User reviews

The Absentminded Professor was the second film that Fred MacMurray in his second career rebirth with Walt Disney as the midwife. He scored an enormous success in The Shaggy Dog and Disney films together with his My Three Sons TV series established MacMurray as the quintessential family father figure which would endure for the rest of his life.

I do remember seeing this in the theater back as a youngster and back then the younger ones in the crowd were looking at Tommy Kirk who was at the height of his Disney popularity.

Nevertheless MacMurray gives a delightful performance as science professor Ned Brainerd who's accidentally invented a variation on rubber which has a great deal more bounce to it.

He's so wrapped up in his experiment that he's even forgetting his wedding day to Nancy Olson, AGAIN. She's about had it with him and ready to fall for the wolfish English professor Elliott Reid.

MacMurray has his own troubles. Other than helping his college win a basketball game with a team that they are way overmatched against, he's not quite decided what use this stuff he calls flubber is good for. But wealthy Keenan Wynn sure wants to get his hands on it.

Funniest sequence in the film is Keenan Wynn after MacMurray and Olson trick him into wearing flubberized shoes is seeing bounce slowly into the stratosphere before a quick thinking Tommy Kirk devises a way to counteract his flubberized dad.

The AbsentMinded Professor was so popular with audiences that Disney did another version with almost the entire same cast in Son of Flubber.

That one was almost as funny, but this still has a lot of laughs even after almost fifty years.

I think it is time this movie is reviewed by its positive qualities and not just centered on how utterly sophisticated the reviewer would like to be remembered by the readers of IMDB.com.

First of all, let me say there is nothing wrong with "hokum" or old American values or screwball comedies or old Disney movies. As with anything, it's always in the eye of the beholder. This movie was fun to watch and funny in enough places to warrant a watch by any self-respecting human being with a warm sense of humor.

Second of all, The Absent-Minded Professor elicited a wonderful collection of chuckles from me. Perhaps I didn't expect them...but they did come and especially in one joyful moment during a basketball game. Believe me, I am not even an NBA fan...but that scene cured a lot of ills. Maybe it was my frame of mind on that particular day. But, the record stands that I did laugh, and with some old-fashioned "glee", I might add.

Third of all, I believe comedies are sometimes taken too seriously: As if we were supposed to come away with some vastly profound elucidation from the experience.

Fourth of all, one has to be rather shallow not to appreciate the the wonderful collection of character actors in this and many Disney movies - before the prohibitive cost of making movies made it impossible to have a diverse collection of actors. I miss this kind of movie where character actors litter the celluloid landscape as if in some garden of earthly theatrical delights "a la Frank Capra or Preston Sturges".

One last thing, it was a travesty that this 1961 movie, though nominated for some Oscars, did not win at least in the Technical categories. Yes, it's goofy to us in these 'Post-2001 A Space Odyssey, Star Wars, ET, Independence Day' times, but all of them owe a bit of thanks to the legacy of the past.

And this movie is part of that legacy of fun effects which advanced us ever so kindly into our present state of "sophistication", and sometimes, Ungrateful Complacency and Ennui.

When I was younger, Fred MacMurray was my Colin Farrell. He was everywhere, and never seemed to make a bad movie. Sure, they might be campy and silly, but that's what works for a younger age group. And this one holds up. The flubber is quite possibly one of the neatest inventions in movie history. And though the Robin Williams remake gave it the new age CGI, the black and white gives the movie such a good feel. I still get a kick out of Fred torturing the man trying to muscle in on his girl.

It has been years since I have seen this movie! I am glad to see that it is still fun and my girls really enjoyed (4 & 6). What was kinda neat was that the Alonzo Hawk character also returns in Herbie Rides Again (same actor, same personality). Small coincidence, because the movie was also directed by Robert Stevenson.

So, if you are looking for a film that will not offend, and offer a few chuckles and will captivate your child's attention, check out The Absent Minded Professor.

Also, IMHO, do not wast time with the Flubber remake.

