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Cameron H.

Musical Mondays Week 103 Bedknobs and Broomsticks

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Apologies for threadjacking.  I hadn't meant to but was having fun joking around.

As for the movie, my biggest "quibble" is that they still tried to make it Mary Poppins once they already had secured and then made Mary Poppins.  They should have gone back and said "What made these books popular on their own?" or at least "What first interested us in the books?" and gone with that.  It's almost like they were trying to make a direct-to-video sequel of Mary Poppins.

The other fatal flaw was cutting the length of the movie to fit the Radio City Music Hall.  Not only did it change the film (quoted below) but the trimmed parts were lost or hard to restore.  So, everyone across the country has seen a version that was done to accommodate one specific location!

Here's a quote from Richard Sherman about losing the children singing Nobody's Problems.

Quote

A very important song, yes. Again, here’s the thing. I hate to go over sadness, but that was a very important song to us. Because it was not only the fact that Eglantine Price wanted to really have someone of her own, because she didn’t have anybody and she was all by herself, but also the fact that the children had lost their parents, they were actually orphans, war orphans, and had lost their parents in the Blitz. So, there we are with the kids and we had a song, a version of them singing, “Nobody’s problem are we.” And then, later in the story, when Eglantine realizes that she’s gonna be all by herself again, because after this wonderful experience together, Emelius went back. He was afraid to make commitments. He was afraid to say I love you. So, he ran away. And so, there was that beautiful reprise of the song, and it was very meaningful as such. Unfortunately, both versions were totally and completely ripped out of the picture. I’ll never forget how miserable we felt. That was the heartbeat of the picture and they took it out. I still feel very pained about that. Now, they found one version of it, the reprise and did a restored version with a beautiful vocal by Eglantine. But it would have had twice the poignancy if you’d heard those three little war orphans singing Nobody’s Problem early in picture. Then, you would have really cared about those kids. It was a very, very, very important song.

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23 hours ago, Cinco DeNio said:

I meant to mention the line you said most during the Kast showing was (paraphrased) "Don't show them your knob, kid."

I stand by that!

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In rereading Richard Sherman's quote he mentions the kids are orphans so Eglantine could adopt them.  I'm not sure the movie makes that clear. (When you say "orphan", do you mean "a person that has lost their parents", or orphan "frequently"?)

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33 minutes ago, Cinco DeNio said:

In rereading Richard Sherman's quote he mentions the kids are orphans so Eglantine could adopt them.  I'm not sure the movie makes that clear. (When you say "orphan", do you mean "a person that has lost their parents", or orphan "frequently"?)

Isn't that the whole set-up? That's why they were sent to her house in the first place, when she was like 'I don't want them in my house'. It was her war duty to take some orphans in

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1 minute ago, AlmostAGhost said:

Isn't that the whole set-up? That's why they were sent to her house in the first place, when she was like 'I don't want them in my house'. It was her war duty to take some orphans in

The evacuees included children who had parents.

Young Pam and Iris Hobbs were just two of the millions of children in England who were evacuated from cities and towns during World War II, in what was dubbed “Operation Pied Piper.” The mass evacuations were intended to keep British children safe — or safer, theoretically — from German air raids, while their parents stayed behind to work and help out with war efforts.

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2 hours ago, Cameron H. said:

Off topic...

 

I call BS. I know Paul McCartney's released more than two albums! 🙂

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9 minutes ago, Cinco DeNio said:

I call BS. I know Paul McCartney's released more than two albums! 🙂

I know you're joking, but I'm excited by the title. In the past, he's used his self-titled albums to be more experimental. If he's calling this "3" I think we can expect something kind of weird.

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3 hours ago, Cameron H. said:

Off topic...

 

Literally came here to post this and tag you. 

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Just now, grudlian. said:

Literally came here to post this and tag you. 

I appreciate it — lol 

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2 minutes ago, grudlian. said:

Literally came here to post this and tag you. 

giphy.gif

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1 hour ago, Cameron H. said:

I know you're joking, but I'm excited by the title. In the past, he's used his self-titled albums to be more experimental. If he's calling this "3" I think we can expect something kind of weird.

I liked the selection of records on the turntable and that the punched a hole through the middle block of the new logo.

