ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

March 6, 2009 by Dennis Amith 

“A Disney sci-fi classic that is just as entertaining now, as it was back in 1975.  If you have never seen the films before or if it’s been to long since you have, ‘ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN’ is a title worth having in your DVD library.”

Images courtesy of © WDSHE All Rights Reserved.

DVD TITLE: ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN

DURATION: 97 Minutes

DVD INFORMATION: NTSC, Color, English and French Language Track, English, French and Spanish Subtitles

COMPANY: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment

RATED: G

RELEASE DATE: March 10, 2009

Directed by John Hough

Based on the Novel by: Alexander Key

Screenplay by: Robert Malcolm Young

Executive Producer: Ron Miller

Produced by Jerome Courtland

Music by Johnny Mandel

Starring:

Ike Eisenmann as Tony Malone

Kim Richards as Tia Malone

Eddie Albert as Jason O’Day

Ray Milland as Aristotle Bolt

Donald Pleasence as Lucas Deranian

Walter Barnes as Sheriff Purdy

An evil millionaire (Ray Milland) lures Tony and Tia Malone (Ike Eisenmann and Kim Richards) to his mansion in order to exploit their paranormal abilities for his own greedy purposes. Escaping their would-be captor with the help of a vacationing widower (Eddie Albert), the siblings discover puzzling clues about their origins that eventually lead them on a thrilling journey home to far away Witch Mountain. Adapted from the book by
Alexander Key, the movie brims with timeless appeal and amazing acts of wizardry that will delight young and old alike. Starring Eddie Albert, Ray Milland, Donald Pleasence, Kim Richards, Ike Eisenmann and a flying RV!

The classic Walt Disney sci-fi film “ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN” (1975) is released on DVD to help celebrate the theatrical release of “RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN” (the third ‘WITCH MOUNTAIN’ film which can be considered a new storyline or a re-imagining of the first film).

“ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN” would be a family sci-fi film to utilize the latest special effects at that time and bring popular British director John Hough (“THE AVENGERS”, “THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE”), known for his work on television episodes and horror films to direct a family film.

Based on the original novel by Alexander Key, “ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN” focuses on two children Tony (played by Ike Eisenman) and Tia Malone (played by Kim Richards) who have supernatural powers.

Tia can communicate with Tony via telepathy and has the ability to work things in her mind and sense the future, while Tony has the ability to create or levitate things while playing the harmonica.

Both Tony and Tia (with their black cat named “Winkle”) move to an orphanage and try to watch each other’s back but with a bully at the orphanage always challenging both brother and sister, Tia tends to use her power to help Tony in the public eye.  Such as helping him levitate many feet high to catch a ball during a baseball game or during a fight with a bully, levitating a baseball glove and while it’s in the air, using it to hit the bully.  Of course, it doesn’t help that the kids of the orphanage see this and thus, they tend to look at the two as strange people.

Throughout the course of the film, Tia has images in her mind of their childhood.  Not being able to understand what is happening, these fragments of memories are all she has of their past.  Something that both really can’t remember.

While on a school trip, Tia gets one of her premonitions about a guy who will be hurt in his car.  Both Tony and Tia try to find the guy named Lucas Deranian (played by Donald Pleasence) and hopefully prevent him from getting into his car.  Tina pleads with the guy that she senses things and he should listen to her and not get in the car.  He listens to her and next thing you know, a tow truck rams into the car.

Deranian is surprised by the children’s power and he tells his boss, multi-millionaire Aristotle Bolt (played by Ray Milland) about the children.  Bolt who likes to use psychics to help him make more money is now interested in the two children and thus he and Deranian concoct a scheme with faked paperwork to say that Deranian is the kid’s long lost uncle.

At first the kids are happy to have a new home, especially in a mansion and having all they can ever want.  But Tina starts to sense the future and learns that Bolt is an evil man that will try to exploit them for their powers and possibly hurt them.

She is so afraid that she tells Tony that both of them must leave the mansion.  At first Tony feels that maybe Tia is just feeling weird because they have everything that they want but he knows better not to question his sister’s premonitions and thus decides to help her escape from the mansion.

