Son of Flubber (1963)

Wonderful Movie

The Age of Commercialism

Blistering performances.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Professor Ned Brainard (Fred MacMurray) needs money for Medfield College. The Pentagon has made flubber top secret. He's running into red tape over the payment. The IRS is after him despite not receiving any actual money. Mr. Hawk is eager to see him fail. The college needs $350k by the first of the month to pay Hawk back. Ned's solution is to invent weather controlling flubbergas. Betsy's not impressed. Despite his objection, Betsy invites Shelby. To Betsy's horror, Shelby invites Ned's old flame Desiree de la Roche/Mary Lee Spooner.Hawk is a solid villain. The IRS guy is more annoying than funny. Then the money issue gets overused. I have a problem with Betsy. She's made out to be a flighty jealous money-grubber. The movie still has the wacky invention and the socially tone-deaf professor but his dismissal of her isn't that nice either. Their relationship is problematic and seems to be built on rickety scaffolding. It's meant to be funny like a sitcom. The movie really needs to start the couple with love before it injects all the obstacles. That really turns me off.

Robert Stevenson returned to direct this sequel to "The Absent-Minded Professor" which also sees Fred MacMurray return as Medfield college professor Brainard, who is working on a new invention derived from flubber called flubbergas, which he hopes will make the school a fortune, since the Pentagon put a hold on flubber itself for military use, and he has been sent a big tax bill by the IRS. Keenan Wynn returns as crooked businessman Alonzo Hawk, who also wants flubbergas for his own profit, while Brainard uses it to affect the weather and help the school football team. Equally silly sequel, only more so, and as a result is a slight step-down from the first. For kids mostly.

There is no disguising that this is an obvious attempt on Disney to cash in on the success of "The Absent Minded Professor" made 2 years earlier. No one can fault them for that - however, there seems to be little originality in this version. You would think they would have made a greater attempt at new gags and originality. Unfortunately, that is not the case.There is the same sports scene set-up. In AMP it was a basketball game. In SOF it is a football game. There is the same romantic rivalry between Brainard (Fred McMurray) and Professor Shelby Ashton (Elliott Reid), over Brainard's wife, Betsy (Nancy Olsen). They do throw in a 4th party in this film for good measure -Desiree de la Roche (Joanna Cook Moore) - as Brainard's old flame who has her sights set on him again. There is another prank on Professor Shelby while he is driving in his car (this time its filling with water from a Brainard created rain cloud inside the car). You still have Alonzo Hawks (Kennan Wynn) trying to destroy Medfield College by calling in their overdue loan. You have the same cops from the prior moving getting their new squad car destroyed again. So as you see, not a lot of originality here.The worst scene in my opinion is the ending of the court room scene. The giant fruit and the marching band were way over the top. I did like the stunts on the football field, however. Some of the jumping and flying ball players looked very realistic. I also liked the closing shot of the satellites, the flying football, and earth in the background. Pretty good special effects.It is interesting that McMurray was an accomplished saxophone player, so look for him playing the actual music during the Halloween party. Also, Paul Lynde makes his film debut in this movie. I liked seeing William Demarest (later to be Uncle Charley on "My Three Sons") in a small role that matches him up with McMurray. He doesn't begin "MTS" until 1965 which is 2 years after this film. Also, you may remember Joanna Cook Moore as the actress that played Andy's girlfriend Peg on "The Andy Griffith Show" for 4 episodes in 1962. Perhaps it helped her land this role. She has another claim to fame - she married Ryan O'Neal in 1963 and is the mother of Tatum O'Neal.Overall, this sequel doesn't play quite as well as the first. It is still entertaining in places and has a host of noteworthy supporting players.

This is the sequel to "The Absent Minded Professor" [1961]. Slower, and more uneven. The "Absent Minded Professor" was mainly a one-joke affair; Fred MacMurray's fantastic invention "flubber", and by the time "Son of Flubber" came out, it had worn a bit thin. For instance, the SoF copied the AMP with a sports contest. In AMP it was the basketball game half-way through, but in SOF it was a football game as the grand finale [which shows you the tired plot line]. It does have its moments, though...watch for Paul Lynde as the sportscaster, as well as the father/son team of Ed and Keenan Wynn.