Tag Archives: Feature Film

January 28, 1965 – The Live-Action Feature Film Those Calloways is Released to Theaters

“You ask me, those Calloways don’t hold to anything – they’re crazy, the whole lot of ‘em.”

On January 28, 1965, the live-action feature film Those Calloways was released to theaters. The film was based on the book Swiftwater by Paul Annixter. The film is set in Vermont, but was filmed at the Walt Disney Studios. To match the fall foliage of Vermont, 280,000 hand-painted leaves were created to imitate Vermont fall foliage. The two songs in the film were written by the songwriting team the Sherman Brothers, and the score was composed by legendary composer Max Steiner, known for his scoring of Gone With the Wind. The screenplay was written by Louis Pelletier, ­with the film directed by Norman Tokar. It stars Brian Keith as Cam Calloway, Vera Miles as Liddy Calloway, Brandon de Wilde as Bucky Calloway, Walter Brennan as Alf Simes, Ed Wynn as Ed Parker, Philip Abbot as Dell Fraser, Tom Skerritt as Whit Turner, John Larkin as Jim Mellott, and Linda Evans as Bridie Mellott.

The film begins with Liddy Calloway scaring a bear away from her garbage, when she looks up to see the geese flying high in the sky. Meanwhile, her husband Cam is packing up his traps, when he also spots the geese flying by. In town, everyone is entranced by the geese flying by, with some members of the town already beginning to shoot. Bucky Calloway, angered about the shooting, goes to pull away one of the shotguns, and ends up in a fight with Whit, one of the shooters, while the town watches. Bridie Mellott, Bucky’s friend, tries to stop this, but her father tells her that the boys need to settle this on their own, one way or another. Poor Bucky loses the fight, and Whit walks away as the victor as the townsfolk disburse. A small group of men discuss the Calloways: a small family that lives in the backwoods and think it’s cruel to shoot wild geese. Cam Calloway was raised by Indians, with some of the townspeople think the whole family shouldn’t be around “respectable people.”

Bucky and Cam take a break from their lines to rest and talk about Cam’s dream of a geese sanctuary

Bucky finds his father near the lake as he walks home, watching the geese land in the water. The two sit to talk, and Cam tells Bucky of his plan to buy the land and lake for $1100, hoping to turn it into a sanctuary for the geese. He plans to attract the geese by planting corn, which is an old Indian trick for attracting geese. As Bucky and Cam find their way home, the bear from the morning comes back, and Bucky recognizes him as his friend Keg, and the two wrestle while Cam and Liddy talk. That night, Cam tells Liddy that he has plans to take Bucky with him on the trapping lines. Liddy is not fond of the idea, especially when Cam can’t make enough to pay back the money for their land, but she eventually goes along with the idea.

Later, Bridie stops by to drop off some packages, and tells Bucky that they should make better use of the land. The two tease each other playfully, although neither will admit the growing attraction between the childhood friends. The book Bucky orders is The Manly Art of Self Defense, and takes to practicing in the shed, while his father watches. Cam then offers to help Bucky learn how to spar. Bucky’s moves are rather technical, but effective, as he manages to give Cam a good punch in the jaw, followed by another one. However, the two begin some lighthearted roughhousing, and quickly finish up the chores to start on the line the next morning. Cam tells Bucky that they’re heading to Jack Pine Valley, an area that’s never been tracked before, as it’s considered a place full of bad spirits. As they travel, they run into Cam’s old friend Nigosh, who warns them to be careful of Jack Pine Valley. As they reach the valley, Bucky nearly falls off a cliff, and Cam breaks his leg after he falls off a log.

Bucky sets off to check the line while Cam is stuck inside with a broken leg

Back in town, everyone discusses the Calloway’s situation, as it will be rather hard for the family this winter with Cam laid up. Dell Fraser, a traveling salesman, tells the other men in town of his idea to turn the town into a place for goose hunters, being rather relentless with his idea. Winter arrives, and Bucky decides to head back to the valley to trap. Cam warns Bucky not to go to the valley, convinced that it is a bad luck place, but Bucky is determined to provide for his family. He looks at his lines, and notices they’ve been tampered with by a wolverine. Angered, he decides to hunt down the wolverine instead of heading home. Bucky ties up his dog Sounder as he searches for the wolverine, but Sounder breaks free and fights the wild animal. Bucky tries to save his dog by pushing down some branches, but loses his shotgun in the process and is attacked himself while Sounder is caught under a heavy branch. Bucky is finally able to kill the wolverine and save his dog.

