Summer Magic

Good or bad, happy or sad, come what may this will always be the most magical of the movies I saw in a theater as a child. Already charmed by its Disney, Norman Rockwell, Hallmark look at the Ragtime Age; this 12 year old boy was simply bowled over 30 minutes into the film by his first glimpse of Deborah Walley. Walley was already a teen queen from her "Gidget" film but had escaped my too-young-to-notice teen stars 6th grade consciousness until that day at the theater.In her period costume this vision was the original "Pretty in Pink" and the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. And might explain my lifelong preference for redheads.At its core "Summer Magic" is a Disney fairy tale cloaked in a "too-good-to-be-true" production design. If the term expressionist nostalgia ever applied to a film it is this one. Disney simply took basic plot elements form the novel and film "Mother Carey's Chickens" (1938), threw in a bunch of "Cinderella" elements, and had Dorothy McGuire softly reprise her performance in "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn".If you can't find something here with which to connect, whether it is wistful identification or distanced examination of the film language elements, then you are probably already pretty much used up. Liking this film now is just having the willingness to exercise a little self-knowing whimsy.Cinderella-wise you have a fairy prince, a glass slipper, a wicked step-sister, a wardrobe transformation scene, cute animals, a coach, songs, and a ball.The songs are along the lines of those seen recently in "Enchanted" but without the elaborate special effects. A couple of these ("Pink of Perfection" and Femininity" have been popping into my head ever since 1963. Those two and "Ugly Bug Ball" have held up surprisingly well. "Flitterin" and "Beautiful Beulah" are decent if not especially memorable."On the Front Porch" was weak then and hasn't improved with age; it should have been trimmed from the film as that is the film's weakest (insert "boring" here) scene. The sequence should be of interest to film students as it is the only time the director has real difficulty keeping the cast focused; definitely a post-production challenge for the editor who did some damage control but could not salvage anything worth keeping.Viewing the film today I found Wendy Turner (as Lallie Joy Popham-Virginia Weidler's role in the 1938 film) a revelation. Turner's is the most authentic performance; which is interesting as she was originally cast as the youngest of the three girls simply because she was slightly shorter than the height-challenged Walley. Her ability to take acting for the camera direction must have been a pleasant surprise for director James Neilson. She gets to do an ugly duckling wardrobe transformation sequence worthy of "Cinderella".As often happened with Disney, a variety of elements were included to insure that it appealed to the widest demographic. So you have a shaggy sheep dog (where have I seen that before?), you have a couple of handsome young actors (Peter Brown is one of these), you have a Moochie Corcoran hammy kid, you have the comedy relief of acting veterans Una Merkel and Burl Ives to appeal to parents, and you have liberal use of Disney's stock nature footage.Although I was too dazzled by Walley to pay much attention to Hayley Mills this was probably her best performance for Disney, it was certainly the most difficult part she was given. Her acting was more polished than in "Pollyanna" and the disconnect of her out-of-place English accent taught us young Disney viewers all about suspension of disbelief.Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

While almost all of the Reviews here speak to this movie's classic entertainment value, at least one knocks the song "On the Front Porch" and says it should have been cut! I disagree with that reviewer whole-heartedly, as it is the BEST song in the entire picture, truly unforgettable, and the emotions arising from the actors seated and singing along in that front porch scene are absolutely perfect for what the characters are experiencing at that moment. Also, as a pre-to-new teen when I first saw this film, I found Hayley Mills to be every bit the match of Deborah Walley, especially with the unattractive personality Ms. Walley's character was given. Ms. Walley was beautiful in other films, but Hayley Mills had something that no other young woman in the movies could match. She had her VOICE! Not as a singer, but as a speaker! Even now, her buttery UK accent in this film is such a treat, and her very REAL, light-up-the-room smile and vibrant personality is a real treat! This MOVIE is truly great, warm fun, and is the one film I think all kids should watch, especially pre-teens. There is so much FAMILY here! So much "I am a kid, but I'm growing up! Look at me!" This is a movie that stays with you forever. It's a Happy Place captured in a time capsule. Watch it, love it, wish you could live it. Why isn't this available in BluRay? Enjoy!

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.

The DVD case is cracked in a spot or two but the disc looks fine so no problem

DVD of the film. Pleasant and gentle

Loved this film

If your a fan of Hayley you willhave obviously seen this classic and love it so all I can say if you haven't already got it add it to your collection.

It's ok film.

Oh I do remember it right! I was right about it. There is a difference between this and Pollyanna and The Parent Trap!