Reviews

There is no doubt that this surpasses Mary Poppins for imagination, story, songs, choreography and sheer enjoyability. It's chock full of colourful characters; Caractacus Potts, Grandpa Potts, Baron and Baroness Bomburst, the nightmarish Child Catcher (still high up on voting poles as the most terrifying baddie in films... ever!) and great locations.

Dick Van Dyke shows just how good an all round entertainer he is; the Old Bamboo dance sequence is extraordinary as is his dancing in the castle as the clown; one of my fave rave bits; when Truly moves her hand away just as he is about to kiss it is quite touching.

Mention has been made as to why Van Dyke didn't attempt an English accent. This seems to come from those on the west shores of the Atlantic. Let me tell you, in England, we're glad of it; it's widely accepted that his Cockney accent in Mary Poppins was utterly awful ("Shtep in Toime!"... ugh!). It doesn't matter he's got an American accent with English kids, just let it go, enjoy the film.

Every tune is memorable; CCBB, Hushabye Mountain, Old Bamboo, Toot Sweets (great staging), Lonely Man, 'Turning around on a music box', Chu-chi face (dark humour there!), Roses of Success... it's just faultless.

I loved when I saw it at the pics when I was 10 and my own kids love it now. Timeless stuff.

...I remember rushing in from playing football in the street to watch the world ending on our little b&W TV. I remember thinking what I would do in that situation? I had nightmares for days after especially about the image of Bellus swallowing the world. Wasn't Bellus a star? Coz Zyra, the planet, sailed past days before causing earthquakes and loads of nasty stuff. It doesn't matter about effects (1951? This was top notch!) but what does matter is that you cared about the characters; the desolation when one engineer gives up his seat because his girl friend wasn't lucky enough to draw a place and was willing to meet his fate with his loved one by his side... THAT'S romance! And that ski-jump take off... and that rocket!!!! It's definitely one of the best of it's genre and everyone else is right.. the recent batch of similar films aren't a patch on this. Remember characterization, chaps! Enjoy...

...come flooding back.

Just to see what this films means in the UK, search Google with Singing Ringing Tree and pick the 1st entry.

Simply brilliant...

... interesting one, this. Possibly one of the best films made. Sumptuous music, courtesy of Messrs Banks & Rutherford. Idyllic Devon locations. Hot, liquid afternoons; a game of cricket watched by 'mad' trees, the air punctuated by the cries of peacocks and a terrifying story of a man from the outback, who exercised the right to kill his children and who can kill anyone with the Terror Shout. A man (Alan Bates) who infiltrates the lives of a couple who live in a remote cottage by a rocky coast. A man who takes the wife (Susannah York) as his own property leaving the husband (John Hurt) utterly powerless, until he finds the man's soul trapped in a pebble. The shout itself is extremely well done and it sends shivers down the spine as a maelstrom of noise hits the senses. The ending brings both the story and the the cricket game together in spectacular fashion. At the close of play, you realize you've witnessed a straight horror story that is grounded in mundane reality. Mmmm...