Professor Ned Brainard (Fred MacMurray) is an absent-minded professor of physical chemistry at Medfield College engaged to be married to Betsy Carlisle (Nancy Olson), not for the first time, but his third. When Ned becomes wrapped up in one of his experiments until it explodes and he inadvertently knocks himself unconscious missing his wedding in the process. Ned is initially despondent over the cancellation of his wedding and failure of his experiment, but discovers he's invented a substance, Flying Rubber or "Flubber", that has the power to build upon whatever energy is applied to it in an exponential manner (in that it bounces higher and higher with each bounce) and even make material fly when applied with Gamma Rays. Now Ned must try to win back Betsy's affection, test his newly discovered material, protect Medfield College from closure by a vindictive money hungry Alonzo Hawk (Keenan Wynn), and present Flubber to the U. S. government for various applications and keep it out of the hands of Hawk.
Released in 1961, The Absent Minded Professor was one of Disney's biggest live actions noted for its groundbreaking for the time special effects by Robert A. Mattey and Eustace Lycett for which the duo were nominated for an Academy Award as well as one of the few Disney films to be filmed in black and white (as a concession to the special effects crew to make implementation of the effects easier). The movie also feature the first song ever used in a Disney film by musical duo Richard M. And Robert B. Sherman with the Medfield Fight Song. The movie has a lot of charm to it, but it also hasn't aged all that gracefully.
Fred MacMurray is good playing the titular absent minded professor Brainard bringing energy and enthusiasm to a character who often loses himself in fine tuning small details at the expense of pretty much everything surrounding those details which leads him to trouble. Keenan Wynn is also quite fun as the antagonist Alonzo Hawk playing up the character's slimy duplicity to appropriate levels where we revel in his humiliations (particularly a public spectacle in the climax). The effects used to bring Flubber to life as well as the flying Model T Ford are well done and can definitely be seen as a foundational run for utilization in further Disney live-action classics like Mary Poppins, Bedknobs & Broomsticks, and The Love Bug (as well as the glut of 70s formula comedies, but we won't hold that against it).
What doesn't work as well is in the rather dated aspects of the film. The romance subplot between Nancy Olson's character and MacMurray's isn't all that well done with MacMurray's thoughtlessness taken to pretty unforgivable extremes often taking a domineering position to Olson's character forcefully grabbing her by the arm or engaging in a "tug o'war" with rival love interest Elliott Reid that really leaves her feeling more like a prize/macguffin rather than a character. The movie also feels more like a series of episodes rather than a full-fledged story with each episode serving as a launch point for individual gags, mostly good, but some like the Basketball game can run a bit long. There's also rather unintentionally sinister overtones to some sequences such as where he uses his flying car to terrorize Elliott Reid's character into crashing into a police car that seems like it wouldn't be out of place in a thriller. There's also the rather antiquated notions of what patriotism means feeling very much in line with the posters and serials of the 1940s of "anything for Uncle Sam" that feels rather naïve in hindsight.
The Absent Minded Professor has some ground breaking effects work and some humorous moments. It's a very small film both in scope and scale, but it is well made and does have some immersive and groundbreaking technical aspects for the time. The humor is very much a time capsule of the era and should be taken as such. Worth a viewing at least once for historical curiosity.
Released in 1961, The Absent Minded Professor was one of Disney's biggest live actions noted for its groundbreaking for the time special effects by Robert A. Mattey and Eustace Lycett for which the duo were nominated for an Academy Award as well as one of the few Disney films to be filmed in black and white (as a concession to the special effects crew to make implementation of the effects easier). The movie also feature the first song ever used in a Disney film by musical duo Richard M. And Robert B. Sherman with the Medfield Fight Song. The movie has a lot of charm to it, but it also hasn't aged all that gracefully.
Fred MacMurray is good playing the titular absent minded professor Brainard bringing energy and enthusiasm to a character who often loses himself in fine tuning small details at the expense of pretty much everything surrounding those details which leads him to trouble. Keenan Wynn is also quite fun as the antagonist Alonzo Hawk playing up the character's slimy duplicity to appropriate levels where we revel in his humiliations (particularly a public spectacle in the climax). The effects used to bring Flubber to life as well as the flying Model T Ford are well done and can definitely be seen as a foundational run for utilization in further Disney live-action classics like Mary Poppins, Bedknobs & Broomsticks, and The Love Bug (as well as the glut of 70s formula comedies, but we won't hold that against it).
What doesn't work as well is in the rather dated aspects of the film. The romance subplot between Nancy Olson's character and MacMurray's isn't all that well done with MacMurray's thoughtlessness taken to pretty unforgivable extremes often taking a domineering position to Olson's character forcefully grabbing her by the arm or engaging in a "tug o'war" with rival love interest Elliott Reid that really leaves her feeling more like a prize/macguffin rather than a character. The movie also feels more like a series of episodes rather than a full-fledged story with each episode serving as a launch point for individual gags, mostly good, but some like the Basketball game can run a bit long. There's also rather unintentionally sinister overtones to some sequences such as where he uses his flying car to terrorize Elliott Reid's character into crashing into a police car that seems like it wouldn't be out of place in a thriller. There's also the rather antiquated notions of what patriotism means feeling very much in line with the posters and serials of the 1940s of "anything for Uncle Sam" that feels rather naïve in hindsight.
The Absent Minded Professor has some ground breaking effects work and some humorous moments. It's a very small film both in scope and scale, but it is well made and does have some immersive and groundbreaking technical aspects for the time. The humor is very much a time capsule of the era and should be taken as such. Worth a viewing at least once for historical curiosity.