Escape To Witch Mountain Dvd

[Erminia Scharnberg]

Escapeto 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 Ben, 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 Ben, 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 Ben (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 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]

"Escape to Witch Mountain" is the Disney organization's annual Easter movie, and a pretty good one. Too often in the past, the Disney liveaction features have been impossibly bland, too scrubbed and innocuous, to really hold the attention of all but the younger members of the family. But now here's a scifi thriller that's fun, that's cheerfully implausible, that's scary but not too scary, and it works.

The story involves a young brother and sister, who were in some sort of mysterious shipwreck and left with a "star case" that has a picture of two suns on its top. The kids have powers: They can communicate by telepathy, levitate things, unlock doors, turn savage beasts against their masters and in general make Uri Geller look like amateur night. They're sent to an orphanage, and then they accidentally discover that the star case has a map inside leading them to the top of a nearby mountain.

Meanwhile, the girl reveals her power to predict the future by warning a rich tycoon about an accident he's about to have. The tycoon, played by Ray Milland, is named Aristotle Bolt after guess who. He has his evil henchman, Donald Pleasance, kidnap the kids so he can use their ESP. But they escape, hitch up with a friendly loner in a Winnebago camper (Eddie Albert) and the rest of the movie is devoted to a nicely pica resque series of chases.

There are, as we'd expect, lots of tricks from the Disney specialeffects wizards. It turns out the boy can make inanimate objects move just by playing a tune on his harmonica, and he scares the wits out of a sheriff by attacking him with a ghost made out of a hat stand and a raincoat. The kids make friends with a handy nearby bear, which keeps Pleasance at bay. And, let's see, it turns out the Winnebago can flyand then there's a sort of aerial dogfight between the camper and Ray Milland's helicopter. Both of them fly upside down on occasion, and the helicopter lands that way, spinning slowly to a halt.

One of the nice things about the movie is the way it provides chills and thrills and still tones down the violence. A couple of the bad guys carry guns, but they don't use them. And when a car crashes into a tree, nobody is hurt (in most movies, even kiddie movies, it would have burst in to obligatory flames) People in general have good motives in the movie (even Milland was going to treat the kids well, presumably while pumping them for info about next week's stock market prices).

The movie's ending is totally off the wall, involving a flying saucer and a mysterious voice that sounds like an ad for the top hits of 1960. There are all sorts of unanswered questions but, what the heck, we don't bother to ask them. The point in a movie like this is that something is happening all of the time, and most of the time it's scary but funny, too. "Escape to Witch Mountain," as well as "The World's Greatest Athlete" and (I'm told, though I didn't see it) "The Strongest Man in the World" seem to indicate that the Disney studio has snapped out of its doldrums and returned to the business of making movies with life and spirit.

John Hough's 1975 fantasy science-fiction film, Escape to Witch Mountain, is a successful adaptation of Alexander H. Key's same-titled 1968 novel and has captivated audiences with its gripping story ever since. Produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by the Buena Vista Distribution Company, the film was released on March 21st, 1975.

Escape to Witch Mountain was the starting point of a series of films focused on the adventures of Tia and Tony. The sequel, Return from Witch Mountain, followed in September 1978 and was released in theaters as a double feature with its predecessor. The trilogy concluded with Beyond Witch Mountain, produced for television as a movie for CBS by Walt Disney in 1982.

In 1995, The Wonderful World of Disney released a made-for-TV remake of Escape to Witch Mountain, featuring a different cast and with some changes to the original story. This was followed by Race to Witch Mountain, an all-new feature film directed by Andy Fickman which was released in theaters in March 2009.

Witch Mountain performed decently at the box office, with a Domestic North American Total Lifetime Gross of $20 million. That consequently made it Rank No. 145 on the list of 'Rated G' films in accordance with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). Furthermore, it accrued a total of $8.5 million in rental income within the region.

Escape to Witch Mountain was a beloved fantasy story filmed in various scenic locations across the United States. From the beaches of California to the rugged Rocky Mountains of Colorado, this adventure film showcased an array of stunning landscapes, establishing a sense of realism and wonder for viewers. Every location chosen by the filmmakers added something special to the story, creating a unique and captivating experience.

Most of the Escape to Witch Mountain scenes were shot at the Walt Disney Studios. In addition, the film crew visited Carmel and Monterey in California, Felton, Santa Cruz County, Menlo Park, Peninsula School (formerly the Coleman Mansion), Pebble Beach in Northern California, and Palo Alto on California Avenue.

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