With a flying car, basketball players that reach new heights and a trip to Washington, D.C., this next film is sure to put a bounce in your step. 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)
For the third time, Professor Ned Brainard of Medfield College is so engrossed in a scientific experiment he fails to show up for his wedding with pretty Betsy Carlisle. But although he loses his girl to rival Professor Shelby Ashton, his absent-mindedness pays off with the creation of Flubber, a rubbery substance with an antigravity agent. With his new invention he is able to make the puny Medfield basketball team win against Rutland College, prevent a crook, Alonzo Hawk, from stealing Flubber, and win back Betsy, flying on a Flubberized Model T to Washington to give the powerful creation to a grateful government.
What works
- Brainard is delightfully absent-minded but with good intentions so it’s not annoying (which is so great for the main character)
- Betsy’s other suitor Shelby Ashton, on the other hand, is annoying, obnoxious but harmless
- I like that there is a relatively tight plot, with not much in the way of unnecessary scenes or characters. Because of that, the pacing was smooth and quick with little room for me to question when something would happen.
- Brainard & Betsy are fun together which made watching them much more enjoyable since I was genuinely able to root for their success.
- There was a quick recurring gag that I enjoyed, with one of the local cops. He just wanted to drink his coffee and during two separate interactions, first with Shelby and then with Mr. Hawk, he spilled boiling hot coffee on himself after they crashed into his car. During his interaction with Mr. Hawk, he got justice because in Hawk revealing his name, he got to get back at the man who had repo’d his electric icebox.
- I thought the military’s passing of info of ‘Flying Model T’ was great. It made me think of the Farmer’s Insurance commercials and was a good way to quickly rise through the ranks to get to the higher-ups and show how important the discovery of Flubber really was.
- I enjoyed the completeness of the ending. Brainard and Betsy finally get married, and the main conflicts of the film are resolved.
Honorable Mentions
- Hawk telling the fire chief “you fathead”
- it’s funny because it’s the actor’s real dad (Ed Wynn who is an absolute delight in this movie, even if his screen time was short)
- Biff had the right idea, to be on the balcony of his home chilling, calling his friends and the football coach while watching his dad bounce on the lawn in front of the house.
- Wally Boag (reporter) was also a delight to see
- “Shelby Stomp” – the act of bouncing a flying Model T on top of another car in order to annoy to the below car’s driver. The name has a nice ring to it, and was used twice appropriately, once with Shelby (for whom it is named) and the second for Mr. Hawk and company.
- Brainard and Betsy’s realization of “Us” is priceless when listening to the military call for attacks on the unknown flying object in the sky.
- New front on the building – priorities
- “8” “We might lose every senator and congressman” “9”
- “With pleasure and a deep sense of accomplishment…”
Side Questions
- Why didn’t the housekeeper go to the wedding? Even if by her not going, it was easy for the main plot of the story to take place, that still feels odd that Brainard cares about her and she wasn’t invited to the wedding.
- Do they pay the basketball players? Brainard makes a jab at Shelby at the game, that Shelby’s university pays the basketball players more than English professors, and Shelby responds, only stopping when he realized he was confirming that the players were paid.
- How would Biff have helped? Biff (by failing a test, and being a poor student in Brainard’s class) was not playing in the big rivalry game. Before the game, he was saying how the team would fail without him, yet the rivalry players are all a good 6 inches to a foot taller than Biff’s team. Seriously, Biff? Are you hiding a jump shot that could one-up the other team?
- How does Mr. Hawk not pull a Slue-foot Sue when he’s bouncing outside? I remember there was a scene where Brainard was fixing something with flubber in order to control it better, but I’m not sure how the movie science worked with that.
Would I watch this movie again?
- Sure, I would. It’s old school for sure, and some might enjoy the Robin Williams Flubber remake better, but there’s plenty of fun and chuckles to be found in this version.
If you’ve seen The Absent-Minded Professor, what are some of your thoughts? Share in the comments below!
Rewind to the beginning of the Disney Film Project
Skip back to the previous film with One Hundred and One Dalmatians
Fast Forward to the next film with The Parent Trap
The Absent-Minded Professor can be found at Disney+
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