The Absent-Minded Professor [B&W]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

One of Disney's most entertaining forays into live-action, this hit family comedy stars Fred MacMurray as a college professor so forgetful that he missed his own wedding twice. He creates an extremely resilient flying rubber, dubbed "Flubber," and manages to make his old Model-T bounce all the way to Washington, DC, where it is mistaken for a UFO, as well as helping the college basketball team win the big game with Flubber-powered sneakers. MacMurray is a lot of fun in the title role, ably supported by a cast including Tommy Kirk, Keenan Wynn and Leon Ames, although the central romance between MacMurray and huffy bride-to-be Nancy Olson gets a bit annoying in its repetitiveness. In all, however, this is one of the best children's films of the '60s, and is highly recommended. A sequel, Son of Flubber, followed, with a remake simply titled Flubber appearing in 1997. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 (Vistavision)
• Audio: Dolby Digital Surround
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Features:
  • cc
  • Black-and-white presentation as originally created
  • Dolby Digital Surround
  • Spanish-language track
  • Widescreen (1.66:1) enhanced for 16 x 9 televisions

AWARDS

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

•     Nominated Best Black and White Cinematography - 1961 (Edward Colman)
•     Nominated Best Special Effects - 1961 (Eustace Lycett, Robert Mattey)

• Directors Guild of America

•     Nominated Best Director - 1961 (Robert Stevenson)

• Hollywood Foreign Press Association

•     Nominated Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comed - 1961 (Fred MacMurray)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Fred MacMurray - Prof. Ned Brainard
       Nancy Olson - Betsy Carlisle
       Keenan Wynn - Alonzo Hawk
       Tommy Kirk - Bill Hawk
       Leon Ames - Rufus Daggett
       Elliott Reid - Shelby Ashton
       Ed Wynn - Fire Chief
       Edward Andrews - Defense Secretary
       David Lewis - Gen. Singer
       Jack Mullaney - Captain
       Belle Montrose - Mrs. Chatsworth
       Wally Brown - Coach Elkins
       Alan Carney - Referee
       Forrest Lewis - Officer Kelly
       James Westerfield - Officer Hanson
       Gage Clarke - Rev. Bosworth
       Alan Hewitt - Gen. Hotchkiss
       Wendell Holmes - Gen. Poynter
       Don Ross - Lenny
       Charlie Briggs - Sig
       Wally Boag - TV Newsman
       Leon Tyler

• Director:

  Robert Stevenson

• Producer:

  Walt Disney

• Screenwriter:

  Bill Walsh

• Cinematographer:

  Edward Colman

• Composer (Music Score):

  George Bruns

• Editor:

  Cotton Warburton

• Art Director:

  Carroll Clark

• Special Effects:

  Peter Ellenshaw, Eustace Lycett, Robert Mattey

• Short Story Author:

  Samuel W. Taylor

REVIEW:

• If you can tear the kids away from the computer-generated flash of Flubber, the inferior 1997 remake, The Absent Minded Professor provides ample amounts of Disney slapstick for an afternoon of laughs. The film reunited much of the same team that made The Shaggy Dog a success two years earlier, including Fred MacMurray, exuding his warm, bumbling charm, and writer Bill Walsh. Keenan Wynn appears as an appropriately nasty villain. The story is classic Disney: Right and wrong are clearly defined, and there are plenty of down-home American values. Also like most Disney fare of the era, the material is aimed squarely at children, and there isn't much to engage their older chaperones. ~ Matthew Doberman, Rovi