Escape to Witch Mountain

Growing up as a child in the 1970's I remember watching THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY every Sunday evening at 7pm. I of course enjoyed the cartoons but also enjoyed the many live action Dinsey movies such as THE SHAGGY DOG, THE SHAGGY D.A., POLLYANNA, THE WHIZ KIDS movies and of course the WITCH MOUNTAIN movies. I remeber looking forward to ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN and would make it a point to never miss this movie when it aired.

The story is about a brother and sister, Tony & Tia, who along with their alien family tried to migrate to Earth but crashed upon arriving. Tony and Tia then try to locate their family with the assistance of a widower whie trying to avoid a rich villan who wants to use the kids Extra Sensory Powers (ESP) to further his greedy goals. As a child I actually found this movie to be very scary. I actually feared for Tony and Tia. Now as an adult it has lost the scary aspect. That comes with age I guess. It is still a good watch though.

I have wanted to purchase this film for years so my children could watch it. Now that they are pre-teens and begining to loose their childhood innocence I was finally able to purchase this new DVD. As I suspected they were reluctant to watch this movie and the sequel RETURN FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN. I finally got them to watch the films and they did enjoy the them but obviously it did not have the same effect on them as it did me. However younger children, especially those who have not been spoiled by CGI special effects will no doubt still enjoy the films. I tried to explain to my children that as a grade schooler I had a huge crush on Kim Richards (Tia). I got teased for that and of course when I teased my boy about his attraction to Hillary Duff that was a different matter. Go figure.

The DVD has some nice special features. Interviews, cartoons and other such material. I don't have enough positive things to say about Disney's old movies being offered through their Vault Disney line of products.

I first saw Escape to Witch Mountain in a movie theater with my friends when I was 10 years old and it is my favorite Live-action Disney movie from the 70's and the one that stands out in my memory the most! Kim Richards (Tuff Turf) and Ike Eisenmann (Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan) play sister and brother Tia and Tony who are brought to an orphanage after their foster parents die. They are the only parents that they remember and have no memories of their lives before they were brought to their foster parents. Tia and Tony it turns out have powers that make them be able to move objects with ther minds, see in to the future, etc and when a man named Lucas Deranian played by Donald Pleasence (Halloween) finds out about it he pretends to be their uncle and takes them to live in the secluded mansion of his employer the wealthy, greedy and powerful Aristotle Bolt played by Ray Milland (The Lost Weekend). It turns out that The sinsister Mr. Bolt has plans to enslave them so he can force them to use their powers to bring him even more wealth and when Tia and Tony escape they befriend a crusty old widower named Jason O'Day played by the wonderful Eddie Albert (Green Acres) who helps them escape the clutches of the evil Bolt and Deranian but they also have to escape a crooked sheriff and a hunting party who think they are witches. This is a delightful movie that is good for the whole family and has a great cast that includes the actors I already mentioned, but also good in small rolls in the beginning of the movie are Reta Shaw (Mary Poppins) as Mrs. Grindley who runs the orphanage and Dermott Downs as a bully called Truck. Denver Pyle (The Andy Griffith Show and The Dukes of Hazard) was good in his cameo roll as Uncle Bene. I also think the director John Hough did a great job and I really like this DVD. I love that they presented the movie in widescreen and the extra features are pretty good, I especially liked the making of doccumentary but I didn't really care for the Mickey Mouse and Pluto cartoon which is not my favorite Mickey Mouse cartoon but anyway I just very highly recommend this DVD!

I just got my DVD copies of both films(This & Return from witch mountain.) This is a very good movie. It's about two kids who have supernatural powers. They can forsee the future, talk to animals, lift things in the air-and jump 15 feet in the air to catch a baseball.

However, they don't know how they got these powers. Where they born with these powers? The two kids Tony & Tia(Played by Ike Eisenmann & Kim Richards)are different from the other kids. After a confrontation with Truck(Dermott Downs), They discover a map inside of Tia's star case.

After saving the life of a man, he comes and claims to be thier uncle-they are forced to live with him. It turns out that his employer is none other than Mr. Bolt(Ray Miland)who wants to use them for his own ends. Tia smells rotten fish (Try Rotten eggs)-she senses very strongly-that Mr Bolt is not a very nice man and she senses danger if they stay at Mr. Bolt's Mansion.

Then, when they dine with Mr. Bolt(I never did say he wasn't a gentleman-just not a very nice one)Mr Bolt tells them that he knows about thier powers and tells them how to make it profitable. After going to another room, Tia & Tony overhear a coversation that MR. Bolt is planning to have them locked away on a deserted island. Tia & Tony then make plans of esacpe.

They do escape and are chased till the end of the film. Helping them is a crusty old man Jason O'Day(Well played by Eddie Albert)Who has a winnebego.

I must say that the Chemistry between Eisenmann & Richards worked so well, people think they are brother & Sister in real life. They are not related in real life. I think it's the acting talents of these two is what made it work so well. Dirctor John Hough(The legend of hell house)did a remarkable job on this film.

The special effects were great for it's time. Some of them were cheezy, but in those days(The 70's)they didn't have computors. But in my opinion, the powers these kids have is not the real story. The real story is that two childern are searching for home, and discovering who they really are. This is the story.

The DVD has some special features on it and an audio commentary by Kim & Ike and John Hough. It provides a lot of insight on how the film was made.