The Gnome-Mobile Movie Review (1967)

Today’s movie has gone to the dogs, literally. Okay, only sort of. With Dean Jones and Suzanne Pleshette leading the human cast and an ensemble of animal cast, this movie was a new one to me. For this project, I’m focusing on the story itself, including dialogue, character development, any subplots, how a story presents itself, the speed at which it moves, if it slows down unnecessarily, etc.

A Brief Summary

(Taken from D23)

In the redwood forests of California, a multimillionaire lumberman and his two young grandchildren encounter two gnomes, old Knobby and young Jasper. Supposedly, they’re the last of their kind, but everyone sets off on a trip in a Gnome-Mobile (an old Rolls Royce) to find the rest of the gnomes. After a series of adventures and mishaps, they do, and the lumberman deeds the forest to the gnomes for eternity.

What works

• Walter Brennan was so good as Knobby! I actually enjoyed his performance as Knobby more than his performance as D.J. Mulrooney, but he did well with both roles.
• “The Gnome-Mobile Song” isn’t the best song that the Sherman Brothers ever wrote, but it’s cute and it works well with this movie (which helps so much).
  • It starts off in the movie as “the Jaunting car” song, that D.J. sings with his grandkids about his Rolls Royce. I do like that it gets changed, to show both the progress in the plot but also to reflect
• It’s established early in Jasper’s conversation with Elizabeth (the first between a gnome and a doo-deen aka a human) that they can understand each other. Thanks to magic (the explanation of how it works isn’t expressed, just that to Jasper Elizabeth is speaking perfect Gnomish, and to Elizabeth (and the audience), Jasper and other gnomes are speaking perfect English.
• Jasper and Knobby are quite enjoyable together. They had good banter, they were fun to watch, and there was a good balance between their personalities. Since they were the main gnomes to watch through most of the money, I never felt anything less than satisfied with them. Just kidding, Knobby was my favorite, and Jasper was so much fun to watch as well.
• While it’s only about 10-15 minutes of the movie, I enjoyed the “gnome chase” at the end, and not just that, but the reuniting of Jasper and Knobby with the other gnomes. It was quite a fun way to end the movie. Especially the rules of the gnomes have the girls chasing after Jasper in order to get him as a husband (while a little over the top, it was a lot of fun).

What may or may not work

• I never understood why Jasper hides so long after Elizabeth comes back with DJ and Rodney. He causes Elizabeth to start crying. Now, his not being there at first does get D.J. to say “of course you saw him darling. but not with these eyes, these eyes up here…” (pointing first at her eyes and then pointing at the top of her head) which is important since the psychiatrist later says the same thing to D.J. later in the movie. But it just doesn’t make sense why they held out for so long before having Jasper pop out again. It could have been cut down a little and still have achieved its purpose in the plot.
• I’m not a big fan of the whole psychiatrist/asylum bit in the middle. I get that it ties well into the plot. If Quaxton (the P.T. Barnum wannabe) hadn’t taken the gnomes (and if they hadn’t revealed themselves during the check-in to the hotel), then there would be no need for D.J. to call Ralph Yarby who was convinced by the doctor to get D.J. into the Five Oaks sanatarium which was a huge chunk of the 2nd act. It just seems really messy and leaves me with a lot of post-movie questions. LIke how’s he going to clear up the fact that he escaped from the asylum?
  • Also I don’t know fully how I feel about Yarby’s character. While D.J.’s request (to send their best security people to help find the kidnapped gnomes) was out of the blue, because he was with his grandchildren, I don’t know why Yarby wouldn’t have just assumed “oh he’s playing a game with the grandchildren”. Seriously, Yarby needs a vacation. No, it works having the Quaxton/Yarby 2nd act (the easiest way to describe the 2nd act haha), but it’s a bit messy, and honestly, I prefer when it’s just D.J. and the grandkids and the gnomes. It gets a bit too chaotic and the car chase especially was heavy on the gags (it did remind me of the car race in The Love Bug, but might have gone a little too long).

Honorable Mentions

• Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber (who play Elizabeth and Rodney) appear in the credits as “the ‘Mary Poppins’ Kids”. This was their last appearance together in a Disney movie (and I think their last movie together in general)
• “It’s not the male who picks the mate. It’s the she-male who picks the date.” – Rufus explaining the rules of the gnomes when it comes to how marriages are decided (or something like that. So rather than Jasper just picking Violet, Violet had to be the one to catch him in the chase in order to be the one to marry him (over all the other female gnomes).
• This is Ed Wynn’s final film role, and that was a little bittersweet to think about. But it was nice that his last role was a Disney one since that means I got to watch him once more in a movie.
• Something cool that I learned AFTER watching the movie and recording my review video is that the set for the Rolls Royce still exists! Both the Rolls Royce and the over-sized version used in the movie were donated to the Gilmore collection at the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, MI! I’m adding that ASAP to my list of museums I need to visit. From what I can gather from the museum’s website, the particular exhibit that the movie set is part of is only available to the public during the months of April through November.
• Knobby is my spirit animal and the one to say all of my favorite lines from this movie including:
  • Mulrooney? The marauder himself. We’ve been trapped. – Knobby
  • How can I settle myself down when I find myself travelin in the very company of me own worst enemy?! – Knobby
    • Knobby, that is not so! – Elizabeth
    • Unscrupulous, lyin’ prevaricator – gettin’ us to leave our redwood sanctuary under false pretenses! (Knobby)
    • Ooh (goes up in pitch) but he’s a schemin’ one.” (also Knobby)

Side Questions

• Because of the whole Ralph Yarby/asylum bit, and the fact that D.J. deeds 50,000 acres of untouched Redwoods to the gnomes, I’m left wondering what will happen after the events of this movie. Is Yarby still fired? How does the deeding of the redwoods to the gnomes work? Would he create a trust? Obviously this is me overthinking all the things, but I would like to know.

Would I watch this movie again?

• It was quite cute. It’s not one that I would watch often, and the plot does get a little messy in the middle, but overall it’s a cute movie with cute moments. So yes, it is one that I would watch again.

If you’ve seen The Gnome-Mobile, what are some of your thoughts? Share in the comments below!

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