The NiteOwls review:  Actually this movie was too main stream to be a Thursday NiteOwl showing.  However, as we were having a four-Thursday Peter Brown marathon in the summer, we ran Summer Magic early one evening on the pretext of showing it for the kids.  In fact, most of the woman in the group remembered this movie with great affection.  Hayley Mills was very popular with baby boomers, sort of a 60's Shirley Temple.  Although Summer Magic was not of the same caliber as Disney's Pollyanna and Parent Trap, or her two British films Tiger Bay and Whistle Down the Wind, Hayley Mills brought an undeniable charm to all her movies.  The appearance of Peter Brown  provided a totally satisfying ending.  The part of Tom Hamilton was a relatively small part perfectly cast and perfectly executed.  Which leads us to:

Our Favorite Scene:  While the scene on the stairs when Hayley catches sight of Peter was also perfectly done, our vote goes to the scene at the end in which Nancy  finds out first who Tom is and then dances off with him.  Nancy remarks that Osh didn't tell her his name to which Tom replies, "Hamilton, Tom Hamilton."  Hayley responds "Hamilton" in a quizzical tone of voice to which Tom nods with a look that says, you'll get it in a second as she continues,. "That's a familiar sounding name."  He laughs genially.  "Tom Hamilton" she repeats.  He repeats back, "Tom Hamilton."   Suddenly she gets it.  "Any relation to . . . ?"  Tom nods. "Close?" she asks.  "Very close" he responds.  "Not our Mr. Hamilton.  Not the yellow peril Hamilton?"  Peter laughs and moves toward her as he says, "I think you look more like a yellow peril. [referring to her yellow dress]"  She moves backwards, "Whatcha gonna do to me?"  Tom takes Nancy in his arms, "Right now, dance with you" and they take a few steps as he puts his head closer and says, "And don't talk."  Nancy breathlessly responds, "Wasn't going to." as they whirl away amid the rest of the dancers.

"Hamilton, Tom Hamilton"

"That's a familiar sounding name"

"Not our Mr. Hamilton"

"Whatcha gonna do to me"

"Right now, dance with you."

"And don't talk."

When Summer Magic was released Peter and Hayley appeared on the cover of Parade Magazine with the query "What Makes a Good Date?"  [An ebay seller auctioning off an intact  copy of this issue, commented that it appeared a good date must be an underage girl with a man eleven years her senior, a reference to the fact that at the time Hayley was 17 and Peter was 28.]

In Search of the Castaways then Summer Magic seemed to indicate that Hayley was ready for romance.  And of course the media speculated on who she might find to be a suitable beau.  An entire Hayley Mills Magazine was released filled with pictures and bios of Hollywood's eligible young swains who might be right for Hayley.  To give them credit, although it was mentioned that Peter took Hayley to her first American baseball game and found her to have the wit, humor and charm of a woman of 25, there was no attempt to suggest what worked on the screen between a girl who looked 18 and man who looked 24 would work in real life between a girl of 17 and a man of 28.  One interesting potential match was suggested, between Hayley and Mike, the 19-year-old son of Kirk Douglas who was reportedly interested in an acting career.

MICHAEL DOUGLAS at 19

We were glad to find that Summer Magic was recently re-released on video.  It needed a refurbishing.  We noticed in comparing our old copy with the version released on the Disney channel, that in the old version some of the shots of Peter and Burl Ives cut most of Peter out.  The version shown on the Disney channel [and one hopes in the new version of the video] backs up the camera and shows them both.