After Bucky’s first hunting experience, he is able to keep bringing home several pelts for his family. Alf, the town gossip, stops by to visit the Calloways, informing them of the new plans to turn the town into a hunters paradise. Liddy informs Alf of Cam’s idea of bringing the geese to town every year, and Alf suggests they petition the government to create a sanctuary for the geese. Bucky comes home with some new pelts, and come Christmas time, Bucky has caught enough ermine to create a cape for his mother. Bridie helps Bucky to create the cape for his mother, although the two of them still tease each other, with Bridie frustrated that Bucky doesn’t see her as grown-up. On Christmas Eve, Bucky and Cam ask Liddy to open her package, and she begins to cry with joy upon seeing the cape. The Mellotts arrive for the Christmas celebrations, and the men decide to have a glass of spiked cider before Bridie appears in a beautiful new dress. Bucky is shocked to see Bridie looking so grown up, and as they sing Christmas carols, he reaches for her hand, while the two exchange nervous glances.

Although Cam is beaten down by circumstances, Liddy gives him the idea to build the house on the sanctuary land, and Cam agrees

A week later, Bucky is still singing the Christmas carol he sang with Bridie, and decides to stop by the Mellotts to see her. Liddy and Cam talk about when they first started courting twenty-one years prior, leading to another sweet moment between the couple, where Cam promises never to leave Liddy. As Bucky stops by the Mellotts, he finds that Bridie is being courted by Whit, and leaves before anyone notices. As spring approaches, Bucky and Cam bring the pelts to Mellott’s trading post to sell the pelts; unfortunately, the market for furs bottomed out, and the $1800 they’d been hoping for was only $450. When Liddy claims that at least they have enough money for their house, Cam informs her that he used the $400 to buy the land for the geese sanctuary. Furious, she storms away and shuts herself in the bedroom. When spring arrives, their landlord, Doane Shattuck, arrives, and without the money to pay him, he has no choice but to evict them. Although Cam offers the land he’s already bought, Doane refuses to accept. Cam informs him they’ll be out first thing in the morning, and further insults him by saying that Doane’s only friends were the coins jingling around in his pocket. Liddy then gets the idea that they should just build their house on the land he now owns, and Cam agrees.

When Cam begins the building of the cabin, Dell Fraser stops by, trying to trick Cam into turning the sanctuary into a hunter’s paradise, offering a few hundred dollars from his boss, E.J. Fletcher. The Calloways set their plan of bringing the geese to the land by planting corn into action, and are surprised to see the members of the town arriving to help build the cabin for the family. With everyone working diligently, the house is quickly finished and everyone celebrates with a party. Bucky and Bridie are set up by the members of the town and sent outside to talk. As they go for a walk, Bucky is still sore over seeing her with Whit, although she is unaware that he saw her. She asks him what she did wrong and why he won’t speak to her, but he won’t give her a straight answer. Finally, during a heated argument, he kisses her, and she walks away horrified, informing him that she isn’t interested in anyone but him, but after this incident, she isn’t quite sure, and runs away crying.

Cam confronts the men in the marsh, angered to be swindled by hunters

The corn is seen growing well in the marsh a while later. In town, Fraser and his boss Fletcher head to the marsh with their hunting equipment, hoping to convince Cam to sell. Bucky heads to the trading post, where he and Bridie have a tense conversation. Whit starts to goad Bucky, and Bucky finds that Cam has been swindled by Fraser. As Whit continues to goad Bucky, Bucky starts another fight, but is able to beat Whit this time as the whole town watches. Bridie sits with Bucky after the fight and offers to drive him home in the rig. At the marsh, Fraser and Fletcher run into Cam, who is furious that they’re on his land hoping to create a hunter’s paradise. Cam warns them that the geese will not come down this year, and later that night, he burns up the entire crop of corn. Liddy and Bucky try and stop him, but are unable to. Meanwhile, a town meeting is being held about the hunters coming in, with Alf saying that the government should buy the land and turn it into a sanctuary for the geese. Fraser argues that his way means that the money will keep rolling in for everyone, and the meeting turns into a fight. The next morning, as the geese fly overhead, Cam wakes up to hear the sounds of gunshots. He angrily finds the businessmen in his marsh and pulls away their guns, accidentally getting shot in the process. That evening, everyone sits tensely in the house, hoping that Cam will make it through this ordeal. Bridie stays with Bucky, while her parents head into town for another meeting about this matter. Everyone is rather rattled at the news of Cam’s shooting, and spend a moment at the meeting in prayer.

