''Son of Flubber'' is a 1963 American science fiction comedy film directed by Robert Stevenson and produced by

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

. It is the

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

to ''

The Absent-Minded Professor ''The Absent-Minded Professor'' is a 1961 American science fiction comedy film directed by Robert Stevenson and produced by Walt Disney Productions. It is based on the 1943 short story "A Situation of Gravity" (May 22, 1943 ''Liberty'') by ...

'' (1961) and the first sequel to a Disney film.

Fred MacMurray Frederick Martin MacMurray (August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991) was an American actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films and a successful television series in a career that spanned nearly a half-century. His career as a major film le ...

reprises his role from the previous film as Ned Brainard, a scientist who has perfected a high-bouncing substance, Flubber ("flying rubber"), that can levitate an automobile and cause athletes to bounce into the sky. In addition to MacMurray,

Nancy Olson Nancy Ann Olson (born July 14, 1928) is an American retired actress. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in ''Sunset Boulevard (film), Sunset Boulevard'' (1950). She co-starred with William Holden in ...

, Keenan Wynn,

Ed Wynn Isaiah Edwin Leopold (November 9, 1886 – June 19, 1966), better known as Ed Wynn, was an American actor and comedian. He began his career in vaudeville in 1903 and was known for his ''Perfect Fool'' comedy character, his pioneering radio show ...

, Elliott Reid, and Tommy Kirk also co-star, reprising their roles from the previous film. Released on January 16, 1963, the film was shot in

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

, but a colorized version was released on VHS in 1997.

Plot

Professor Ned Brainard's discovery of Flubber has not quite brought him or his college the riches he thought. The Pentagon has declared his discovery "top secret" and the IRS has slapped him with a huge tax bill, even though he has yet to receive any money from his invention. Ned thinks he may have found the solution in the form of "Flubbergas", or the "son of Flubber", which can actually change the weather. Brainard's experiments with the ray projector make it rain in his kitchen and in his garage, but it has one unfortunate side effect: Flubbergas only works on makeshift clouds, but when it comes to real clouds, there is no rain at all, instead, it shatters the glass all over town. This places Brainard on the lam from Alonzo P. Hawk, who is planning to close Medfield College, and whose insurance company must pay the claims for the broken glass. Mr. Hawk traces the damage to Ned, and threatens legal action after Ned rejects his offer to become partners in a glass company scam. Meanwhile, at home, Ned's wife Betsy is fed up with the stress of their financial situation and jealous of the attentions lavished on him by an old high school girlfriend Shelby brings around while Shelby starts trying to woo her again. When Brainard feels threatened by Professor Shelby's attentions towards his wife, Brainard uses it to make it rain inside Shelby's car, complete with thunder and lightning, to frighten the man, causing his car to flood with water inside, and to crash right into the same police car that he wrecked in ''the Absent-Minded Professor''. After Flubbergas is used to help Medfield win a football game over their rival Rutland, Betsy dumps Shelby when Ned is arrested over the glass breaking. On trial, Ned's future seems hopeless as he is faced with the various property damage lawsuit. A prosecutor urges Ned to return to his classroom and give up his science experiments. However, the county agricultural extension agent shows the court that crops all around the town have experienced accelerated growth because of Ned's experiments, because of what the agent names "Dry Rain". The professor is acquitted and he and Betsy are reunited. Driving home in their flying car, Betsy tells Ned she is now crazy about his science experiments, and soon they share a kiss. In the last scene, the football filled with Flubbergas flies into outer space.

Cast

Production

This is a film in which

and his son Keenan Wynn appear together. They also each appeared in ''The Absent Minded Professor''. Plans to make a sequel to ''The Absent-Minded Professor'' were announced in November 1961. According to

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

's daughter, her father (who abhorred sequels) made the film only because there were unused gags from ''The Absent-Minded Professor''. The scene, where the Professor makes it rain into Shelby's car, causing the accident with a police car, is very similar to the scene in ''The Absent-Minded Professor'', where the Professor repeatedly jumps on top of Shelby's car, honking his Model T horn, causing an accident with the same police car. The football game was filmed on a field constructed in a studio, with players suspended by wires. Medfield College, which was also the setting for the earlier film ''The Absent-Minded Professor'', was later used for Disney's '' Dexter Riley'' trilogy: '' The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes'' (1969), '' Now You See Him, Now You Don't'' (1972), and '' The Strongest Man in the World'' (1975), with all three starring

Kurt Russell Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17, 1951) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor before transitioning to leading roles as an adult in various genres such as action adventures, science-fiction, westerns, romance films, co ...

and Cesar Romero. Keenan Wynn would play a version of Alonzo Hawk once more, in ''

Herbie Rides Again ''Herbie Rides Again'' is a 1974 American comedy film directed by Robert Stevenson from a screenplay by Bill Walsh, based on a story by Gordon Buford. The film is the second installment in the ''Herbie'' film series and the sequel to ''The L ...

'' (1974), where his middle initial inexplicably changes from P to A.

Reception

''Son of Flubber'' was a critical and commercial success. It grossed $22,129,412 at the box office, earning $7.1 million in theatrical rentals, making it the 6th highest-grossing film of 1963. The film holds an 88% "Fresh" rating on the review aggregate website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

. It was less well-received critically than the original.

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though some ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote: "It is crazy, of course, in the spirit of old-fashioned sight-gag slapstick farce, but it is fun—and, indeed, a bit of a satire on the weird inventions of the new atomic age." '' Variety'' opined that the film "doesn't fill its father's footprints" and "lacks the ingenuity, clarity and neatness of its memorable progenitor. Fortunately, though, individual scenes within the less effective whole have the same uproarious, bellylaugh quality that characterized the original." Philip K. Scheuer of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' wrote: "Since I had no laugh-o-meter handy I was unable to clock the yocks but I am sure 'Son of Flubber' will hold its own against ''The Absent-Minded Professor'' and '' Bon Voyage''." ''

The Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...

'' thought that the film "strains too hard to repeat the success of its predecessor, ''The Absent-Minded Professor'', and is further weighed down by some unnecessary complications presented with little wit or sparkle. But the slapstick is generally as inventive as before, taking in a delightful spoof commercial for flubber and some excellent special effects when Professor Brainard launches his home-made clouds and his flubberised football player."

References

External links