Summer Magic
by James Neilson
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DVD details
Actor: Burl Ives, Deborah Walley, Dorothy McGuire, Eddie Hodges, Hayley MillsDirector: James Neilson
Brand: Walt Disney Home Entertainment
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.75:1
Running Time: 110 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-05-03
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Studio: Walt Disney Home Entertainment
Product features:
- The past beckons in this enchanting and nostalgic tale. The irrepressible Haley Mills stars in a lighthearted Disney film about young love, mysterious family secrets, and small-town summer nights. When financial ruin forces the Careys to leave Boston, their teenage daughter Nancy (Haley Mills) hatches a plan to resettle them in a tiny New England hamlet, with hilariously delightful consequences fo
DVD Reviews of Summer Magic
DVD Review: Sunny Summer Magic
Summary: 3 Stars
Years ago the Disney Channel ran something of a nostalgia double bill and ran Vincente Minnelli's MGM classic MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS along with the Disney studio's own SUMMER MAGIC. From a thematic perspective, it was inspired programming--both films were warmhearted,unabashedly sentimental family pictures set in the early days of the last century. In terms of quality, however, there was no real comparison. MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS is a true American classic. SUMMER MAGIC, while it has a certain charm, achieved nothing remotely like that status. As non-animated Disney fare goes, it's pretty good, but running it alongside the Judy Garland classic couldn't help but point up its weaknesses--and even the movie's biggest fans would have to admit there are some.
But before I get into any of that, I have to say that I was one of the movie's biggest fans myself when I was 11 years old. Like so many other kids my age, I had a mad crush on Hayley Mills. And after seeing this movie, I developed an even madder one on flame-tressed Deborah Walley (who played spirited Hayley's snooty cousin Julia in this one). I don't think I noticed at the time, that neither one of them could sing all that well--but they did handle their musical numbers with a certain charm. And nobody was expecting young actresses of the early 60s to exhibit Garland-sized voices, nor did the rag-timey score for the film demand anything like it. It was enough that SUMMER MAGIC offered two such fetching young actresses. Unfortunately for me, while Hayley stayed in the Disney ranks for a few more years after this, Deborah "graduated" to more Beach Blanket Bingo type roles--and well, I wasn't allowed to go to those.
And by the time I was in my rebellious high school years, both Disney styled quaintness and Beach Blanket blankness were already passe. I wouldn't have owned up to liking any of it. Grace and Janis replaced Hayley and Deborah in my heart's hierarchy.
But do you ever forget your first love(s)? Watching SUMMER MAGIC now is perhaps something of a guilty pleasure, but I can see why an 11 year old of the era would have fallen for it--and for its young stars--hook,line and sinker. And of course, the rest of the cast were either old pros like Burl Ives, Dorothy McGuire and Una Merkel or appealing young swains and adorable kids. Just what you would expect from a Disney flick of the period. You've even got Jerry Mathers real-life younger brother playing Hayley's movie kid brother (in the classic endearingly bratty mold--Kevin Corcoran and Jerry himself were aleady a little too old for the part).
And as a hint of wierdness, you get Michael J. Pollard in the role of the New England country boy who heads off to the big city only to return to his bucolic roots shortly thereafter. Even quirkier is this character's tomboyish (and somewhat spacey) younger sister played by a young actress named Wendy Turner who is given a lesson in "Femininity" by city gals Debbie and Hayley. (And no, it's not very politically correct by today's standards, but fairly reflective of its era--which is to say the storyline's early 20th century era, and well, maybe too, the era the film was made in as well: feminist consciousness on a broad scale was a few years away yet).
So about those comparisons to MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS: well, if the Disney Channel itself had not run the two films as a de facto double bill all those years ago, I don't think it would ever have occurred to me to compare the two. We all know that Disney family fare was lower budget and significanly less polished a product than anything MGM put out in the decades before. SUMMER MAGIC's status as a true musical is questionable in any event. There are several musical numbers, of course, but they're on the slight side. And they're just too sporadic for there to be much in the way of musical momentum. It's hard to pinpoint the difference, really, but it would seem that there are musicals and there are films--particularly Disney films--with a few musical numbers.
But give the filmmakers credit. There's no doubt that this is escapist fare, but unlike, say, MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, it actually does touch on some of life's harsher realities. In SUMMER MAGIC, the Carey family is in reduced circumstances because they have lost their father. Cousin Julia was completely orphaned, and although she had been taken in by a wealthy family that too proved to be a precarious situation and--although she is too proud and blind to admit it--she is in pretty dire straits when her relatives take her in. The worst traumas Judy's St. Louis family had to deal with was Tootie's scary Halloween and the upsetting prospect of their very much alive and well (if curmudgeonly) father's moving the family to New York City to accept a BETTER PAYING and more prestigious job.
No denying that the movie is fluff, but good fluff acknowledges--overtly or covertly--the realities it seeks to escape from. In fact, the lovingly bickering older couple played by Ives and Merkel have a running debate about seeing clouds or seeing silver lining. Merkel is even allowed to state a pretty good (and pretty funny) case for preferring your clouds to be clouds. I won't say this was deep stuff, even for my 11 year old brain, but the good cheer and optimism that dominates the movie does come at a price. The main characters' sunny optimism seems at times to be as much a matter of will power as of their fundamental natures.
Description of Summer Magic
Features include:
?MPAA Rating: G
?Format: DVD
?Runtime: 110 minutes
This classic 1963 Disney film features child icon Hayley Mills as Nancy Carey, a teenage girl whose family moves from Boston to the New England countryside as a result of their father's untimely passing. Nancy writes to the kindly Mr. Poppem (Burl Ives) and single-handedly convinces him to rent the family a charming, if run-down, house for a mere $60 a year. Ever the optimist, Nancy brims with excitement at the family's new life, but this "perfect world" has its problems--notably an absentee landlord who knows nothing about the Carey family's rental agreement. Through hard work and Mr. Poppem's continuing generosity, the Careys fix up the house and find life in the rural Maine town quite satisfactory. Things become tense when their cousin Julia arrives for an extended visit, but eventually Nancy and Julia grow from one another's experiences and become good friends. You'll never guess what happens when the absent landlord returns unannounced during the family's Halloween housewarming party!
One section that may sit poorly with modern audiences features Nancy and Julia discussing how to emphasize one's femininity at the expense of hiding the real you--an indication of how much American thinking has changed in a relatively short period of time. Nevertheless, this is a charming tale featuring toe-tapping ragtime music, wonderful songs by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman including "Summer Magic" and "The Ugly Bug Ball," and the incomparable talents of Mills and Ives. Take a trip down memory lane and don't forget the kids. (Ages 7 and older) --Tami Horiuchi
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