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Summer Magic

Summer Magic

Music · Comedy · Family · 1963

Mother Carey, a Bostonian widow, and her three children move to Maine. Postmaster Osh Popham helps them move into a run-down old house and fixes it up for them. It's not entirely uninhabited, though; the owner, Mr. Hamilton, is a mysterious character away in Europe, but Osh assures them he won't mind their living there, since he won't be coming home for a long time yet. The children and a cousin who comes to live with them have various adventures before an unexpected visitor shows up

Movie details

Summer Magic

“THAT WONDERFUL HAYLEY! a-flitterin' in a romantic whirl of her own!”

1963 Music · Comedy · Family 1h 50m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.7 / 10

Community rating

Mother Carey, a Bostonian widow, and her three children move to Maine. Postmaster Osh Popham helps them move into a run-down old house and fixes it up for them. It's not entirely uninhabited, though; the owner, Mr. Hamilton, is a mysterious character away in Europe, but Osh assures them he won't mind their living there, since he won't be coming home for a long time yet. The children and a cousin who comes to live with them have various adventures before an unexpected visitor shows up

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Summer Magic?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

James Neilson

Written by

Sally Benson

Hayley Mills

Hayley Mills

Nancy Carey

Burl Ives

Burl Ives

Osh Popham

Dorothy McGuire

Dorothy McGuire

Mrs. Margaret Carey

Deborah Walley

Deborah Walley

Julia Carey

Una Merkel

Una Merkel

Mariah Popham

Eddie Hodges

Eddie Hodges

Gilly Carey

Michael J. Pollard

Michael J. Pollard

Digby Popham

Court is in session

Put Summer Magic on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.