Bedknobs and Broomsticks is a 1971 American live-action/animated hybrid musical fantasy film directed by Robert Stevenson and songs written by the Sherman Brothers.

It combines live action and animation, and stars Angela Lansbury, David Tomlinson, Ian Weighill, Cindy O'Callaghan, and Roy Snart.

A stage musical adaptation of it had its world premiere at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle upon Tyne on 14 August 2021 before embarking on a UK and Ireland tour until May 2022.

[5] In August 1940, during the Blitz, three orphans named Charlie, Carrie, and Paul Rawlins are evacuated from London to Pepperinge Eye near the Dorset coast where they are placed in the reluctant care of Miss Eglantine Price, who agrees to the arrangement temporarily.

The group travels to Portobello Road to locate the old bookseller who gave Browne the book; the missing pages reveal that the spell is engraved on the Star of Astoroth, a medallion that belonged to a sorcerer of that name.

The chaotic match ends in King Leonidas' self-proclaimed victory, but Mr. Browne swaps the medallion with his referee whistle, and the group escapes back to Miss Price's house.

The army of knights' armor and military uniforms chases the Nazis away, but not before they destroy Miss Price's workshop, breaking the spell and ending her career as a witch.

[6][8] In April 1966, the project (re-titled as The Magic Bedpost) was placed back into development, with the Sherman Brothers and Irwin Kostal set to resume their musical collaboration.

As the Sherman brothers' contract with the Disney studios was set to expire in 1968, they were contacted by Bill Walsh in their office to start work on the film.

Although there was no plan to place the film into production at the time, Walsh promised the Shermans that he would call them back to the studio and finish the project.

[10][11] Leslie Caron, Lynn Redgrave, Judy Carne, and Julie Andrews were all considered for the role of Eglantine Price.

Shortly after, Andrews, feeling she owed Disney for her film career, contacted Walsh to accept the role only to learn that Lansbury had been cast.

[13][14] Although Peter Ustinov was considered,[14] Ron Moody was originally slated as Emelius Brown, but he refused to star in the film unless he received top billing which the studio would not allow.

Weighill had previously dropped out of school and began his acting career in an uncredited role as a schoolboy in David Copperfield (1969).

For the part of Carrie, O'Callaghan had previously acted in television commercials and later made her stage debut in a production of Peter Pan at the Scala Theatre.

The opening village scenes which features Corfe Castle and long shots of Miss Price (Lansbury) on her motorbike were created using matte paintings by artist Alan Maley.

The removed scenes included a minor subplot involving Roddy McDowall's character (which was reduced to one minute) and three entire musical sequences, titled "A Step in the Right Direction", "With a Flair", and "Nobody's Problems".

[25] The footage for "A Step in the Right Direction" was unrecoverable,[25] but the sequence was reconstructed for inclusion as a supplemental feature on home media releases of the film by linking the original music track up to existing production stills.

[25] The restored version of the film premiered on September 27, 1996, at the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, California, where it was attended by Lansbury, the Sherman Brothers, Ward Kimball, and special effects artist Danny Lee.

[25] In 1980, Disney partnered with Fotomat Corporation on a trial distribution deal,[26] in which Bedknobs and Broomsticks was released on VHS and LaserDisc on March 4, 1980.

By October 1982, Disney partnered with RCA to release nine of their films on the CED videodisc format,[27] and Bedknobs and Broomsticks was re-released later that year.

[35] Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote that the film is a "tricky, cheerful, aggressively friendly Walt Disney fantasy for children who still find enchantment for pop-up books, plush animals by Steiff and dreams of independent flight."

"[39] Pauline Kael, reviewing for The New Yorker, panned the film, writing that there is "no logic in the style of the movie, and the story dribbles on for so long that it exhausts the viewer before that final magical battle begins."

She concluded her review by stating: "This whole production is a mixture of wizardry and ineptitude; the picture has enjoyable moments but it's as uncertain of itself as the title indicates.

"[41] On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 67% based on 36 reviews, with an average score of 6.1/10; the site's "critics consensus" reads: "Bedknobs and Broomsticks often feels like a pale imitation of a certain magical guardian and her wards, but a spoonful of Angela Lansbury's witty star power helps the derivativeness go down.

"Solid Citizen" and "The Fundamental Element" had been cut out before the production: the former was replaced by the soccer match, while parts of the latter were incorporated into "Don't Let Me Down".

The original production, which was directed by Candice Edmunds and Jamie Harrison, opened at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle, in August 2021, before embarking on a UK and Ireland tour until May 2022.