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Escape to Witch Mountain | |
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Directed by | John Hough |
Screenplay by | Robert Malcolm Young |
Based on | Escape to Witch Mountain by Alexander H. Key |
Produced by | Ron Miller Jerome Courtland |
Starring | Eddie Albert Ray Milland Donald Pleasence Kim Richards Ike Eisenmann |
Cinematography | Frank V. Phillips, ASC |
Edited by | Robert Stafford |
Music by | Johnny Mandel |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Buena Vista Distribution |
Release date |
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Running time | 97 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $20,000,000 [1] |
Escape to Witch Mountain is a 1975 American fantasy science-fiction film, based on Alexander H. Key's 1968 novel of the same name and directed by John Hough. It was released on March 21, 1975 by Walt Disney Productions and Buena Vista Distribution Company. It is the first film of the Witch Mountain series.
The film centers upon the siblings Tony and Tia, whose surname they initially know only as that of their deceased adoptive parents, Malone. The children are placed in an orphanage, where they face difficulties stemming from their strange psychic/psionic abilities: Tony can psychokinetically move and control inanimate objects with the aid of his harmonica, while Tia can communicate telepathically to Tony and commune empathically with animals and experiences premonitions. Tia also possesses minor telekinetic abilities. She carries a "star case" with her at all times, which eventually reveals a strange map. Tia has fragmented memories of her early childhood, including an accident at sea and a man she later remembers as the children's Uncle Bené, who they believe drowned during their rescue.
During a field trip, Tia experiences a premonition and warns wealthy attorney Lucas Deranian against a potentially dangerous accident. Deranian informs his employer, millionaire Aristotle Bolt, of the children's unique abilities. Bolt, obsessed with the paranormal, demands that Deranian retrieve the children at all costs. Deranian's detective work leads him to the orphanage, where he poses as Tia and Tony's uncle, though not under the name Bené, and takes them to Bolt's mansion. Though initially suspicious of Bolt's motives, Tia and Tony are lured in by the wealthy trappings of Bolt's home. Bolt eventually reveals that he has been monitoring the children via a closed-circuit television system and that he and Deranian are fully aware of their unusual powers. The night of this revelation, Tia and Tony make an escape, using their abilities to psionically control a wild mustang, guard dogs, and the security fence, as well as using Winkie, Tia's cat, to make the allergic security guard let them pass.
Bolt sends Deranian and a thug, Ubermann, after the children. Tia and Tony hide out in a green-and-white Winnebago motor home owned by a crotchety widower named Jason O'Day. Initially negative toward the children, Jason gradually begins to recognize their powers and the truth of their story; Tia's vague memories of a disaster at sea intrigue him. He agrees to take the children on the route indicated by Tia's star case, which leads them to a mountain known as Witch Mountain, home to unexplainable phenomena. Avoiding Bolt, the law, and an incited mob convinced the children are witches, they eventually make their way up Witch Mountain, pursued by Deranian and Ubermann, as well as by Bolt in a helicopter. As their memories begin to fully return, the children realize their accident at sea did not involve a boat but a spacecraft. Tony and Tia are actually of extraterrestrial origin; the double star emblem on the star case stands for a binary star system where their home planet was located.
Having come to Earth because their own planet was dying, survivors of the journey made their way to Witch Mountain and formed a community to await the surviving children, each pair in possession of a star case to help them find their way to their new home. Tony and Tia are the first to reach their destination. The children are reunited with their Uncle Bené (who survived after all, thanks to an "accommodating" shark whom he'd telepathically asked for help) and board another spacecraft. When Bolt and the others leave in defeat, Jason witnesses the spaceship's return as it flies over him to say a final goodbye then landing nearby where the inhabitants now live.
Escape to Witch Mountain is based on the novel by Alexander Key. Significant differences from the book include its tone and plot elements. For example, in the book, the children are befriended by Father O'Day, an athletic, young Catholic priest, rather than crusty widower Jason O'Day. The children's ship is shot down, rather than crashed, and the children are olive-skinned, though with light-colored hair, rather than fair-skinned and blonde-haired. In the book, Deranian is the main antagonist, and he is working for a shadowy European cabal who are trying to capture the children for their special powers, instead of for Aristotle Bolt. [2] The novel is set along or near the Atlantic Coast of the United States, whereas the film was shot along the Pacific Coast in California.
