Re: Are the remakes "erasing" the originals?
Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2020 11:15 pm
I'll need to check out That Darn Cat! for sure then. I didn't realize this was Hayley's last Disney film, let alone Dean Jones' first one. I quite liked him in The Love Bug so I've been looking forward to seeing him in more Disney projects.Avaitor wrote:That Darn Cat's a lot of fun. It has a good sense of humor, and surprisingly decent thriller aspects. But I think it's beast seen for its historical context in the Disney timeline- it's the last movie with Hayley, and the first with Dean Jones, a perfect end of one era and start to the next.JeanGreyForever wrote:I've only seen Pollyanna and The Parent Trap from Hayley Mills' work and I adored both films! Still need to catch That Darn Cat! on Disney+ but they need to add the rest of her films on there. I want to see Summer Magic a lot and I always had a crush on the actor in The Moon-Spinners.
Summer Magic is a treat, and has some really good songs, aside from a gawdy piece on femininity that I'd like to think is ironic, but I don't think translates as well as such. "The Ugly Bug Ball" is probably the most iconic song from the movie, being included in one of the Sing-a-Long tapes (although I believe an instrumental version of "Flitterin'" can be heard on Disneyland's Main Street), but my favorite has to be "On the Front Porch", which is a delightful group track. I also recall one of the Sherman brothers saying that it's among their favorite songs of theirs.
I've only seen The Moonspinners once. I thought it was fine, but kind of jarring compared to her other movies. I've heard it considered Hitchcock lite before, and if I recall it right, that's fairly apt.
I do also like In Search of the Castaways, although it has a couple of tone shifts that don't always work in its favor. It's still a pretty decent Verne adaptation, and features a fun turn with Maurice Chevalier, who has a fun duet with Hayley. Ultimately though, her first two films for Disney will always be her most essential.
Agreed, that one only really works for historical purposes. I think it's a chore to watch, but the episode from Walt's anthology focusing on it is nice.JeanGreyForever wrote:I've seen 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Old Yeller and both are classics. The same cannot be said for Babes in Toyland lol.
I like the other two, but I struggled with Song of the South the last time I tried to watch it. Besides its unfortunate racial connotations, I just don't find it very interesting, give or take the animated sequences. If Disney does ever decide to release it, I'll be first in line to buy it, but that's about it.JeanGreyForever wrote:I also really like Song of the South, So Dear to My Heart, and Treasure Island. Bobby Driscoll was a great actor in them, as well as in The Window (non-Disney) and it's a shame that his career basically tanked afterwards and admittedly enough, Peter Pan was not his best role. He was too old by that point and his voice did not match the timeless and ageless nature of the character. A few years earlier and the role would have been far more suitable for him, had it been released in the 40s like originally planned.
I do think you're right about Driscoll though, especially as Peter- his voice doesn't quite work for him at that age. Kathryn Beaumont is still perfect as Wendy, though, imo.
I agree about the last hour of The Love Bug, but to be fair, I feel like that's true of a lot of racing films. I had a similar reaction to Ford v Ferrari (which is technically a Disney film, lol), in that the ending race didn't do much for me, especially compared to earlier sequences.JeanGreyForever wrote:I didn't expect to like The Love Bug since I'm not into cars at all but it's actually a very funny and enjoyable comedy. The last hour or so drags with the race but everything before it is really fun and I surprisingly enough recommend the film! I've also seen The Happiest Milionaire which I also quite liked and the songs are pretty catchy too even if the script is a bit bizarre and outrageous, even for a Disney film.
I'll admit that The Happiest Millionaire is a blind spot for me, having only seen the first act ages ago. I was watching that online, and my link crapped out. I just never got around to finishing it, although now I have it on DVD as a part of a 4-pack, so it's about time that I finally saw the whole thing. It's worth doing, especially since I believe that the Grand Floridian Resort has references to it inside.
If I'm correct, they play music from Summer Magic and The Happiest Millionaire on Disneyland's Main Street. I've heard The Ugly Bug Ball before although I have no idea about the song's context so that alone makes me want to watch the film to explain that lol. That's nice that one of the Sherman Brothers' favorite songs is included in the film.
I've heard the same about The Moon-Spinners being a Hitchcockian-type film. As for In Search of the Castaways, that's another one I need to watch although the source material doesn't interest me as much.
I found Song of the South dated but it's not nearly the racist propaganda film that it's made out to be these days. Certainly no Birth of a Nation or even Gone With the Wind imo. Most people only like the animated sequences but I liked the live-action bits as well. I don't think the film deserves the terrible reputation it gets especially when the Red Indian sequence from Peter Pan is still allowed to remain intact and in the public eye.
Agreed about Kathryn Beaumont. No one could have been a better Wendy (or Alice for that matter) and it's remarkable how she's still able to voice those characters in the parks even today.
I don't normally watch many racing films so that may be why I'm not used to it very much. I don't know about Ford v Ferrari but while I expected that the final race would take up a good chunk of screentime in any racing film, I never would have expected it to compose a full hour or so.
The Happiest Millionaire is a fun family film and the supporting characters are endearing enough even if the lead couple seem like frankly the least interesting characters. The family is certainly no Mary Poppins but the songs are pretty good for a Disney live-action film and I know this was a pet project of Walt's. They screened it on TCM a few months ago (along with The Love-Bug) which is where I watched both for the first time. THM is a long movie which probably also explains why the film wasn't so successful at the box office and was heavily whittled down but it's worth a watch imo and I could easily watch it again.
Ah well, it's kind of fun to post a little bit again, as lately I feel like more of a lurker. 
I still check up on here for news, hot takes, and such, but I don't feel like I'd have as much to add about Disney's more recent projects as others. Like how I don't have much to say about the remakes.