THE NEW ADVENTURES OF HEIDI (1978, U.S.)

The New
Adventures
of Heidi

(aka HEIDI'S CHRISTMAS,
VACACIONES EN NEW YORK LA SENORITA HEIDI)
(1978) color 98 minutes
Pierre Cossette Productions /
National Broadcasting Company
Story: Johanna Spyri
("based on characters in her book, 'Heidi' ")
Screenplay: John McGreevey
Music & Lyrics: Buz Kohan
Music Orchestrated and Conducted by Allyn Ferguson
Cinematography: John Nickolaus
Editing: Gene Fowler
Production Designer: Michael Baugh
Executive Producer: Pierre Cossette
Produced by Charles B. Fitzsimons
Directed by Ralph Senensky

With: Katy Kurtzman (Heidi), Burl Ives (Wilhelm Beck, aka "Grandfather"), John Gavin (Dan Wyler), Maryln Mason ("Mady"), Sherrie Wills (Elizabeth Wyler), Sean Marshall (Peter), Alex Henteloff (Chef Andre), Charles Aidman ("the Wild Man"), Walter Brooke (Cousin Tobias), Amzie Strickland (Cousin Martha), Molly Dodd (Mother Gertrude), Adrienne Marden (Sister Agnes), Arlen Stuart (Miss Horowitz, the hotel telephone operator), Barry Cahill (Hotel Manager Kreggs), Bartlett Robinson (Oscar, the Butler), Fred Lerner (Saess), Lola Mason (Birgette), Buck Young (Jensen), Karl Ellis (Harold Sands), Kim Fowler (Andre's Marie, Andre's wife) (voice only)

***

Plot outline: Heidi, a young girl, and her grandfather, Wilhelm Beck, live high in the beautiful Swiss Alps. Every day, they sing a song of devotion to the mountains they love. At night, they settle down to dinner, and thank their god for all his many graces.

After dinner, Heidi sews while Grandfather whittles cute wooden animal figures. One night, Grandfather notices that his eyesight is fading. The next morning, Grandfather walks to Dorfli, and calls Cousin Tobias; because of his failing eyesight, he wants them to take Heidi away. Tobias reluctantly agrees it is the best thing.

Back on the mountain, Heidi and her good friend Peter, the shepherd, watch over their flock. Suddenly, from behind a rock, jumps a strange bearded man dressed in rags; it is the dreaded "Wild Man" of the mountain! The startled children run home, and call for Grandfather's assistance.

That evening, Grandfather tells Heidi that she will be leaving for the city next week. Heidi demands to know why, and the old man lies, saying he has found a good job which will take him traveling. Heidi cries.

That night, Heidi sings to god, asking why she has to leave. Downstairs, Grandfather sings to god as well, asking why life must be so cruel.

The next day, a VW Microbus full of schoolgirls arrives in downtown Dorfli. One of the girls, Elizabeth, stays in the bus and sulks, while the others run around town, causing mischief. Elizabeth sees Heidi and Peter dragging a goat through town. She is intrigued, so she follows the pair as they walk back up the mountain.

The nun who takes care of the girls notices Elizabeth's absence, and runs to tell her father, Dan Wyler, the rich owner of the Wyler hotel chain. Wyler is a cold, distant parent, and demands that the nun take care of the child, as she is paid to do.

That evening, Heidi and Grandfather are about to sit down to dinner, when they hear a commotion in the barn. Going to investigate, they discover Elizabeth sneaking about the house. Grandfather brings the runaway inside, and demands to know what she is doing way out there. "I was bored!", the spoiled child replies. She joins the two for dinner.

That night, Heidi and Elizabeth lay together in bed, sharing their histories until Grandfather tells them to go to sleep.

Next morning, Heidi shows Elizabeth all the animals. Grandfather then takes the girls to Dorfli, and they visit Mr. Wyler. Elizabeth wants to stay with Heidi, but Wyler insists she accompany him back to Zurich. The Wylers leave.

Walking back up the mountain, Grandfather's eyesight fails him again, and he falls. Heidi learns that this is the real reason he wants to send her away. Heidi rebels, and insists she be allowed to stay with him, and nurse him. Grandfather finally agrees, for this, after all, is what he really wants.