The score for the film was a limited edition CD release by the Intrada label in 2016.
The film earned a Total Lifetime Gross at the Domestic North American Box Office of $20,000,000. The film charted on the All time Domestic North American Box Office at Rank No. 145 for 'Rated G' films under the MPAA. [8] The film earned $8,500,000 in rentals at the North American Box Office. [9]
Critical reviews were mixed to positive. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 74% based on 23 reviews, with an average grade of 6 out of 10. [10]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times was positive, calling it "a scifi thriller that's fun, that's cheerfully implausible, that's scary but not too scary, and it works." [11] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film three stars out of four, calling it "a solid adventure for the under-12 set. That might sound like a back-handed compliment, but compared to other recent Disney live-action features, Witch Mountain is something special. Only rarely is it juvenile." [12] Vincent Canby of The New York Times called the film not so much scary, but also not exciting as well. [13] Tom Shales of The Washington Post noted that the film "gives children plenty of what they want from a movie—and that includes, conspicuously, repeated instances of kids making adults look like monkeys." [14] Geoff Brown was negative, writing that despite "a strong story line ... the Disney team seem content to fritter it away with silly comedy and footling displays of magic." [15]
Escape to Witch Mountain (1975) is the first film in the franchise of the Witch Mountain films. The second and sequel film, Return from Witch Mountain , saw the return of Ike Eisenmann as Tony and Kim Richards as Tia. In September 1978, Return from Witch Mountain was released to theaters on a double feature with Escape to Witch Mountain (1975). In 1982, Beyond Witch Mountain was produced as a television film and broadcast on CBS through Walt Disney and serves as the third and final film in the series. In 1995, Escape to Witch Mountain was produced as a television film, with a different cast and several details changed or omitted, and released as part of The Wonderful World of Disney . A reworked Disney live-action feature film Race to Witch Mountain , with a new telling and directed by Andy Fickman, was theatrically released in March 2009.
The score for the film was a limited edition CD release by the Intrada label in 2016.
Xanthus or Xanthos may refer to:
Escape to Witch Mountain is a 1995 American fantasy-adventure television film written and directed by Peter Rader. It is a remake of the 1975 film of the same name. The film was announced by American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in September 1994, as the third of four Disney film remakes to air on the channel, the other three being The Shaggy Dog, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, and Freaky Friday. The film was produced by Walt Disney Television and premiered on ABC on April 29, 1995, as an ABC Family Movie.
Escape to Witch Mountain is a science fiction novel written by Alexander Key in 1968. It was adapted for film by Disney as Escape to Witch Mountain in 1975 which spawned the Witch Mountain franchise. The novel was illustrated by Leon B. Wisdom, Jr. and originally published in 1968 by the Westminster Press in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Alexander Hill Key was an American science fiction writer who primarily wrote children's literature.
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Return from Witch Mountain is a 1978 American science fiction–adventure film and a sequel to Escape to Witch Mountain (1975) and the second film in the Witch Mountain franchise. It was produced by Walt Disney Productions. It was written by Malcolm Marmorstein and is based on characters created by Alexander Key, who also wrote the novelization of the film for Disney. Ike Eisenmann, Kim Richards, and Denver Pyle reprise their roles as Tony, Tia, and Uncle Bené—humanoid extraterrestrials with special powers including telepathy and telekinesis. The two main villains are played by Bette Davis as Letha Wedge, a greedy woman using the last of her money to finance the scientific experiments of Dr. Victor Gannon, played by Christopher Lee. It was the final film of actor Jack Soo, who died of cancer in January 1979.
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Beyond Witch Mountain is a 1982 American science fantasy television film directed by Robert Day. It is a sequel to Escape to Witch Mountain (1975) and is the third installment in the Witch Mountain franchise. While most parts were recast, including Tia and Tony, Eddie Albert returned to play Jason O'Day from the original 1975 film.
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The Witch Mountain franchise consists of American science fiction fantasy-action adventure films, produced by The Walt Disney Company. Based on the 1968 novel Escape to Witch Mountain by Alexander Key, the films deal with extraterrestrial children on Earth seeking to return to their home planet, while antagonists attempt to foil their escape. The franchise includes both theatrical and made-for-television releases.