The Absent Minded Professor

The Absent Minded Professor_720p(480P)

source: The Absent Minded Professor

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

Such a good idea was this deemed to be that Paramount followed it with Jerry Lewis in "The Nutty Professor" two years later. This being a Disney production, we know what to expect, and we certainly get it. Cheerful, brainless nonsense is the order of the day, with generous helpings of good old American domestic values. Medfield College is a pleasant small-town campus peopled with pleasant clean-cut students and staff, and conspicuous among the latter is Ned Brainard, the Absent-Minded Professor. He is so engrossed in his scientific experiments that he forgets to show up at his own wedding - not once, but three times. The lame stereotypes come thick and fast as the barmy prof blows up his own lab. Just as nutty scientists are supposed to do, he builds a labyrinth of bubbling tubes and flasks in his own garage - and this, too, blows up. The eccentric professor (played solidly and reliably by Fred MacMurray) discovers a marvellous anti-gravity gunge which he christens flying rubber, or 'flubber'. He fits his Model T Ford with 'the goo that flew'. Naturally, being an absent-minded professor, he is still driving a Model T in 1961. And naturally, he is able to fly his flubber-enhanced car around the airspace of Medfield town. However, all is not well. Betsy, his long-suffering fiancee, has grown tired of being stood up at the altar, and has started dating the nerdy Professor Shelby Ashton. Medfield College is in difficulties. Funds are low, and Alonzo P. Hawk, the rapacious local entrepreneur, is seeking to develop the campus as a housing estate. Keenan Wynne plays the villain Hawk with great relish. His son Biff has been excluded from the College basketball team because of bad grades (having been flunked in chemistry class by Prof Brainard), and without this star player, the Medfield team is being trounced by Rutland College at half-time. The eccentric professor saves the day by ironing flubber onto the soles of the Medfield players' gym shoes, and the home team bounces to victory. The scheming Alonzo Hawk steals the professor's flying car and replaces it with an ordinary Model T. Meanwhile, Betsy is going to the college dance with Prof Ashton. There is a genuinely funny scene in which Brainard paints flubber onto his own shoes and pings around the dance hall. Disappointment follows when the Pentagon top brass come to see the new invention, but the 'dud' car won't fly. All is not lost - at least Brainard gets his girl back, because Betsy feels sorry for the bewildered genius and promises to help him recover his flubbermobile. The production is not exactly a lavish one. Shot in monochrome using simple sets, the film relies throughout on 'bouncing' jokes, as various characters discover the properties of gravity-defying flubber. The special effects are all fairly crude attempts to make people bounce and cars fly, using wires for lift and undercranking the camera. The written gags are weak, but the slapstick humour has a certain appeal. The plot's loose ends are neatly (and predictably) tied up, save that the Hawk-takes-over-the-campus theme is dropped without explanation. Brainard gets his car, Hawk is rescued from an uncontrollable flubber-bounce when he is tackled by the college football team, and the absent-minded professor flies his car to Washington to place his invention at Uncle Sam's disposal. Mildly enjoyable tosh as it is, the film somehow lacks gusto. The script is pedestrian and MacMurray, though likeable and photogenic, lacks the brio of Jerry Lewis.

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.

I saw "The Absent Minded Professor" when I was a kid and enjoyed it. Now, about 40 years later, I decided to watch it again....and find out if as an adult whether or not I'd enjoy this early Disney live-action film. Well, surprisingly, I did! The film stars Fred MacMurray as a strange professor who's created a strange anti-gravity substance called 'flubber'. But the problem is no one believes him...even after he easily proves it during a basketball game as well at the school dance. Part of the problem is that everyone is stupid. The other is that the evil Mr. Hawk (Keenan Wynn) is out to discredit him so that he can steal the secrets for himself. This is clearly a film that works best if you can just turn off your brain and enjoy the picture...something I was able to do. But cynics might thing it a bit silly....I sure didn't. I think it also helped that despite advances over the years in technology, the simple Disney special effects work well...even today. Clever and fun...a nice family film for everyone...except for the cynics and teenagers (I am being redundant here). By the way, if you enjoy this film, try Ray Milland's "It Happens Every Spring"...a film that no doubt inspired "The Absent Minded Professor".

In the sixties, France had "Jules and Jim"; Italy had "La Dolce Vita". But really, could they compare to this Disney classic? Could Oscar Werner or Marcello Mastroianni possibly compare with Fred MacMurray, with his toupee, pancaked face, wacky gleam in his eye as the, uh, nutty professor of Medfield College who discovers Flubber?? Could the flying Jesus in "Vita" measure up to Nancy Olson and Fred spooning amid the clouds in the Flubberized Model T? I think not. And forget the menage a trois in "Jules and Jim". I prefer the sexual tension between Fred, Nancy, and Elliot Reid. And Flubber will finally be put to good use for the benefit of all the civilized nations of the worlds. I love this movie. You will too. God Bless America. And Fred MacMurray.

...and one of the best by Disney. You can't see this film and not enjoy the time of you life. It's clever, funny, and inventive. Please forget Robin Williams' version. That was a waste of celluloid. I'm a professor and was just thinking about the "absent-minded " effect yesterday. Or was I?? anyway, we professors are cool. and so is this film. enjoy.

Disney made this movie in 1961. "The Absent Minded Professor" is about, well, see the title!!!!! He makes this flying rubber stuff known as "Flubber," and it can do many things from bounce off walls to making automobiles fly in the sky!!!!! This was seen in two versions: the colorized version, which I recall played on the Old Disney Channel so many times, and the B&W version, the version that I had seen first. My family rented this original version on VHS back in January 1998. And now, check out what I found in the trivia section: a recipe for Flubber: "To one pound of salt water taffy add one heaping tablespoon polyurethane foam, one cake crumbled yeast. Mix till smooth, allow to rise. Then pour into saucepan over one cup cracked rice with one cup water. Add topping of molasses. Boil till lid lifts and says 'Qurlp'." As Bill Nye says, "Well Now You Know!!!!!" 10/10

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.