Walt Disney Poductions' Candleshoe is a comedy crime caper based upon Michael Innes' novel Christmas at Candleshoe.
Leaving the mean streets of Los Angeles, Casey Brown (Jodie Foster) heads to England to hustle the elderly Lady St Edmund (Helen Hayes) out of her dilapidated stately home Candleshoe. Within Candleshoe lays the hidden treasure of pirate Captain St Edmund to which Casey holds the first clue. In cahoots are disgraced former Candleshoe employee Clara (Vivien Pickles) and her brother Bundage (Leo Mckern) who masterminds the misdemeanour. Welcomed into the Candleshoe family, Casey turns the tables on Bundage and sets about the treasure hunt with intent to save the debt racked estate from foreclosure.
A first rate cast was assembled for this production. 15 year old Jodie Foster was fresh from her Oscar nominated turn in Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976). She does excellent work here too and it is to her credit that she is not overshadowed by the acting heavyweights in support. Most notably David Niven, donning multiple disguises as butler, gardener, chauffeur and a visiting Colonel, in what is perhaps his best late career role. As criminal mastermind Bundage, Leo Mckern strikes the right balance between comic and menace. While Helen Hayes, in her final feature film, impresses as the grandmotherly Lady St Edmund.
A neat premise also lifts the movie above the usual formulaic fluff the Disney Studios were producing in the late 70s. Rosemary Anne Sisson's and David Swift's screenplay mixes humour and excitement as the race is on to recover the spoils before the bad guys. Norman Tokar directs at a surprisingly steady pace, but one that allows the mystery to unfold and for characters to develop so that Casey's change of heart is completely believable.
The comedy does occasionally resort to the old Disney brand slapstick, especially in the final confrontation between kids and crooks where umbrellas, saucepans and a hostess trolley are weapons of choice. This is somewhat regrettable but doesn't undermine the movie's other obvious qualities and admittedly, does raise the odd cheap laugh.
There is something Ealing-esq about this old fashioned romp; its ragtag kids and bungling crooks recalling the likes of Hue and Cry (Charles Chrichton, 1947) and The Ladykillers (Alexander MacKendrick, 1955). Indeed, it would be fair to say that this movie belongs to a bygone age. Its view of a genteel England of stately homes and steam trains must have seemed downright archaic in 1977. However, in 2019 it feels innocent and charming; nostalgic for an idealised period in British history which never really existed.
With a superior story and a distinguished cast Candleshoe is easily a highlight of the Disney Studios' live-action catalogue. Quaint it may be, but it is also funny and thrilling with a lump in the throat finale. Equally entertaining for children and adults, this treasure hunt movie is a gem.
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