Cheers

C

The Absent-Minded Professor is directed by Robert Stevenson and adapted to screenplay by Bill Walsh from a story by Samuel W. Taylor. It stars Fred MacMurray, Nancy Olsen, Keenan Wynn, Tommy Kirk, Leon Ames and Elliott Reid. Music is by George Bruns and cinematography by Edward Colman.

Out of Disney, we get the kind of wacky family friendly comedy that serves a purpose on a miserable real life day. MacMurray's professor has invented flying - gravity defying - rubber, which he christens Flubber. It can make you bounce up to incredible heights, make the prof's car fly and naturally it draws the attention of evil business man Alonzo Hawk (Wynn). A bunch of nutty scenarios ensue (the basketball match is a pure joy) and the prof has to win back the girl he keeps forgetting to marry (a radiant Olson). It's a creative piece of writing and it saw Disney take note for continued success in live action pictures. 7/10

Fred MacMurray had a wonderful career with leading roles in all types of films. He had many hit comedies and dramas. He made Westerns, mysteries, action and adventure thrillers, war films and even sang in a couple of movies. Toward the end of his career, he made some family films for Walt Disney and starred in TV series. And, he still did an occasional other film - drama, Western, comedy or other.

"The Absent-Minded Professor" is his second Disney family movie, after the successful 1959 "The Shaggy Dog."

This film was an even bigger box office success. It's a fun family film for kids of all ages. It's a fine comedy with some good trick camera work. A basketball game with the Medfield College team bouncing to the rafters and leaping onto backboards will leave one wondering how Disney filmed those scenes. Besides MacMurray, Keenan Wynn, Nancy Olson, Leon Ames and Elliott Reid add some comedy.

The movie received three Academy Award nominations, for camera work, art and set work and special effects. MacMurray also got a Golden Globe nomination for best actor. That's the only major nomination he ever received. Yet he was a consummate actor in any genre, and one of the best entertainers for several hit comedy films during Hollywood's golden age.

All of MacMurray's films continue to please audiences well into the 21st century. This film is a good one for family time to laugh and smile together. Here are some favorite lines from this film.

Mrs. Chatsworth, "But remember this. The universe is millions and millions and millions of years old. It can wait a little. But girls can't wait."

This was a great movie when I was a kid, and was happy to share it with my own kids when they were small some 35 years later. I think a film that can be shared from generation to generation like that qualifies it as a classic.

I never saw the original release but saw it as a kid on its re-release to theaters around 1975. I thought it was hilarious then. Yes, it looks a little dated now, but what film that is almost 50 years old doesn't. I think my favorite character was the dog, Charlie. He was just too cute, and the way he could perk his ears up on command. He had as much expression as any of the actors! The special effects for the time were quite good - and garnered a Oscar nomination for special effects. My favorite part as a kid was the flying car. AMP did this 7 years before "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" came out in 1968.

Fred McMurray is extremely adept as his portrayal of the clichéd absent-minded professor. It would have been easy for the part to come off as an almost cartoon caricature. But he makes it seem realistic and believable. I'm impressed at his range of acting talent - as in his classic film noir "Double Indemnity" to this lighthearted comedy. I also think Keenan Wynn is very good as loan shark Alonzo Hawk.

While my kids enjoyed this when they were small, they would probably consider it "lame" now as teenagers. But I still believe this is a great family film for the whole family.

Some parts of this are very funny, some parts are silly stupid and all parts are very dated and make little sense. Maybe that's why someone figured a re-make was appropriate. That, and the fact that it's still a very entertaining movie, almost a classic. The re-make was done in 1997 with the movie, "Flubber."

Fred MacMurray, Nancy Olson, Keenan Wynn, Tommy Kirk.....wow, there are some familiar names from the '50s and '60s Olson had lost her youthful looks from "Sunset Boulevard," but that had been a decade earlier. MacMurray didn't look a whole lot different from his 1944 film noir classic of "Double Indemnity," proving once again how much better men age than women.

Kids of today would still laugh at this film, although they have dead spots in here which are not prevalent in modern-day films.