Liddy keeps vigil at Cam’s bedside, and the doctor takes off for the night, telling Cam that he’s not sure if Cam will go one way or the other. The next morning, hundreds of geese are seen flying in the sky and landing in the lake, eating whatever’s left of the corn. Cam wakes to the sound of the geese, and reaches for Liddy’s hand. Everyone is relieved that Cam has made it through, and as Bucky and Bridie go to check on the geese, Alf arrives to inform him that the entire town has signed a petition to make the land a sanctuary for the geese.

January 22, 1964 – The Live-Action Feature Film The Misadventures of Merlin Jones is Released to Theaters

“Merlin Jones? What’s he got that I haven’t got?” “I’m afraid I don’t have enough time to answer that.”

On January 22, 1964, the live-action feature film The Misadventures of Merlin Jones was released to theaters. The film was originally to be a two-part television special, but NBC executives liked it so much that Disney decided to turn it into a theatrical release instead, a fact that did not go unnoticed by film critics. The film became an audience hit, leading to a sequel in 1965. The screenplay was written by Tom and Helen August, which were pseudonyms for two blacklisted writers, Alfred Lewis and Helen Levitt. The lead song was written by Robert and Richard Sherman, with the opening sequence done by Bill Justice and Xavier Atencio. The film was based on a story by Bill Walsh, directed by Robert Stevenson, and stars Tommy Kirk as Merlin Jones, Annette Funicello as Jennifer, Leon Ames as Judge Holmsby, and Norm Grabowski as Norman.

The film begins at Midvale College’s science department, with Jennifer walking the hallway before she is accosted by fellow student Norman, who asks her to the Letterman’s Ball. Jennifer informs Norman that she already has a date, and he angrily asks what Merlin Jones, the campus genius, has that he hasn’t got, but she brushes him off as gracefully as she can. Merlin appears and walks Jennifer away, promising to take her into town after class. However, he gets caught up in his experiments and forgets, only remembering when Jennifer storms angrily into his lab, informing him that he’s an hour late. He’s rather excited about his newest project, which should track brainwave patterns using a rather elaborate helmet. When he asks Jennifer to kiss him, the brainwave pattern goes crazy. When he puts the helmet on her and kisses her, there’s no brainwave activity. Merlin is initially upset, thinking he doesn’t mean that much to Jennifer, but she points out to him that the helmet is unplugged. They finally go into town, but he wants to take the helmet with him to figure out the cause of so many traffic violations around town lately.

Merlin and Jennifer are presented in front of the judge, where they try to explain the experiment they were conducting

As Merlin and Jennifer begin their experiment, they are pulled over by a police officer, who won’t even let Merlin explain what he’s doing. The cop just tells them they can explain the ticket in front of Judge Holmsby, who doesn’t seem to like Merlin or his experiments. The judge rules that Merlin is no longer allowed to perform any experiments while driving, and suspends Merlin’s license for ten days. Back at the lab, Merlin is hard at work on his experiments, when one of the antennas from his helmet explodes, causing a chain reaction. Merlin can’t turn the switch off, but his professor does. When the professor has a thought about how screwy Merlin is, Merlin realizes that thanks to the explosion, he now has the ability to read minds. Although he is pleased to hear what people think of him, he starts getting distracted by all the thoughts he hears while studying in the library.

Jennifer enters the library, and as she passes by Norman, Merlin hears his thoughts about how he wonders how “a dish like Jennifer” is with the “campus creep” Merlin. Merlin confronts Norman, throwing him against the bookshelves and causing a domino collision of all the bookshelves in the library. Merlin and Jennifer escape to make their way to Merlin’s job at the café. Judge Holmsby is at the café, and Merlin hears Jennifer’s thoughts about how worried she is about him. As he waits on the judge’s table, he hears the thoughts of the judge, finding out that he’s really a criminal, responsible for a large payroll theft recently that is still unsolved. Merlin tries to tell the police about what he knows, but they don’t believe his accusation of the judge.

