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The film was made entirely on the Disney Studio lot in Burbank, California,
where outdoor sets included the town of Pepperinge Eye and Miss Price's
seaview cottage, and indoor sets included a three-block section
of London's legendary Portobello Road. Two hundred players jammed this
set alone, which was filled with bric-a-brac and such oddments as a Sicilian
sedan chair, Limoges china, and gas masks from World War II. Among the
performers and extras in the crowd were veterans of music halls, vaudeville,
rep shows, radio, silent films, and early talkies. The ghostly medieval
army's weapons and armor had originally been assembled in Spain for the
film "El Cid," and then were shipped to America to be used in the
Warner Bros. musical "Camelot." Ward Kimball was the director of
the wonderful animation sequences on the Isle of Naboombu. Despite the
effort, lavish budget, ingenuity, and special effects, the film was not
a great box-office success, causing the studio subsequently to edit it.
The editing was accomplished primarily to the detriment of musical
numbers -- large chunks of "Eglantine" and "With a
Flair" were deleted. Academy Award® winner for Best Special
Visual Effects. The movie was nominated also for Best Art Direction/Set
Direction, Best Song ("The Age of Not Believing"), Best Scoring,
and Best Costume Design. The film remains a Disney favorite today, with
a theatrical reissue in 1979 and releases on video in 1980, 1985, and
1989. |