Escape to Witch Mountain
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| Escape to Witch Mountain | |
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 Promotional movie poster for the film |
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| Directed by | John Hough |
| Produced by | Ron Miller Jerome Courtland |
| Written by | Robert M. Young |
| Starring | Eddie Albert Ray Milland Donald Pleasence |
| Music by | Johnny Mandel |
| Cinematography | Frank V. Phillips |
| Editing by | Robert Stafford |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Distribution Company |
| Release date(s) |  March 21, 1975 August 21 December 11 January 29, 1975 February 6 February 11 February 16 February 27 April 9, 1977 |
| Running time | 97 min. |
| Country | U.S.A. |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Escape to Witch Mountain was originally a science fiction novel written by Alexander Key in 1968. It was made into a film by Walt Disney Productions in 1975, directed by John Hough. A remake directed by Peter Rader was released in 1995.
Tagline: Caught in a world where they don't belong... they have one chance to escape!
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[edit] Summary
The story is about two orphans, Tony and Tia, who have moderate paranormal abilities. Tony's music causes inanimate objects to move according to his thought, whereas Tia can open any door as well as communicate with any mammal. Whilst both children can talk normally, Tia can also communicate via telepathy, although she only talks to Tony in this way. After their foster guardian, Mrs. Malone, dies, they are placed by social services in a juvenile detention home under grim, unwholesome conditions. Both have suppressed memories of their past, but discover a clue — a map hidden on Tia's "star case", a box with a double-star design on it. When a man claiming to be the brother of their deceased mother shows up at the detention center to take custody of them, they instinctively know he is not their uncle and has ulterior motives. With the assistance of an inner-city Irish priest, Father O'Day, the pair run away, following the map's route leading towards the Blue Ridge Mountains. As their memories begin to return, they realize that they are actually of extraterrestrial origin; their people having come to Earth because their own planet was dying. In the end, Tony and Tia find their way to their own people. When their would-be captor, Lucas Deranian, attempts to interrogate Father O'Day, the priest speaks to the effect that God is capable of creating many worlds and many peoples; that there are mysteries beyond Deranian's "narrow dreaming".
As with most of Alexander Key's stories, the embattled protagonists find that most of the people they meet are untrustworthy, greedy and hateful.
In the film version, the children and their black cat, Winkie (who also features in the book), are taken in by a power-hungry millionaire whose henchman poses as their uncle. They escape from his clutches and are helped toward their destination by a crotchety Irish widower, who is initially reluctant to let these two juvenile hitchhikers into his life and his Winnebago camper. The story has been considerably cleaned and lightened up from the original novel, and the children's powers have been amplified.
[edit] Sequel
A sequel was made in 1978, titled Return from Witch Mountain, starring Bette Davis and Christopher Lee. Author Alexander Key had nothing to do with this film, though he did write a second novel based on the film's screenplay. The plot concerns Tony and Tia dropped off at Pasadena's Rose bowl Stadium for a vacation amongst humans. Their trip is interrupted by a vision of a falling man. Tony leaves Tia in their taxi while he goes to investigate, and ultimately saves the man's life. His intervention is witnessed by an evil scientist, who kidnaps him and uses drugs and a mind-control device to make Tony his slave for a robbery heist. Tia befriends a Disneyfied pre-teen LA "gang" whose members help her search for Tony. In the end, Tia must free Tony and prevent both a major gold robbery and a nuclear power plant incident.
A made-for-TV sequel called Beyond Witch Mountain was made in 1982, and was intended to be the pilot for a TV series based on Escape To Witch Mountain, which never materialized.
[edit] Cast of the original version (1975)
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[edit] Summary (1995)
The 1995 remake of the film changes several details of the original. The twins, now named Danny and Anna, are found by Zoe Moon (Perrey Reeves) a young waitress, who notices when the children's hands touch, they create a wave of purple energy. However, before she can do anything, the infant children are separated.
Danny (Erik von Detten) spends the next few years of his life between foster families, none of which he feels at home with. Fed up with trying to find a home for him, his social worker decides to leave him at an orphanage with other children, where he can a least make some friends. He is reunited with Anna (Elisabeth Moss), but they are initially not aware of their relationship, despite their odd mannerisms such are arranging the food on their trays exactly the same way. Once they realize they are siblings and possess supernormal powers, they catch the attention of Edward Bolt (Robert Vaughn), a local magnate seeking to develop the nearby Witch Mountain. He decides he wants to take care of them as their foster father; Danny is happy with the development, since he now has his sister and will have a nice home, but Anna is more apprehensive about being adopted by Bolt.
During one of their outings, Anna uses her powers. As a result, the owner of the shop takes them aside, revealing that he has the same powers they do. He goes on to say that they are many more like them, all extraterrestrials from a planet where everyone has a twin. They came to earth to explore, but all of them separated out of quarrels they experienced on earth. The shopkeeper has been working to reunite them all and take them home from Witch Mountain. Danny dismisses him as joke, but Anna believes there is some truth to what he is saying. Meanwhile, Zoe sees the purple light from the front of the shop and recognizes it; she confronts the shop owner in hopes of finding the twins she saw, but he dismisses her accusations, though he leaves her some clues as to what will happen to Anna and Danny if she wants to help them.
Bolt reveals that he intends to use Anna and Danny to blast open Witch Mountain without explosives. When Anna discovers the truth, Bolt decides to separate them and use Anna as a hostage so Danny will do as he asks. The two escape with help from Zoe, Bruno the Hermit (Brad Dourif), Bolt's chauffeur Luthor (Brad Dourif), and Anna's friend from the orphanage to Witch Mountain, where the shopkeeper and many other reunited twins are waiting for them, the last two sets of twins (the hermit and the chauffeur are revealed to be twins as well) to join them. Using the shopkeeper's powers (the purple light), they all return home in pairs, with Anna and Danny going last to close the gate between their home world and Earth. Bolt arrives too late to capture them and the shopkeeper casually comments that he'll be waiting for the next group of tourists. The waitress leaves with what she has discovered from the experience.
[edit] Cast of the 1995 remake
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