With his ability to hear thoughts, Merlin keeps close to the judge hoping to hear more evidence

Back at the café, he tries to convince Jennifer of what he knows, and finally tells her that he can hear people’s thoughts. Convinced of his newfound ability, Jennifer asks him what he plans to do, and the two make their way to the judge’s house to find some evidence. Merlin stays near the judge to hear his thoughts, and finds out how the judge plans to hide the diamonds he plans to steal. Without the help of the police, Merlin and Jennifer decide to find the diamonds themselves to prove the judge is a fraud. However, what Merlin doesn’t know is that the judge writes mystery novels; his thoughts concern his books rather than an actual crime. When they finally confront the judge, he admits to his double life as a writer of mystery novels.

When Merlin goes to court about his license after the judge debacle, the judge gives Merlin the benefit of the doubt and lets him keep his license, but Merlin finds that he can no longer read minds. Returning to class, Jennifer and Merlin learn about hypnosis and Merlin asks to be the test subject. The professor successfully hypnotizes Merlin to eat a raw potato, with Merlin thinking it’s an apple. While everyone laughs at Merlin’s state, Jennifer is not at all amused. After being sent back to his desk, Merlin is commanded to kiss the first pretty girl he sees. Unfortunately for Jennifer, he kisses the girl sitting in front of her. Jennifer is steamed, although Merlin finds the idea of hypnotism fascinating.

Merlin and Norman are at odds over Norman’s treatment of Stanley

Late that night, Merlin thinks about hypnotism, and decides to hypnotize his cat in his theory of “helpful hypnosis.” After helping his cat chase after the dog that’s been bullying him, Merlin is ready to test his theory on people. Jennifer volunteers for Merlin’s experiment, but Merlin wants to use Stanley, the chimp in the science department. Norman, Merlin’s nemesis, refuses to let Merlin experiment with Stanley, but after Norman leaves, Merlin tries hypnosis on the chimpanzee anyway.

As Norman attempts to beat Stanley for sitting in his chair, Stanley finally fights back and begins to destroy everything in the lab. When people open the door to the lab to see the ruckus, they find an unconscious Norman, with Merlin standing over him, holding a broken bottle. Merlin is taken in front of Judge Holmsby again in an informal hearing, and when asked who attacked Norman, Merlin refuses to answer. Finally, he admits that he hypnotized Stanley, which intrigues the judge. The judge dismisses the charges, but tells Merlin that he must stay away from Stanley. He then privately asks Merlin to stop by his home to help him with a little problem. The judge, in his mystery-writing mode, asks Merlin for advice on hypnotism for his new book. He asks Merlin to help him test out the theory for his book, and while Merlin is at first averse to the idea, he finally agrees to help. The plan is to hypnotize the judge into committing a crime, bypassing the judge’s own moral code. Merlin commands the judge to steal Stanley from the psychology department. Although Merlin thinks that one cannot be hypnotized to go against his own moral code, he is surprised to see the judge leave his house to commit the crime. Jennifer and Merlin follow the judge, and retrieve Stanley after the judge has completed his orders. However, when Merlin returns Stanley, he is quickly arrested.

After figuring out the truth about Stanley’s “kidnap,” the three come to terms

Jennifer visits Merlin the next morning as he is in jail, although she acts as if she will never see him again while he is “the clutches of the law.” Merlin realizes that the only way to get to the truth is to hypnotize the judge again, hoping he will remember what he did. Merlin tries to hypnotize the judge in open court using hand motions, but to no avail. He then gets Stanley called to the stand to testify. While the judge is flabbergasted, Merlin explains that he called Stanley to help demonstrate the true relationship between Stanley and Norman. Merlin asks Norman to pick Stanley up, and Stanley flees in fear. The judge rules that Norman will no longer be allowed to work with Stanley or with any other animal, but also rules that Merlin has a suspended 60-day sentence, in which he will visit the judge once a week. An angry Jennifer cries out that the judge is really the one who stole Stanley. The judge quickly summons Merlin and Jennifer into his chambers, and asks if he really stole Stanley. Merlin admits that he did, and the judge realizes that the lesson is that every man has evil in his heart, and it’s not for us to judge another person without looking inside first. The film ends with Merlin and Jennifer driving off together.