon Prime.

Rereading: JOURNEY INTO SUMMER by Edwin Way Teale

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I first read Teale’s four nature travelogs about the seasons (and one about spring in Britain) in the 1970s, and haven’t begun to reread them until now, but I’m finding them just as excellent and absorbing now as I did then. This is the third one written, published in 1960, the Autumn one was done earlier, but I’d rather read them in seasonal order. This time Teale and his wife travel mostly by car from New England along the Great Lakes, and then into the central midwest to the Rockies. Every short chapter is in a different place, each describes wonders of the plant, insect, animal, and natural world in ways that bring the unfamiliar and overlooked to life. Yes, some things are now out of date, but nature is perennial, and nothing here is irrelevant. I don’t read much non-fiction, and when I do it’s often nature related. This series by Teale is among the best I’ve tried, and well worth your time if you like nature adventures. And the writing will draw you in, as it does me. Recommended.

Rereading: DANGEROUS VISIONS edited by Harlan Ellison

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Cover and illustrations by Leo and Diane Dillon

Science fiction anthologies were a staple of my youth, often found in local libraries, but this one was different. Published in 1967, it was a rare one with all new stories, and a monster at 544 pages. I bought it through the Science Fiction Book Club around 1968, and thought it daring and modern. Harlan Ellison’s mandate was “dangerous,” and some of these stories fit that bill well, but reading it today, they are far less shocking than they were at the time. Sex and sexual deviations, drugs, foul language, moral taboos, extreme violence, all were rare in the genre then, and all are common here and in today’s world. Ellison’s sometimes lengthy intros are a good part of the appeal, and authors also add afterwords to each one. The introduction is by Isaac Asimov. Many of the top authors of the time are here (with the exception of Heinlein and Clarke), as well as many that were starting out and became well-known later. The story that struck me as the most modern and cutting edge today was “Faith of Our Fathers” by Philip K. Dick, which is interesting because I had tried one novel by him at the time, and didn’t like it, so never read any others. That and others have some relevance to today’s politics and world situation, which hasn’t changed that much in some ways, while others are clearly products of the 1960s, including the peace and love movement, and those tend to seem more dated. In all, this is a worthwhile read despite its age, and recommended. The line art by Leo and Diane Dillon on the cover and for each story title is simple but effective.

Disney Features 120: THE APPLE DUMPLING GANG

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A 1975 comedy western that features the antics of Tim Conway and Don Knotts, teamed for the first time, as a pair of bumbling would-be outlaws. Their comedy is mildly amusing, but they’re no Laurel and Hardy. Also here is Bill Bixby as a slick gambler passing through the town of Quake City in 1879, a former gold rush area now fallen on hard times. Harry Morgan is the town’s sheriff, judge, and barber. Slim Pickens is the leader of a real outlaw gang, and Susan Clark is the town’s feisty stagecoach driver.

Bixby agrees to take charge of a valuable package being sent to one of the town’s former gold miners, who is heading for San Francisco. That package turns out to be his niece and two nephews, whose parents have recently died. Bixby tries to get out of his new obligation, but can’t, and the unwanted children take up residence with him in their uncle’s run down cabin. Later they investigate his played-out mine and, after an earthquake, discover a huge gold nugget weighing over 300 pounds. Then their troubles really start, as everyone now wants them and their property.

I enjoyed this, as I like many of the actors, but it does have plenty of Disney silliness. The running time is 100 minutes, and it did well enough to lead to a sequel. I watched it on Disney Plus.

Disney Features 119: ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN

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This 1975 science fiction/thriller is based on the book by Alexander Key, and of course has major changes from that, but I thought it was quite good at capturing the spirit of the book, and presenting a thrilling adventure story.

Tony and Tia Malone (Ike Isenmann & Kim Richards) are recently orphaned when their foster parents passed, and brought to an orphanage. They have hidden mental powers like the ability to move things with their minds, and hear each other’s thoughts, and Tia has a sort of pocket book with a strange map on it. They don’t remember much of their origins, but Tia keeps getting glimpses of them in a shipwreck at sea. At the orphanage, Tia’s ability to predict the future is revealed to an attorney, Mr. Deranian (Donald Pleasance) when they save him from a car wreck, and he tells his employer Mr. Bolt (Ray Milland), a ruthless millionaire, who has Pleasance forge documents showing Deranian to be their uncle, so he can bring the children to his seaside mansion. They’re unable to avoid this, but don’t like either man, even though treated well, and the children escape using their powers. They meet an older man, Jason O’Day (Eddie Albert, Green Acres) on vacation in his camper, and stow aboard his camper with their black cat, later making friends with him, and he helps them stay out of the clutches of Bolt and Deranian. The children and O’Day have more trouble reaching the place on Tia’s map, but finally get there and find out more about the mystery of their heritage.

Some of the effects are low budget, but the drama is well done right from the credits on, and I thought the story was well handled and not predictable. Albert is perhaps a little too easy to get on the children’s side, but there was almost no Disney silliness. Running time is 97 minutes, and it did well enough financially to spawn several sequels. I watched it on Disney Plus.