The Game of the Century

"Bedknobs and broomsticks" is a children's movie featuring Angela Lansbury and David Tomlinson.

The main character, Miss Price, is an apprentice witch in Britain during World War Two. Price searches for a magical spell she believes could help her country fight the Nazis. After various adventures, Price and her companions find themselves on the mysterious island of Naboombu, where the animals can talk and behave almost like humans, apparently after being enchanted by the vanished magician Astoroth.

Miss Price realizes that the spell she's been looking for is engraved on a pentagram worn as a medallion by the lion king of the island. After even more crazy adventures, the travelling party returns home to Britain, where the Nazis have staged a landing. The spell of Astoroth is supposed to bring inanimate objects to life, and Price promptly tries it on the medieval armour at her castle. Will the spell work? Or is Albion doomed to suffer the perfidy of the Third Reich...?

Well, how do *you* think the movie ends?

I've only seen "Bedknobs and broomsticks" once. And yet, I grew up with the movie.

How is that possible?

The reason is simple. Two parts of the movie are animated. When I was a kid, the animated parts were released as separate cartoons, at least here in Sweden. Thus, you could buy the animated parts of "Bedknobs and broomsticks" without actually watching the rest.

One of the cartoons, known in Sweden as "The Game of the Century", features a soccer game between two teams of animals. The animals are of course animated, while the human referee is a real actor (Tomlinson), interacting with the cartoon characters. And yes, it's hilariously funny! My father used to bring a movie projector to our elementary school and show all the kids both "The Game of the Century" and a "Speedy Gonzales" cartoon. We almost laughed ourselves to tears. I mean, the animals cheat, big time. The poor human referee is constantly swept aside by crazy, stampeding beasts. Is it soccer or is it ultimate fighting, I wonder? In the end, the team made up of "bad" animals (including the lion king) actually wins the game, at which point the badly mauled referee calls it off. There, the cartoon ends, with a mysterious castle shown in the background...

When I saw the entire movie, I finally got the answer to a question that bothered me already as a kid: why did the bad guys win the game? It turns out that the cheating lion king eventually gets punished by the good humans arriving on his mysterious island. Well, he deserved it, if you ask me! ;-)

I'm not sure how modern kids would react to "Bedknobs and broomsticks" as a whole. As I remember it, the film is very old fashioned. Small wonder. It was produced in 1971. It contains both regular dialogue and a couple of songs, dutifully sung by the main characters. This musical aspect never appealed to me, not even as a child. I found it boring. In short, this is as far away as you can possibly get from "Power Rangers" or "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". Perhaps this movie is better as a nostalgia trip for great grandparents?

However, I do remember that my best friend in elementary school thought the movie was cool, especially the fight against the Nazis. The movie is G-rated, but the youngest kids might find parts of it scary (the Nazis, the medieval knights, etc). It's a pity the soccer game isn't separately released anymore - it's excellent entertainment in its own right, and suitable for all ages.

I'm not sure how to rate "Bedknobs and broomsticks", but I'll give it five stars for the wonderful animals of Naboombu. Loyal fans, we have a referee!!!