One aspect of this film that lived with me forever is the Model T. At the age 7 I zeroed in on this car and that it could fly caught my mind in that odd way that Age 7 stuff does. I have on my bookshelf a recovered edition, Ebay, of the Disney golden book edition with some marvelous pen-ink drawings, one of them a closeup of the car. So much was I into this that in Christmas of 1962, my parents bought a 1/2 scale Model T (gasoline engine, you can see them on Ebay if you look for mini model T) as the present of my life. I flipped totally. And I still have the car, sitting in the barn in the back yard.

So films like this bring back fond memories indeed. It is not perfect and slow at times and just too "disney" for it's age, but it warms the soul.

I saw "Flubber", starring Robin Williams, more than once in the late 90's, I guess when it was new to the video format, but never knew it was a remake until I saw it again last year, probably for the first time since late last decade, and wasn't all that impressed (not sure exactly what I thought of it before). Over a year later, I've finally seen the original, "The AbsentMinded Professor", a live action Disney flick released in 1961, starring Fred MacMurray. I wasn't absolutely blown away by it, nor was I expecting to be, but I was expecting it to be better than its 1997 remake, with more laughs, and I think my moderate expectations were basically met.

Ned Brainard is an absent-minded physical chemistry professor at Medfield College. On the day of the third wedding attempt (the professor failed to show up the first two times), Betsy Carlisle, his fiancée, waits for him, hoping he will show up this time. Unfortunately, he gets carried away with his experiments, trying to uncover the mysteries of the universe, and despite how hard his housekeeper tries to remind him about his wedding, she does not succeed. However, he does discover a powerful new substance, which he calls "Flubber"! Every time this substance hits a hard surface, it gains energy! He attempts to bring attention to this new discovery of his, but his efforts prove unsuccessful, as people are generally skeptical. It only seems to catch the attention of Alonzo P. Hawk, a scheming businessman who threatens the future of the college, and plans to use Flubber for his personal gain!

For me, "The AbsentMinded Professor" was far from consistently hilarious, but there were definitely times when I laughed, even if the laughs were usually light. When I wasn't laughing, I think I was often smiling. A couple explosions early in the film, plus the main character playing tricks with his flying Model-T, getting his foe in trouble with the police one night, and some of the other things done with the Flubber, to be good comical moments, some more than others. MacMurray plays a likable lead, and the story is also interesting enough. Such scenes as the flying car ones are memorable, which brings me to the special effects. For the time, special effects like this were obviously an accomplishment. Sure, the effects in the 1997 remake are obviously superior, since it came 36 years later, but this 1961 film still deserves praise for the effects, and as for the remake, well, the special effects aren't enough to make up for the flaws in that film.

This live action film from Walt Disney Pictures may be a bit dated now. I guess it hasn't aged as well as many other movies from around the same time or before, and probably can't please as many people today as it could upon its original release in the early 60's, during its box office success. However, it's probably still entertaining for many different age groups today, though maybe just to a lesser degree than before. "Flubber" obviously has more modern aspects than "The AbsentMinded Professor", but had potential to be so much better than it turned out to be, especially with Robin Williams in the lead role, and its predecessor remains superior. Even after all this time, this is a reasonable family film, clean and lighthearted.

My wife and I saw this with our four young sons when it was first released, and we thought it was great. We have seen it several times since, and it is always entertaining. Unlike some critics, I thought Fred MacMurray was perfect in the title role, and the supporting cast was great. The humor may seem a bit unsophisticated and hokey by present day standards, but in my eyes it makes the movie even more enjoyable. Show this film to your unprejudiced younger children and grandchildren and watch them delight in it.

Fred MacMurray plays the vacuous title character who ignores everything in life when it comes to a new discovery. Even his own discoveries don't impress him. While he is perfecting the anti-gravity substance, Flubber, his world is collapsing around him. But he doesn't even know it. There are wonderful scenes in this movie. The stuff has crazy properties and when the high school basketball team gets their hands on it, it's utter madness. MacMurray is scheduled to be married, but while he putzes around, another man, Keenan Wynn, is sneaking in on his territory. His fiancée is becoming more and more fed up as time goes along. The sequels were never quite as delightful as this one. Just don't take it too seriously.

The Absent-Minded Professor was a typical Disney classic that I watched when I was younger. In short, this film is about a professor who creates an anti-gravity substance known as 'flubber'. This substance makes his car fly, sort of reminiscent of the car in 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'. Of course, someone is trying to kidnap this idea, and it's up to some children to save the day.

I am not sure what children today would think of this film, but I did find it enjoyable, and I would have seen it in the mid-1980s. I would like to think that children today would find it just as enjoyable and entertaining.

This is probably one of the best live action films Disney has ever released. Fred MacMurray once again proved how great a comedic actor he was and this film is just a confirmation of it. Also, Nancy Olson was great as his frustrated fiancee, Betsy. However, the real scene stealer in this film is Keenan Wynne as old man Hawk. Mr. Hawk was probably one of the biggest weasels in cinematic history and Tommy Kirk is also great as his son Biff.

Also, the best scene in the whole film is the basketball game. That scene alone is what makes this film a classic comedy.

Boa sugestão de filme para família. Com ideias e abordagem dos anos 60.

Vale a pena rever com os mais novos.

The Absent-Minded Professor was the 1961 Disney classic about a nerdy college professor, delightfully played by Fred MacMurray, who invents an anti-gravity substance that comes to be known as "flubber", which he uses to make his automobile airborne and help his college's basketball team finally w in a few games, while keeping a corrupt local businessman (Keenan Wynn) from stealing the substance for itself.

After playing an adulterous slimeball the previous year in The Apartment, MacMurray proved that he could play a nice guy too and pretty much carved out an entire new career for himself, which included the TV series MY THREE SONS and a few more Disney comedies. Nancy Olson is lovely as the professor's neglected girlfriend and great veterans like Elliott Reed, Edward Andrews, and Leon Ames register in key supporting roles.

Bill Walsh's screenplay is well-mounted by Robert Stevenson, whose next directorial assignment would be a little thing called Mary Poppins. The film was followed by a sequel called Son of Flubber and was remade in 1997 as Flubber with Robin Williams. 7.5/10

Ned Brainard (Fred MacMurray) is an accident-prone professor in Medfield College of Technology. Betsy Carlisle (Nancy Olson) tries to marry him for the third time. Despite all the precautions, he still can't make it to the ceremony after a lab accident which creates an incredible substance Flubber. Professor Shelby Ashton is all too happy to pick up the pieces with Betsy. Ruthless businessman Alonzo Hawk is threatening the college by withholding a loan renewal and building track housing over the college. He is also not happy with Brainard's treatment of his failing son. Brainard keeps failing to explain Flubber to Betsy. Alonzo Hawk figures out Brainard's secret and looking to make a bundle off of Flubber. However, Brainard wants to give his discovery over to the government.

This black and white Disney film is fun magic for the first hour. Fred MacMurray is full of charms. I really like the small town feel. It's so much fun. The only drawback is the involvement of the military. It doesn't feel like the right fit for a fun family movie. Also it doesn't make sense that people still don't believe him after seeing it in action. The second half does have its silly charms and its idiotic fun.

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.

The next film on my alphabetical trip through Disney Plus is "The Absent-Minded Professor", which, I am ashamed to admit, I'd never seen before. I found a charming, if slightly dated film, with some wonderous effects. I also discovered that the Alonzo Hawk character exists outside of the "Herbie" franchise, which came as a surprise.

Ned Brainard (Fred MacMurray) is physics professor at Medfield University. Desperately in love with the Dean's secretary Betsy (Nancy Olson) he has missed their wedding twice already. On the night of their third attempt, he is again experimenting in his lab, when he makes a ground-breaking discovery. He creates a new compound, Flubber, with unique characteristics that improve elasticity and, when exposed to certain stimuli, will float. Though eager for his discovery to be for the good of mankind, a conniving businessman, Alonzo P Hawk (Keenan Wynn), can only see personal riches, and tries to steal the substance.

Charming and quite witty were my initial thoughts about the film. It's a great script, with plenty of characters engaging in sharp repartee, particularly amongst the earlier scenes. MacMurray makes Ned likable, despite the ridiculous nature of his distractions. Effectively it's a Herbie Prequel for me, with Alonzo Hawk the films villain, Wynn is another other of those actors that Disney found whose voice I can listen to forever. His father, Ed Wynn, an even more classic Disney voice has a small role as a fireman. The visual effects are really good, particularly for 1961. Some of the in-camera stuff for when the Model T Ford is flying is OK, but it's the practical stuff that's the most impressive, with the car taking off, veering at 90 degrees and driving along a wall.

But it's not without some lengthy padding scenes though. The basketball game is interminable and keeps reusing the same shots over and over again. Though charming, the film is lightweight and I can't imagine that I'm going to revisit it very often, but I will watch the sequel and remake, when I get to them.

While the film may be a little too short and it occasionally is a little slow, it is still very entertaining. In general, the film does look very nice indeed and the special effects are fun and interesting especially with Flubber and the car. The soundtrack is infectious too, while not consistently hilarious The Absent Minded Professor is always very amusing, with some funny scripting and especially the classic scene at the basketball game. The storyline is interesting too, Fred McMurray is perfect in the lead role and Nancy Olson is appealing. Overall, very entertaining film and much better than the very mediocre 1997 film. 8/10 Bethany Cox

An amusing film regarding Professor Brainard, a character I've always associated with Robin Williams having seen the 1997 remake first back when I was younger.

Fred MacMurray plays the aforementioned in this, the original. He is pleasing here, giving a more than satisfying performance - even if it is pretty similar to the one he gives in 'The Shaggy Dog' back in 1959. Elsewhere, Keenan Wynn plays Alonzo Hawk - he is perfect for that role. Nancy Olson (Betsy) and Tommy Kirk (Biff) are also recognisable Disney faces, though it's MacMurray and Wynn who are the standouts by quite some distance.

The special effects haven't aged well at all but I can forgive that. However, the editing is very choppy when the Flubber is in use. I get why, of course, but I feel they could've sharpened the edits up a tad.

The main part that I'll remember from this is the humour, which is nicely crafted. There's a lot of set pieces with the Flubber and basically all of them give laughs to some degree. If it wasn't for the fun, I'd be rating this lower - especially after the somewhat out of place ending.

I prefer the remake with Williams, though that one leaves a similar impression - with the previously mentioned actor elevating that film up tremendously. This, for a special effect-filled production from 1961, is solid.

Great watch, would watch again, and can recommend, if you can stand a black and white movie.

(I know I've watch this before, but I couldn't remember anything past that there is an Absent-Minded Professor, so this was basically a fresh watch)

I was really blown away to see the quality of a movie from 1961 in 2020. We have traded a lot of substance for technology, or (if you want to see this way) they had to try a lot harder because they didn't have the option to lean on tech.

Great, if hokey, performances all around, and they did a great job of incorporating flubber activated motions into the the every day affairs. In particular, this was some of the best wire-work I've ever seen, there was only one scene where I caught it, and even that was a shadow.

This was a great story of academia versus industry, with capitalism being the villain, so it's good to see it as far back as 1961.

As said and done this was a fun watch with a clever premise.

What a bad translation, the literal would be more interesting "The Absent Professor", and it wouldn't lead us astray... Cuter than the 97 version, although I love Robin Williams...

i won't say this a great movie,but i will say it sure beats the dreadful 1997 remake called Flubber starring Robin Williams.that movie was tedious,to say the least.this movie,at least,was somewhat entertaining,if not all that funny.there are a couple of mildly amusing moments.there is a lot of overacting,which i have found quite typical of Disney movies of that era(1950's through 70's)but that was probably funny back then.Fred MacMurray plays the main character,professor Brainard,a chemistry professor who discovers a new compound that should revolutionize the world.of course,he's so busy working on his experiments,he neglects everything else in his life.MacMurray is very appealing and likable,as he is in any of his movies.my vote for The Absent Minded Professor is a 5/10