rofessor Ned Brainard (MacMurray) has a lot of problems. He's about to lose his girl, Betsy Carlisle (Olson), because he keeps forgetting about their wedding. He's about to lose his college because a cutthroat alumnus, Alonzo Hawk (Wynn), wants to use the land for a housing development. And his college is about to lose the big basketball game because he flunked the star player, Biff Hawk (Tommy Kirk), who also happens to be Alonzo's son.
But Brainard has made a discovery far more important than these minor goings-on at Medfield College. What he's discovered is a substance that will revolutionize the world: flubber. Flubber is a sort of flying rubber that emits repulsive energy, which means it's just the thing for defying gravity. To demonstrate his new invention, and hopefully to win back Betsy's hand, Brainard turns his old Model T into a flying machine. But when he drives (and flies) the Tin Lizzy to Betsy's to pick her up for the game, he finds that he's too late...she's taken up with his arch-rival, an English professor named Shelby Ashton (Edward Andrews) from nearby Rutland College.
Discouraged but not undaunted, Brainard heads to the big game anyway, where Rutland is soundly pummeling Medfield 46-3 by halftime, and where most of the folks blame Brainard for the loss of Medfield's star player. Brainard decides to even the score up a bit by sticking some flubber on the bottoms of the Medfield players' shoes, giving them the ability to jump over their towering opponents. The trick works, and Medfield wins 47-46. But Betsy scoffs at him when he tries to explain that he was behind the victory. And to make matters worse, Alonzo has found out about flubber, and now he wants to get his hands on the miracle substance...by any means.
Disney leaves them flubbergasted
This is a surprisingly enjoyable movie of the G-rated variety, and it's easy to see why it spawned both a sequel (Son of Flubber, 1963) and a remake (Flubber, 1997). The story itself is not about the invention of flubber per se but about Brainard's relationship with Betsy and his quest to win her back after he inadvertently loses her. It is a classic tale that is given a lighthearted, science fictional twist, making it perfect viewing for younger kids who need (or whose parents think they need) a break from Hollywood's latest effects extravaganza.
This movie also fares reasonably well as a comedy, although it alternates between ho-hum slapstick routines and truly inspired moments. A nice example of the latter is the basketball game between Rutland and Medfield, which looks like the Harlem Globetrotters vs. the underage horse jockeys. It's hard to imagine that Disney could have come up with a more disadvantaged set of ballplayers than the Medfield team, and it makes for some fairly hilarious viewing. The special effects are also surprisingly good, as long as viewers remember that what they're seeing was state-of-the-art some 36 years ago.
On the downside, the film was colorized so poorly that it's actually an impediment to viewing. Some scenes retained their original black-and-white tones with just a smattering of color added here or there; others were colored wholly in one hue (such as when the fire truck arrived...suddenly all of the characters turned red, as did the trees, the sidewalk, etc.); and still others were just plain black-and-white. Purist arguments aside, this one would definitely have been better off if the colorizers had let it be.
Viewers interested in this movie--and that would be anyone looking for some wholesome and humorous fun--should look for the black & white version and skip the "full color through the magic of computerization!"
