Three London children have been evacuated to the countryside to avoid the WWII bombings in the capitol city.  They are entrusted to Eglantine Price, a single lady who wants to become a witch to help England win the war.  She gives the children a gift of a magical bedknob, which can take them anywhere they wish to go.  When she learns that the important last lesson she needed to learn will not be delivered to her, she asks the children to help her find the professor of the witch college and get the last lesson.  They then travel, by way of the bedknob, to London and find Professor Emelius Brown, who turns out to be a charlatan who never believed that his spells would work.  The last lesson was never delivered because he did not have it.  The group now searches for the final spell on an island filled with animals that speak and walk.  When they escape, they find that a group of Germans have landed on England shores, and it is up to Miss Price to use the new spell to stop the invasion.

Availability:
    Currently on VHS

Cast/Crew:
Angela Lansbury                    Eglantine Price
        Anastasia
        Beauty and the Beast
        Murder She Wrote (television)

David Tomlinson                   Emelius Brown
        Mary Poppins
        The Love Bug

Roddy McDowell:
        Planet of the Apes series
        The Posiedon Adventure

Miscellaneous:
    This film was much longer, but was cropped down for time.  Many of the scenes with Roddy McDowell were removed, as well as some of Emelilus Brown's song when we first see him.  The unrelesed portion was shown on television the summer of 1998.

MPAA Rating:
    G  Fantasy violence, violence on an animated soccer field.

My Rating:
    When I first saw the movie, the final scenes with the bodyless soldiers scared me (so I didn't understand what was going on at the time, okay).  But now, it is one of my favorites.  I am really looking forward to the special edition.
 
    ****
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