Customer Reviews

Bedknobs and Broomsticks

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm glad that Disney has finally decided to release the soundtrack to 1971's Bedknobs and Broomsticks on CD, this being one of my favorite films of all-time. I am also glad that they decided to release it with some bonus tracks. However, other than that, I am disappointed that this is not a comprehensive release of the songs and score.

This is basically a re-release of the 1971 soundtrack LP which ran about 30 minutes and features edited versions of many songs (though Eglantine, The Beautiful Briny, and Portobello Road are mostly intact, while the latter has different vocals for the vendors than are heard in the film).

There are no score tracks, which is a shame, as Irwin Kostal's treatment of the Sherman Brothers song score is a grand, skillful adaptation filled with many memorable pieces. Two-time Oscar-winner Kostal (who died in 1994) was nominated for an Academy Award for his work, but the award that year went to John Williams for Fiddler on the Roof. I would have at least liked to hear the 10-minute passage heard during the film's climactic battle between Nazi invaders and centuries-old Medieval armor.

The worst omission of all, in my opinion, is the complete version of the Portobello Street Dance, running about 7 minutes in the 139-minute version of the film (which I greatly prefer). This is a wonderful piece of music which features the song in several different styles (Indian, Afro-Cuban, Irish, Scottish, jazz). This version is cut down to little more one minute of music!

On the other hand, I am glad they included Nobody's Problems, which was restored to the film in the 1996 reconstruction of the originally intended version, as well as the two demos for unused songs: The Fundamental Element and Solid Citizen. However, Nobody's Problems only features Angela Lansbury's vocal track to a demo piano track, not the orchestra track from the film.

I am disappointed that Disney apparently feels that only its animated films should have comprehensive soundtrack releases on CD (particularly when on the same day as Bedknobs, the original 101 Dalmatians was released with such a treatment) when Rhino Records have had great success with releasing comprehensive soundtracks of classic MGM films such as Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Singin' in the Rain, Gigi, Meet Me in St. Louis, and others. If you want a decent representation of the songs to Bedknobs and Broomsticks on CD, you should pick up this CD. If you want a more comprehensive treatment of the songs and score as they were heard in the film, I guess you'll be waiting a little while. Music-only elements necessary for a comprehensive song-and-score disc of this film definitely exist, as they were used to create a stereo soundtrack for the film when it was restored to its originally intended length in 1996.

I would have loved to hear complete song-and-score discs of this film as well as Pete's Dragon and Happiest Millionaire, but I guess I'll be waiting.

Oh man, if I've ever heard a soundtrack worse than this, it's problem the soundtrack to grinding garbage or something. I was very disappointed when I received this CD in the mail. Bedknobs and Broomsticks is one of my favorite Disney movies (despite it's unpopularity) and I loved its music! Unfortunately, my rating of both the movie and CD is low low LOW! I'll give you a little overview with each of the songs:

1. The Old Home Guard - I thought the transition from the beginning instrumental with the credits to the song the army band sings was great. Only problem was they didn't use the actual singing of the men from the movie in this song. Disappointed me.

2. The Age of Not Believing - The songs starts out great with the normal lyrics and music but transitions to the music when Ms. Price and the children are traveling on the bed. After that little instrumental, they producers put Ms. Price's song back in at the end. Grrr... and they took out the cute instrumental of when Ms. Price gives instructions to Paul.

3. With a Flair - This is the song Prof. Brown sings when he shows the audience street his magic. This song goes on with more lines but I have no complaints because it wasn't in the movie, so it's not like the producers have ruined it since I haven't heard this song.

4. A Step in the Right Direction - This song has a really upbeat, Sousa sound. No complaints with this song either. Fun and upbeat, like I said.

5. Eglantine/Don't Let Me Down - Why do the producers of this CD keep taking out the adorable instrumentals of this movie? When Prof. Brown is singing to Ms. Price in the library, the scenes transition to the children in the nursery but those transition instrumentals were taken out too. They've added lyrics in this song (and so have a lot of other songs as well), and Ms. Price has a part at the end.

6. Portebello Road - The voices in the movie aren't in this song. The movie's voices had variation and originality. The song's voices doesn't. Also has added lyrics but some of them are cute.

7. Portebello Road Street Dance - This song is only a minute and seven seconds. You'd think they'd all of the music from these scenes with the Indian soldiers' music to the Scottish bagpipes and the Caribbean/Jamaican steel drums. But noooooo..... it skips from the trumpets to the part to the part in the movie where the man rings the bell that tells people it's closing time.

8. The Beautiful Briny - I'm VERY happy that this song is the only one that is like the original one in the movie. The ending doesn't have all of the instrumentals.

