Disney's The Absent Minded Professor

THE ABSENT MINDED PROFESSOR

Distributor: Walt Disney | 1961 | 92 mins
Certificate: G
Director: Robert Stevenson
Cast: Fred MacMurray, Nancy Olsen, Keenan Wynn, Tommy Kirk, Edward Andrews
Extras: No
Easter Eggs: No

This colourised release of Disneys 1961 smash The Absent Minded Professor stars Fred MacMurray as Ned Brainard, a college professor who invents a gravity defying substance he calls Flubber which he uses not just to make his model T Ford take to the air but also to make his college basketball team top players (Flubber works a treat in their shoes).

The main thrust of the movie though is Brainards attempt to woo back his fiance who is tired of his absent minded obsessions and has taken up with his arch rival from Rutland College , Shelby Ashton (Edward Andrews).

1961 was a great year for Disneys special effects department what with this movie and The Parent Trap both shaking up the screens and the effects really are the star of the movie from the Flying Model T to the bouncing basketball players.

Despite the sometimes poor colourisation and the odd too many slapstick moment The Absent Minded Professor is still an entertaining movie.

The Prof and his antics inspired a 1964 sequel (Son of Flubber) and a couple of recent lacklustre remakes (a 1994 TV Movie and cinema release Flubber which starred Robin Williams).