Thus Bolt has all his men looking for the children and bring them back to the mansion but the kids manage to use their powers to help them out of the private property and hide in a camper by a disgruntled old man named Jason O’Day.  O’Day is asked by Deranian if he has seen the children but O’Day has not and doesn’t want to be bothered.

O’Day just wants to travel and be left alone and as he parks near the beach, he finds a cat (which belongs to the children) and when he goes to feed it, he finds out that the children are hiding in his camper. At first, O’Day wants nothing to do with them but being an older man who never had any children of his own, he is surprised by the children’s power and tries to help them escape from Aristotle Bolt and the police who are looking for them.

And thus the film becomes a cat versus mouse storyline of O’Day and the children trying to escape and go to witch mountain before they are caught.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN” is a 35-year-old film that is featured in widescreen 1:75:1 and enhanced for 16×9 televisions.  The film looks well-preserved for its age but of course, special effects from that time do look quite cheesy in today’s standards, but one could imagine how in 1975, the special effects featured were top of the line.  Also, the film benefits from being shot outdoors, so the picture quality is colorful.

As for audio, audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound with a secondary French language track.  I didn’t recall hearing many special effects utilized in the rear channel but dialogue and effects were quite clear coming from the front channels.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN” includes several special features.  Many which were included in the 2003 DVD release but there is one special feature that is exclusive to the 2009 DVD release.  Included are:

• ALL NEW Pop-Up Fun Facts – For those who want to watch the film with fun facts popping up on the bottom of the screen.
• Making the Escape - A pretty lengthy featurette with interviews with director John Hough, Ike Eisenmann, Kim Richards and more.    Hough talks about working with Disney, while Eisenmann and Richards talk about working with the talent, the animals and their overall experiences.
• Conversations with John Hough – A short featurette about Hough’s past experience in television and film and working on a Disney film.
• Disney Sci-Fi - A short music video of various clips of Disney Sci-Fi
• “PLUTO’S DREAM HOUSE” - An animated short featuring Mickey Mouse and Pluto. Mickey Mouse finds a magic lamp and has the lamp build a dog house for Pluto.
• Disney Effects - Something Special – A very intriguing featurette about special effects in Disney films, especially the utilization of painting backgrounds on glass to how special effects were done in “Parent Trap” and other films.
• 1975 Disney Studio Album - A short musical featurette featuring stills from all films that were shown in 1975.
• Audio Commentary - Commentary by John Hough, Ike Eisenmann and Kim Richards.  It appears that Hough’s commentary was recorded separately from Eisenmann and Richards.  But the three talk about their experiences and some tidbidts of certain scenes from the film.

“ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN” is indeed a classic sci-fi film.

As a film such as “MARY POPPINS” was instrumental in wowing audiences for its musical and its special effects back in 1964.  “ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN” was a Disney film that would be a family film but utilize quite a bit of special effects to make the supernatural abilities look natural on film.   With the use of wires and the use of editing tricks available in 1975, children were mesmerized by it.

And since it was a Disney film, it made it that much special for children and families, to have a film that would attract people of all ages.  Something that Walt Disney has always wanted for his films…animated or live.

Of course, the special effects used in 1975 looks dated compared to what we have seen Disney do these days but considering how films were at that time, it’s how things were.

But for many children, like Elliott and E.T. were for children in the 80′s, Tony and Tina were popular characters for children in the mid-70′s.  The fact that these two had special powers was quite exciting at the time and the film became a big hit.

It resonated well with adults and children and It was quite interesting for me because I was a young child when this film first came out and I had the opportunity to watch the film on DVD together with my six-year-old.  He absolutely loved the film and asked if we could watch the second film afterwards.

Now, for those who own the 2003 DVD release, you may not need this DVD because there really is no major addition in terms of special features but for those who are looking forward to watching Dwayne Johnson in “RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN” in 2009 and have never watched the original films or its been too long since you have last seen it, then definitely pick up both classic Witch Mountain films.

As for “RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN”, both “ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN” and “RETURN FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN” both come with a free ticket coupon (attached to the slipcase cover) to download a certificate (ticket) in order to watch the latest film at a participating theater for free.

Overall, “ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN” is a fun and enjoyable film and despite being nearly 35 years old, it’s a film that families can watch with their children now and still be entertained.

Definitely a Disney classic worth having in your DVD library.