Witch's Night Out

Plot synopsis:
The Story takes place in ANYTOWN. The plot involves a depressed witch who is 'summoned' by a pair of children, named Small and Tender, who are upset at not being able to scare anyone on Halloween. The witch turns them into a werewolf and ghost (previously their Halloween costumes), and their babysitter Bazooey into a Frankenstein's monster. The witch then takes them to the Halloween party-in-progress at her isolated mansion on the edge of town. However, the citizens of the town get offended at the thought of real monsters in their town, and form a mob, under the leadership of the straight-laced 'Goodly'. The witch loses her magic wand, which gets attached to a woman named Malicious, and is unable to turn Bazooey and the kids back to humans. The group of supernatural beings is chased through the town and forest by the mob, eventually losing them. Malicious and her partner, Rotten, misuse the wand's powers, which causes a lot of damage to the town, but also summons the witch and the kids to their location. Regaining her wand, the witch uses its power to turn Malicious and Rotten into monsters, while turning the Frankenstein, ghost and werewolf back into Bazooey, Tender and Small. Eventually, the witch uses her powers to restore everything to normal, showing the town that she isn't evil. The town quickly accepts the witch, and she starts turning people into what they want to be for Halloween.
A disco song entitled "Witch Magic" was sung in this film.

Tags: psychedelic

Review:
Charming..
Now many people may not know but Leach and Rankin , the husband and wife team,  was  one of the earlier Canadian animation studio's.
The backgrounds are gently rendered by Jean  Rankin and the animation is drawn by JohnLeach and a small crew.
The voice of Gilda  Radner supplies a beautiful Gloria Swanson , Sunset Blvd type witch .
Having had success  with  another earlier film " Gift Of Winter" ,  John and Jean managed to get this film produced.
Their animation process was unique in both how the backgrounds and animation were  rendered.
The animation was drawn directly on cel  with ink pens and with no predrawings .
This was Johns way of forcing himself to let it happen and quite frankly his animation was  odd yet terrific.
He was a powerful painter and his hand  was sure and dynamic because of  it .
It blended beautifully with Gildas eccentric witch voice and is still unique after all these  years .
The two creators broke up later just before John started work on the ill fated "Lets  Play Grown Ups"  but they have left a wonderful film that is worthy of being rescued and  restored as a Canadian Classic.
Definately worthy of watching..
Odd Halloween Special.
Witch's Night Out is a bizarre late 70s Halloween cartoon with some surprisingly adult subtexts.
It follows the adventures of a witch who helps some trick or treaters by changing them into their favorite monsters.There are a number of things that set this special apart, starting with its soundtrack.
It has an electronic, disco-influenced score, reminding one a bit of Electric Light Orchestra.
This goes well with the at times psychedelic animation style.
Although the animation itself is rather clunky, the character designs are rather interesting, with the witch looking like a dominatrix.However, the film's most distinctive quality is a subtext of emotional and even sexual repression.
For example, one timid character ends up transformed into a very sexualized vampire.
It'll go over the kids' heads, but adults might have a laugh..
great - but different.
I saw this when it first aired, I was 9 at the time and loved it, it was different, it had a bizarre yet oddly engrossing animation style, and a clever wit about it.
Now 29 years later I found an old rental copy (this was out briefly on VHS and has never been out on DVD).
This is just as odd and cool as I remembered.
I don't understand why this never became a yearly special on TV.
After its initial broadcast, it just seemed to fade into obscurity.
Hopefully someone will see fit to release it on disc.
I mean copies on ebay routinely sell for $20 - $60, so someone remembers this sucker other than me.
Well, I'm glad I found a copy, as now my kids who are crazy for anything Halloween, will be one of the very few of their generation to ever see it.Oh, it also has one of the coolest theme songs, it stuck in my head for 29 years..
More fun than 10 "Charley Brown", Great Pumpkins !!!!!!.
Although its been nearly 29 years from the first time I viewed this on its original TV broadcast.
It still rings with humor in my memories.
The animation is a bit choppy but the uniqueness of the story line and not the same old, same old; has made me wonder.
Why this cartoon never made it to any classic so called status?
Let alone sequels.
Have found it recently here @ "IMdb" on line.
And learned that the cast was as special as the story.
But also so surprised that it is not carried at my local library.
It should be a definite hand me down to be enjoyed by all.
There was an all-star cast of voices utilized in the production of this movie; for example Gilda Radner, one of the most talented and epic comedic talents of the 20th century!
Again this animated, made for television movie should be viewed by all!!!
REA.
Very funny and weird film from the late 70's..
I haven't seen this cartoon since I was a kid in the late 70's and until I found some info on the web (search under Bazooey) I couldn't even remember its name.
All these years I've remembered the name Bazooey.......friends though I made it up...
It was a great cartoon, although very dated.
I recommend it to anyone who has kids.
With reference to the previous comments regarding sexual innuendo or imagery, I can tell you it would be totally lost on most kids, so nothing to worry about.
I really liked the artistry and the animation; the weird nature of the characters, the odd shapes and mono colored people..
Halloween, Witch Magic...Halloween!.
I love, love, love this movie!
I remember watching it as a kid.
Then, when I was lucky enough to find a copy on a "bargain basement" online shop, I was thrilled!
My three year old watched it 4 times, yesterday (It's 26 minutes long, so I suppose that wasn't long enough for her).
The only questionable portion, for me, is the suggestiveness of the females in the animation.
It's not terrible, but when one of the characters becomes a vampiress, It's kind of funny that her costume is a bikini.A great holiday film!.