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1 hour ago, Cameron H. said:

I know you're joking, but I'm excited by the title. In the past, he's used his self-titled albums to be more experimental. If he's calling this "3" I think we can expect something kind of weird.

Not sure what to expect from this. His previous McCartney albums have been to liberate himself from a band. I think his recent touring band are talented but I don't hear their voice as performers (or maybe they are very in line with what I imagine Paul wants). I'm hoping he gets weird with it though.

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1 hour ago, grudlian. said:

Not sure what to expect from this. His previous McCartney albums have been to liberate himself from a band. I think his recent touring band are talented but I don't hear their voice as performers (or maybe they are very in line with what I imagine Paul wants). I'm hoping he gets weird with it though.

Maybe it’s not so much a liberation, but a declaration of, “Yeah, I can do all this by myself.” 

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1 hour ago, Cameron H. said:

Maybe it’s not so much a liberation, but a declaration of, “Yeah, I can do all this by myself.” 

Yeah. "Liberate" probably isn't the best word. I certainly don't think in any real way, Paul has been constrained creatively unless he imposes some limits on himself with his more traditional albums. I'm hoping the "stripped down" description from the email means it's a loose, semi-intimate album a la McCartney.

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Off-topic: The Dictator comes to Amazon Prime on November 14th.  I'll check it out to see if Jason's still in it.

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9 hours ago, Cinco DeNio said:

I mentioned in the Kast as a kid I wanted to be a war evacuee because of this and the Chronicles of Narnia. I basically was one because my mom had a job where she wss a quality auditor in blood banking and was gone every other week for a week around the country and sometimes internationally. So I had not quite nannies but more than just babysitters.  The Narnia kids mom was still alive when they were sent away because of the bombings fyi. I assumed I would get to goon a magical adventure. One of my one time last minute babysitters let me have Jack in the Box for breakfast and watch Titanic in her room all day. 

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5 hours ago, gigi-tastic said:

I mentioned in the Kast as a kid I wanted to be a war evacuee because of this and the Chronicles of Narnia. I basically was one because my mom had a job where she wss a quality auditor in blood banking and was gone every other week for a week around the country and sometimes internationally. So I had not quite nannies but more than just babysitters.  The Narnia kids mom was still alive when they were sent away because of the bombings fyi. I assumed I would get to goon a magical adventure. One of my one time last minute babysitters let me have Jack in the Box for breakfast and watch Titanic in her room all day. 

This episode of the home-improvement show George to the Rescue has them remodeling a bedroom for a cancer patient who loves books.  There are Wardrobe-inspired touches. (The reveal starts at 17:15.)

 

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This is a fairly interesting video covering parts of the movie we've discussed and some we haven't.

 

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When I was a wee lad there were three movies we had on tape that I was always asking to watch or watching. Bedknobs and Broomsticks was amongst them. I can't tell you how many times I watched this movie as a kid. It was probably the least watched of the three to be fair, but it was still watched a ton. That said I have no seen it since I was maybe 12. I could tell you the story, the order of events, the characters, etc. However, if pressed I don't think I could tell you more than a song in the movie. Watching it again, I loved it for the memories but it bizarre to me that virtually all the music just never stuck with me or left a lasting impression. I was frankly shocked when songs happened. I think it's the opposite of Mary Poppins. Mary Poppins has these fantastic songs which overshadow the just okay story. Bedknobs has just okay songs that are overshadow by these wonderful effects and fun story.

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Off-topic: Andrew Lloyd Webber's Pandemic YouTube channel has branched from only his shows.  Starting tomorrow through Sunday they're showing a stage version of Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds.  A rock musical from 1978, they updated it and called it The New Generation (with Liam Neeson as The Narrator).  I was introduced to the original 30 years ago and was a big fan for a while.  I just bought the new version CDs and have the original version on the way.  (I can't justify buying the multi-disc special edition.  That's too much for something I only listen to occasionally.

EDIT: The schedule is from 2 pm Eastern (7 pm UK) on Friday the 23rd, to 2 pm Eastern on Sunday the 25th.  They are fastidious about pulling down the video but usually will post a small clip afterward. 

 

Edited by Cinco DeNio
Added schedule and fixed some grammar.
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