Toon Talk: Parent Trap Vault Disney 2-Disc DVD - Jun 25, 2002

Toon Talk: Parent Trap Vault Disney 2-Disc DVD
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Toon Talk Trivia:

  • Hayley Mills returned as Susan and Sharon in the 1986 Disney Channel sequel, The Parent Trap II, followed by The Parent Trap III and The Parent Trap Hawaiian Honeymoon, both in 1989.
  • The Parent Trap was remade in 1998, starring Lindsay Lohan as the twins, renamed Hallie and Annie, with Natasha Richardson and Dennis Quaid as the parents. The film was written and directed by Nancy Myers, her directorial debut. She previously wrote and produced the two Father of the Bride films for Disney’s Touchstone.
  • The Parent Trap is based on the book Das Doppelte Lottchen, a.k.a. Lisa and Lottie, by Erich Kastner (a.k.a. Berthold Burger), who also wrote the source novel for another Disney film, Emil and the Detectives.
  • Brian Keith also starred in the Disney features Ten Who Dared, Moon Pilot, Savage Sam, A Tiger Walks, Those Calloways and Scandalous John and the television programs The B.R.A.T. Patrol, The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca, Johnny Shiloh, The Tenderfoot, Bristle Face and Walter and Emily.
  • Charles Ruggles, the ace character actor who played grandfather Charles McKendrick, also appeared in Son of Flubber, The Ugly Dachshund and Follow Me, Boys!
  • Una Merkel (housekeeper Verbena) was also seen in Summer Magic and A Tiger Walks.
  • Thirty-five years later, Joanna Barnes, who played snooty gold-digger Vicky Robinson in the original Parent Trap, starred as Vicki Blake, the mother of the snooty gold-digger Meredith Blake in the 1998 Parent Trap remake.
  • Nancy Kulp (Camp Inch’s Miss Grunecker) provided the voice of Frou-Frou the horse in The Aristocats, and co-starred in Moon Pilot.  She is best remembered for her Miss Hathaway on The Beverly Hillbillies TV series starring Buddy Ebsen.
  • Hayley Mills’ dad, Swiss Family Robinson patriarch John Mills, makes a cameo appearance in The Parent Trap as Mitch’s golf caddy. Most of his scene was cut, but he is still seen in the film in two long shots.
  • ‘Title Makers’ Xavier Atencio, Bill Justice and T. Hee returned for similar duties on The Shaggy Dog.
  • The Parent Trap was nominated for two Academy Awards (Film Editing and Sound), two Golden Globes (Best Picture - Comedy, Best Actress - Musical/Comedy: Hayley Mills) and a Writer’s Guild of America nomination for David Swift’s screenplay. Although it didn’t win any of those awards, it did win an American Cinema Editors Award for editor Philip W. Anderson.

Final Word:

“I don’t know if he had a format as such, but he certainly perused the positive.”

-- Hayley Mills, on Walt Disney, in Disney Legend: Hayley Mills.

Correction: In my recent reviews for the Vault Disney DVDs of Swiss Family Robinson and Pollyanna, I failed to include full descriptions of all of the Galleries available in the Production Archive sections. So, for completeness, here they are:

Swiss Family Robinson: Advertising (three galleries of Lobby Cards (gorgeous, full-color), Merchandise (comic strips, storybooks, records, sheet music) and Posters (interesting to note how none of the characters are on the correct animals in the race scene in some of these; also includes close-ups of the artwork)), Documents (press invites, advertising art … including a coloring contest!), and Screenplay Excerpt (the “Bertie is a Girl!” scene).

Pollyanna: Advertising (Lobby Cards, including a rather grisly shot of Pollyanna’s crumpled body after her fall), Posters (includes close-ups of the clever caricatures of the cast used in some of the posters), Merchandise (only the comic strip, a comic book and a couple of records, although more are seen in the Pollyanna Collector featurette elsewhere on the disc)), Documents (more press invites and advertising art … with lots of shots of that Pollyanna wink) and Screenplay Excerpt (“Pollyanna Meets Aunt Polly”; the script features in depth character descriptions and varies at some points from the final scene).

Coming Soon in Toon Talk:

  • Nickelodeon goes back to the movies with Hey, Arnold, opening June 28th.
  • The Powerpuff Girls hit the big screen in their very own movie, opening July 3rd.
  • Disney’s latest sci fi/fantasy flick, Reign of Fire, starring Newsies‘ Christian Bale, opens July 12th.

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-- Kirby C. Holt

Kirby, a former Walt Disney World Resort Cast Member (and Trivia Champ), is a lifelong Disney fan and film buff. He is also an avid list maker and chronic ellipsis user ...

Took Talk: Disney Film & Video Reviews by Kirby C. Holt is posted whenever there's something new to review.

The opinions expressed by our Kirby C. Holt, and all of our columnists, do not necessarily represent the feelings of LaughingPlace.com or any of its employees or advertisers. All speculation and rumors about the future plans of the Walt Disney Company are just that - speculation and rumors - and should be treated as such.

-- Posted June 25, 2002

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