The Good, The Bad, and The Apple Dumpling

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Having all this time off as I do, I have been renting a whole lot of movies; including an attempt to re-connect to the old Disney live action films from the 1960s and 1970s. I had not seen many since my childhood and some stood up to the test of time and some most definitely did not. They range from the good (The Three Lives of Thomasina) to the abysmal (The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes) but then there is The Apple Dumpling Gang. I sort of knew the film was not going to live up to what I remember, but I was surprised it missed the mark as many times as it did, especially in the scenes with Knotts and Conway. Those two brilliant improvisators seemed to be coasting a bit. Nevertheless, when it was all said and done and the last potty joke had been told, I liked it. I could even watch it again. Am I sick? Maybe.

Perhaps, I am letting nostalgia cloud my judgment as I have been wont to do, but then nothing could have made The Gnome-Mobile any better -- that film is maybe the worst of the lot. However, would I have been so forgiving to the rest had the films not been produced by Disney? Good question.

Disney films from this era (especially during the early 1970s) have many recognisable marks in style (or, some could argue, lack there of) that make them instantly identifiable to the eye. Sort of like when you rapidly are flipping through the channels and come across a Twilight Zone episode -- you stop, not because you might want to watch the Twilight Zone but the images, lighting, casting are all familiar, even to those episodes you might not have seen before. Disney films, like the Twilight Zone exist in their own reality, apart from all other TV and film.

There is also the matter of the casting, though Disney was known as the last stop of a career (which, apparently, Don Knots, considered, but fortunately for us, disregarded) something could be said about films that bring with them so many warm character actors. How can you dismiss a comedy (even of the lite variety) with actors like, the great Joe Flynn, Dean Jones, Helen Hayes, Keenan Wynn, Raymond Baily, Cloris Leachman, Phil Silvers, Susan Clark, Cesar Romero and on and on and on ...

Though, I will say that while nostaligia may play a big role in my opinion of Disney live action films, they definitely are fun to watch and re-visit. Most of them, anyway.

Which Disney live action films from that period (besides, Mary Poppins) hold up the best for you?

You know how I feel. What you think I do not know. Pray tell.