As a child, one of the most popular Super-8 shorts they’d show at birthday parties was the Jungle Soccer Match, in which the various animals in both teams displayed their abilities while running over and over the unlucky human designated to referee. It was a short masterpiece of animation, that brilliantly incorporated some live-action actors (including the unfortunate ref.) We’d never get tired of it!

So imagine my surprise when I discovered, on a rerun of Bedknobs and Broomsticks, that there was a High Adventure context to this little story! The human characters, guided by a benevolent but inexperienced witch (Angela Lansbury) are trying to save Great Britain from an upcoming German invasion. To do so, they must travel to magical places in order to recover an artifact that will let them conjure the spirits of old warriors to come in their aid.

The movie is not the timeless masterpiece that Mary Poppins is: it takes a while to pick up the pace, and even then still moves slowly for present day standards. But if you and your children can withstand the slow buildup, you’ll be rewarded with such classic scenes as “Portobello Road” (now I can’t eat a portobello sandwich without humming it!), dancing under the sea, Germans vs. Knights, and of course, the inimitable Jungle Soccer Match.

And beyond the individual scenes, the movie still inspires, better than many more recent ones, the feeling that-below the surface, yet not too deep-magical things could happen at any time.