The Absent-Minded Professor

Substance X, we dub thee - Flubber!

The Absent-Minded Professor is directed by Robert Stevenson and adapted to screenplay by Bill Walsh from a story by Samuel W. Taylor. It stars Fred MacMurray, Nancy Olsen, Keenan Wynn, Tommy Kirk, Leon Ames and Elliott Reid. Music is by George Bruns and cinematography by Edward Colman.

Out of Disney, we get the kind of wacky family friendly comedy that serves a purpose on a miserable real life day. MacMurray's professor has invented flying - gravity defying - rubber, which he christens Flubber. It can make you bounce up to incredible heights, make the prof's car fly and naturally it draws the attention of evil business man Alonzo Hawk (Wynn). A bunch of nutty scenarios ensue (the basketball match i...

An amusing film regarding Professor Brainard, a character I've always associated with Robin Williams having seen the 1997 remake first back when I was younger.

Fred MacMurray plays the aforementioned in this, the original. He is pleasing here, giving a more than satisfying performance - even if it is pretty similar to the one he gives in 'The Shaggy Dog' back in 1959. Elsewhere, Keenan Wynn plays Alonzo Hawk - he is perfect for that role. Nancy Olson (Betsy) and Tommy Kirk (Biff) are also recognisable Disney faces, though it's MacMurray and Wynn who are the standouts by quite some distance.

The special effects haven't aged well at all but I can forgive that. However, the editing is very choppy when the Flubber is in use. I get why, of...