The Absent-Minded Professor

The Absent-Minded Professor
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRobert Stevenson
Screenplay byBill Walsh
Based on"A Situation of Gravity"
by Samuel W. Taylor
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyEdward Colman
Edited byCotton Warburton
Music byGeorge Bruns
Production
company
Distributed byBuena Vista Distribution
Release date
  • March 16, 1961 (1961-03-16)[1]
Running time
97 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$25.3 million[2]

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 Samuel W. Taylor. The title character was based in part on Hubert Alyea, a professor emeritus of chemistry at Princeton University, who was known as "Dr. Boom" for his explosive demonstrations. The film stars Fred MacMurray as Professor Ned Brainard, alongside Nancy Olson, Keenan Wynn, Tommy Kirk, Leon Ames, Elliott Reid, and Edward Andrews. The plot follows Brainard as he invents a substance that defies gravity, which he later exploits through various means.

Released on March 16, 1961, the film was a box office success, and two years later became the first Disney film to have a sequel, Son of Flubber (1963). It was one of the first Disney films to be colorized (for the 1986 VHS release), and, along with The Shaggy Dog (1959) and Son of Flubber, is one of Disney's few black-and-white films to be produced after 1941. A remake titled Flubber with Robin Williams was released in 1997.

  1. ^ "Absent-Minded Professor, The (film)". Disney A to Z. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  2. ^ Box Office Information for The Absent Minded Professor. The Numbers. Retrieved February 16, 2023.