Traditional Fun. Every year at holiday times, my family always watches the same specials.
Come Halloween time, this is one of our favorites.
My only complaint with this  special is the colors.
Every single person is a different color, and it is kind of annoying and distracting the first couple of times that you watch it.
But it has a great voice cast, and is worth seeing..
Adorable NON-scary fun!.
Great for kids!
A classic must have for your Halloween munchkin.
A wonderful look at a washed up witch, & a town that has forgotten how much fun Halloween can be.
Gilda Radner is hilarious!
The animation although a little outdated is still engaging.
So pick up a copy, & enjoy!.
Creepy witch.
I remember watching this as a kid and that witch still creeps me out!
Like she's serious nightmare fuel for me.
It's a strange flashback to my childhood..
A Reminder About The Halloween Spirit..
I don't believe I ever heard of this animated Halloween special nor do I remember seeing this when I was little/younger before finding out this was airing on This TV over a couple of months ago.
I won't say no wonder I don't recall viewing nor hearing of this one because it's rare, that's not exactly the case since I also learned that after originally airing on NBC, it aired on Fox and the Disney Channel from 1983 to the late '90s.
Oddly, I don't remember it ever airing on Fox either and it airing on DC was unbeknown to me.Anyway, to get to the point of my review.
This is an inventive Halloween gem and Halloween high jinks abound when a witch, who's dejected that nobody has sought after her for quite some time, soon becomes upbeat once she hears of a couple of kids named Small and Tender wish they could be a real werewolf and a real ghost.
In the meantime, four adults named Goodly, Nicely, Rotten, and Malicious prepare and set up everything for a Halloween party.
That night, while Small and Tender are being read a bedtime story by their babysitter, Bazooey, the Witch rides on her flying broom and zooms to their house, crash landing through the kids' bedroom window upstairs.
She arrives to turn Small and Tender into what they desired with her wand, then turns Bazooey into a Frankenstein's monster at his request.
Afterwards, the four head to the Halloween party to have some fun scaring the party-goers.
As Small, Tender, and Bazooey do so, it worked so much the party-goers are convinced they're actually the real things, maybe it worked a little too well.
This leads to a misunderstanding when the townspeople decide to form a mob and pursue the foursome, but this is resolved later.Another reviewer pointed out the odd, abnormal, unconventional names of the characters.
With Goodly and Nicely, as well as Rotten and Malicious, I believe they're named as such, because the former pair are supposed to represent polar opposites and counter the latter pair, especially pertaining to their differing attitudes toward the holiday.
Small and Tender's names refer to what children are.
Bazooey's name is simply nonsensical.
One of my favorite parts is after Rotten and Malicious steal the Witch's wand, they attempt to conjure up what they want, but they fail at it, as neither seems to know what they're doing and don't seem to be well-versed in magic.
Although the animation isn't quite bad, I wish it were better and it would've been great to see it on the same level as today's animated things.
I like that the citizens are multicolored, which I don't find distracting, and the voice cast did great.
I wonder if this served as somewhat of an inspiration for one of the Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror segments, "I've Grown a Costume On Your Face", which has a similar plot.
I loved this so much, I, too, wish somehow, something else could've been done with the characters and this served as a pilot to a series.
This gives a message on what the Halloween spirit is, all in the name of thrills and fun.
The whole thing was/is great, I enjoyed it..
Looking For John Leach.
I am on a search since i was 9 for this man.
I am a animator working in the bizz .
his film was the reason I went into animation.
I was able to talk to a person that knew him but had know idea where he is now.
Tony molesworth the voice of Small was very nice but had know idea where he is.
If anyone has any info on this great man please let me know.
I would like to thank him for putting me on the path of what I love to do.
And it all started with Witch's Night Out that I watched over a million times.
So much that I broke the tape back in 89.
LOL.
But with the power of DVD I was able to burn it.
I mean really the art work the BG"s I was in love from day one.
People started looking like these characters to me.
i wanted to live in a world were we are all different colors.
I loved the voice work as well as the music.
I wish he would have used these characters more..
Wonderful.
Saw this cartoon one time when it came out, with Gilda Radner as the witch.Everyone else was illustrated in one solid color, which affected my cartooning ideas later on.
Characters had atypical names, which was a turnoff as a kid, but now I see it as fun.Artwork AND animation worked wonderfully, as does the unexpectedly delightful twist at the end.I found this decades later on VHS and enjoyed it even more.Surprised I don't have a review up for it.The strange little song was also fun..
Pretty bad, even for the 1970s.
"Witch's Night Out" is a 1978 half-hour television movie that will maybe get some attention again this Halloween.
But even if it packed with monsters and witches, it is not a scary film, but one that also very little ones can watch.
The animation is really bad here, especially the characters, who all consist of almost only one color.
Now this could be an interesting idea if this color would specify something in terms of their character (like in the new movie "inside Out" for example), but this is not the case.
Also the characters' shapes are not particularly well done.
I have seen cartoons from 35 years earlier that have better animation.
I cannot be too harsh on John Leach here, the man who wrote, directed this short film and also voices one of the characters as he was obviously not prolific at all.
Neither at this point nor afterward.
But that is fine as this little movie does not make me want to see anything else by him.
Voice cast including Emmy nominees Gilda Radner and Catherine O'Hara is not too bad, but not very good either.
Same can be said about the story.
Mediocre all around with pretty bad animation.
Not recommended.