Today (Tuesday, September 8th), Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment is releasing the fully restored and remastered BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS: Enchanted Musical Edition on DVD. This movie originally came out in 1971, six years after the hugely popular Mary Poppins which came out in 1964 and was also directed by Robert Stevenson. These two movies have a lot in common – both mix live action film and cartoon, both have a penchant for breaking into song and dance – and both feature David Tomlinson in a leading role. In Mary Poppins, you knew him as the oh so stern father Mr. Banks. In Bedknobs & Broomsticks he plays a wacky magical conman who helps apprentice witch Miss Price (Angela Lansbury) and three orphan kiddos – Charlie, Carrie and Paul - find the missing pieces of a magical spell that Miss Price believes can aid in the defense of Britian during World War II.

My Opinion: My husband and I were both pretty sure we’d seen Bedknobs & Broomsticks as children but we were either mistaken or very young because neither of us remembered anything about this movie. It was a bit over the head of our three year old, who unfortunately lost interest long before the fun animation scenes at the wacky Isle of Naboombu began, but my husband and I both enjoyed watching this old classic. Angela Lansbury and David Tomlinson were both terrific in their roles and the story was just so cute. Of course it reminded us a lot of Mary Poppins and other similar movies of that time period. I think it would be great for older, school-aged children who possess an attention span longer than five minutes and parents will no doubt love it.

Bonus Features include:

• THE WIZARDS OF SPECIAL EFFECTS - Hosted By Jennifer Stone From Disney’s Wizards of Waverly Place who becomes a Special Effects Wizard Apprentice and learns about the academy award winning 1971 special effects in Bedknobs and Broomsticks, then compares them to the special effects magic of her current show Disney’s Wizard’s Of Waverly Place.
• MUSIC MAGIC: The Sherman Brothers – Take a look behind the scenes from a musical point of view of Bedknobs and Broomsticks with The Sherman Brothers, Angela Lansbury and Scott MacQueen.  This featurette explores the origins of the songs, including what was deleted and what made it into the final version of the film.
• DELETED SONG – “A Step in the Right Direction”
• “PORTOBELLO ROAD” Recording Session – A rare clip of David Tomlinson’s recording of the song “Portobello Road”