Bedknobs and Broomsticks is a 1971 musical film produced by Walt Disney Productions, which combines live action and animation; it premiered on October 7th, 1971. It is based upon the books The Magic Bed Knob; or, How to Become a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons and Bonfires and Broomsticks, by Mary Norton.
The film has similarities to the 1964 Disney film, Mary Poppins. Both films combine live action and animation and have the same look, and both films are partly set in the streets of London. Both share cast and crew members, namely David Tomlinson, Supporting Actor Reginald Owen, the Sherman Brothers, director Robert Stevenson, art director Peter Ellenshaw, and music director Irwin Kostal.
During WWII in England, Charlie, Carrie, and Paul Rawlins are sent to live with Eglantine Price, an apprentice witch. Charlie blackmails Miss Price that if he is to keep her practices a secret, she must give him something, so she takes a bedknob from her late father's bed and places the "famous magic traveling spell" on it, and only Paul can activate it. Their first journey is to a street in London where they meet Emelius Browne, headmaster of Miss Price's witchcraft training correspondence school. Miss Price tells him of a plan to find the magic words for a spell known as Substitutiary Locomotion, which brings inanimate objects to life. This spell will be her work for the war effort. Written by Matthew Anscher
In August of 1940 in the English village of Pepperinge Eye, three cockney orphans are sent to live with Eglantine Price (Angela Lansbury), who is studying to become an apprentice witch. When she receives a letter from the Correspondence College of Witchcraft in London, she and the children fly on a bed (by way of a magic bedknob) to London to meet the headmaster of the defunct school, Emelius Brown (David Tomlinson). At a townhouse where Mr. Brown is staying, Miss Price finds half of a book called THE SPELLS OF ASTOROTH. For the other half, they deal with a shady character known as the Bookman (Sam Jaffe). Written by Matthew Anscher (c/o Mitchell Anscher)
