The Moon-Spinners

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Disney produced this distilled Hitchcockian suspense yarn, diluted for the consumption of children. Hayley Mills stars as Nikky Ferris who is spending time in Crete at a small inn called The Moon-Spinners with her Aunt Frances (Joan Greenwood). One day Nikky discovers a handsome young man, Mark Camford (Peter McEnery), wounded in an empty church nearby. It turns out that Mark was once a London bank messenger, but he lost his job after a major jewel robbery. Tagged as a suspect, Mark has made his way to the inn to gather evidence against the inn's owner, Stratos (Eli Wallach), who Mark thinks is the real jewel thief. Nikky and Mark fall in love and decide to capture Stratos together. Silent screen vamp Pola Negri makes a luminous appearance as a jewelry aficionado. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
• Audio: Dolby Digital Surround
• Screen: Pan and Scan
• Features:
  • cc
  • Dolby Digital Surround Sound
  • Fullscreen (1.33:1)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Director:

  James Neilson

• Producer:

  Bill Anderson

• Screenwriter:

  Michael Dyne

• Book Author:

  Mary Stewart

• Cinematographer:

  Paul Beeson, Michael Reed, John Wilcox

• Composer (Music Score):

  Ron Grainer

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  Ron Grainer

• Editor:

  Gordon Stone

• Art Director:

  Tony Masters

• Costume Designer:

  Anthony Mendleson

• Makeup:

  Harry Frampton

REVIEW:

• While The Moon-Spinners is hardly a great film, it is notable for being much more serious than most live action Disney films. Until the last fifteen minutes or so, when Hayley Mills encounters Pola Negri, Moon-Spinners avoids that winking-slightly-at-the-camera kind of comedy that is the hallmark of so much of the studio's work, especially in the 1960's. Before then, Moon-Spinners finds Mills performing believably as a real young woman rather than as the typical 1960s teenager she was so often asked to play. She's well matched with the talented Joan Greenwood, and as the love interest/mystery man, Peter McEnery is solid without being stiff. Eli Wallach is memorably villainous, one of the few human Disney foes that has real menace. In addition to the fine cast, Moon-Spinners features several memorable scenes, including a scary ride on a windmill's arms and a lively festival in honor of King Minos, and there is some attractive location scenery throughout. Unfortunately, the script is not as tautly written as it needs to be, and there are several turns (especially toward the end) that stretch credulity too far. In addition, the broadness of the Negri sequence is jarring, undercutting the effectiveness of the climax that follows it. Mills would be back in more familiar (and more profitable) territory with her next film, That Darn Cat. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi