Summer Magic

OPIS

Director James Neilson lovingly re-creates the atmosphere of 1900s Maine in this cheerful remake of Mother Carey's Chickens. Co-produced by Walt Disney himself, it has Hayley Mills stepping into the shoes occupied by Anne Shirley in the 1938 adaptation of Kate Douglas Wiggin's popular novel. Mills is not at her effervescent best, but is still suitably fresh-faced as she finds time for a little innocent romance while helping widowed mother Dorothy McGuire raise her brothers. One of the highlights is Burl Ives's rendition of The Ugly Bug Ball, which became a popular song of the time.