9. Substitutiary Locomotion - The producers definitely cut dialogue from random places in the movie into the song and cut out lots of singing. Also, they took out the instrumental when all the clothes and things come alive.

From there, the CD is merely the reprise which I have no opinion of. The ending finale is just like the movie so no complaints. Everything else is songs that the movie didn't have or demos. This soundtrack was put together horribly and I was very disappointed. Don't pick this one up, stick with the movie.

This soundtrack CD only recently fell into my hands, and boy am I glad that it did. It contains eleven tunes from the original movie, though the Portebello Road sequence was inexplicably trimmed to a fraction of its original length. Plus, as a bonus, the CD contains three bonus tracks. Nobody's Problem, which was missing from the original release, but restored to in 1996, is here, as are two very excellent others.

I purchased this CD to keep my children entertained during a long car trip, and this CD did an excellent job. The kids liked that there were no long instrumental mood music selections (except for the overture and finale), which will please youngsters but upset purists. As a matter of fact, the children loved this CD so much that we listened to it several times, and were sure to sing along with Solid Citizen, a good old-fashioned music hall tune.

My children and I highly recommend this book to you.

BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS is one of the more-delightful live action musicals in the Disney canon. This welcome reissue of the soundtrack album is a must-own for all fans of the movie.

Eglantine Price (Angela Lansbury) unwittingly takes in three young orphans when the bombs of Hitler begin to fall on the city of London. Being an apprentice witch, privacy is important to Ms Price, but soon their help becomes useful when she has to journey to London in search of one Professor Browne (David Tomlinson - MARY POPPINS). Joining forces, they decide to track down a mysterious magical spell which they hope will bring an end to the war.

The Sherman brothers' sparkling tunes include the Oscar-nominated "Age of Not Believing", "Portobello Road", "Beautiful Briny" and "Flourish and a Flair".

Highly-recommended. [DISNEY RECORDS 60784-7]

I really love the movie BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS and my musical taste right now is in a very "Sherman" moment. I waited for months for a friend of mine to return from USA with this cd (among others). And I was very happy in the end, because the music is just absolutely great, as expected, and THE BEAUTIFUL BRINY is probably one of the best song written by the brothers. The demo tracks are beautiful too. But there are problems in this soundtrack cd, and I just don't understand why Disney allowed it to come out like this, with almost no instrumental music (as another customer said better than me earlier) and almost NO BOOKLET. I have other Disney cd's, like CINDERELLA, ALICE IN WONDERLAND and MARY POPPINS, and all of them received special treatment (all with score, except for POPPINS - this one has too many songs... but there's an excelent interview with the Shermans), with deluxe booklets and complete lyrics (that's very important for foreigners like me, since the lyrics can't be found anywhere). Anyway, the music is awesome, and I just want to warn you that this cd has no booklet... just like the one of THE HAPPIEST MILLIONAIRE (is Disney cutting the money from the soundtracks restorations?).

i must agree with some people on here that this film is a classic and the music/lyrics are great... but they have cut out those little intumental scences which made the fil so great.. been looking for the composer who made the music where carrie and the boys are playing in the libary.. can anyone help

This soundtrack is fabulous. I just adore Angela Lansbury in this film. The score by the Sherman brothers is one of their best. "The Age of Not Believing" as sung by Lansbury has always been one of my favorite songs. And the sound on the disc is great too. The disc does run a little short, as it is essentially a CD pressing of the original 1971 LP, but all the songs are here.

Unfortunately, as with all but the most popular Disney titles, this has quickly gone out of print after just two years. Why? Disney often puts out a great product, but it doesn't last long. The Mary Poppins soundtrack, on the other hand, has always been available in some form on disc or tape, and has never been out of print in 40 years.

The Sherman brothers have never let me down. I love the soundtrack to MARY POPPINS (which I also own)and THE JUNGLE BOOK. I have long since been searching for this soundtrack. I love all the songs that appear in the movie, beautifully recorded hear. To my surprise, I also greatly enjoyed the songs that weren't in the film. One loss to the movie is the song "A Step In The Right Direction" sung by the talented Angela Lansbury. One song which has become my favorite on this CD is the demo recording by one of the Shermans "Fundamental Element."
I never stop being amazed by the energetic and utterly fabulous Angela Lanbury. Who else could have played Eglantine Price half as well as she? This marked my fourth CD featuring Ms. Lansbury, the others being MAME, SWEENEY TODD, & DEAR WORLD. David Tomlinson does well as Prof. Emilious Brown. His songs are also full of energy. This is apparent in the songs "Eglantine" and "With A Flair." An all around good listening experience for me, and I hope it will be or is for any of you reading this review.