Next morning, after Heidi runs off to find Peter, Grandfather sings a lovely song of devotion to his chid. On the mountain, Peter sees the Wild Man sulking about the bushes, and decides to chase him. Heidi reluctantly follows. The kids chase the Wild Man to a raging river, but then lose him. Peter tries to climb the steep rocks. Heidi, worried, runs back to tell Grandfather.

Grandfather rounds up the men of the village, and a search is begun for Peter. Soon, they find the lad, his leg stuck in a ravine. The men rescue the lad. On the way home, Grandfather's sight fails him again, and he becomes disoriented, losing his way.

That night, a terrible thunderstorm rages. Heidi waits alone in the cabin, worried. Finally, Peter returns with the men, but there is no sign of Grandfather! Heidi insists the men go back out and look for him.

Next day, the men return with a horn, all they found of the Grandfather. The men take Heidi to the raging river, where she fears her Grandfather has met his end. Soon, "Cousin Tobias" and his wife show up to take Heidi away. Heidi packs her things, takes one last look at her home, bids farewell to Peter, and leaves.

In Dorfli, the group prepares to board a bus to Luzern, when Mady and Elizabeth drive up. They offer to take Heidi back to Zurich with them, to be a companion to the maladjusted and lonely Elizabeth. Tobias agrees. Mady, Elizabeth and Heidi drive to Zurich. Soon, Heidi is suffering an interview with the head nun of the Saint Marie-Elizabeth School for Girls about her schooling.

Heidi is amazed by Elizabeth's mansion home. Elizabeth shows her new friend to the bedroom they will share, where they sing a duet about the simple things in life. Mady calls Wyler, and invites him to dinner, but alas, he is too busy. Mady and the girls eat alone; neither of the girls has much of an appetite. That night, Heidi dreams of her mountain home, and of her beloved Grandfather.

Meanwhile, back on the mountain, we find that the Grandfather is hidden in a cave, being taken care of by the Wild Man! Grandfather screams at the crazy hermit for his unending silence, and the Wild Man listens intensely.

Back in Zurich, Mady and Wyler fight over plans for Xmas; she reminds him that he promised to spend Xmas with the girls, but he insists that business will find him in Manhattan. Exasperated, Mady storms out, and sings about her hard-headed boss, "That Man!". The perturbed Wyler also sings, about "Women!"

The holidays arrive. The schoolgirls all depart for their respective homes, and Mady conspires to send Heidi and Elizabeth to New York with their father! Wyler is taken aback, but he knows he is outnumbered, by women! He grabs Mady and gives her a big, fat kiss!

The Wyler's flight arrives in the Big Apple. Heidi is amazed by the skyscrapers, and agape at the ostentatious hotel lobby. Meanwhile, a flunky informs Wyler that Chef Andre has made a disaster of the hotel kitchen! Wyler goes to investigate. Meanwhile, Elizabeth and Heidi make thereselves at home in their gigantic suite, complete with Xmas tree!

In the hotel kitchen, Chef Andre is furious; his staff is a bunch of incompetents! Wyler tries to calm him down, but Andre slams his fist on the table until all of his souffles are ruined! Andre chases his staff away with a carving knife, and Wyler skulks out, a beaten man.

Upstairs, Heidi and Elizabeth enjoy the luxury of room service, but they still miss Xmas so much, they sing a duet about it. The girls then decide to sneak out of their luxury prison, and sightsee all alone in Manhattan!

Heidi and Elizabeth put on their blue and red topcoats, respectively, and visit a large toy store, where they sing of the joys of the season: "This is Christmas!" amidst a cornucopia of toys and stuffed animals.

Elizabeth breaks down and cries when she picks up a beautiful music box; it seems that her father had given her mother a new music box every Xmas. Heidi suggests that Elizabeth give her father a new music box, as it might warm up his cold, cold heart.

Back at the Wyler Manhattan, Wyler tries to decide what to do with his mutinous head chef. Miss Horowitz, the head phone operator, informs her boss that Andre and his wife have been fighting over the phone for weeks! This gives Wyler an idea...

Meanwhile, the girls return from their shopping trip with a large pile of gifts. Mady joins them, and they make plans for tomorrow. Downstairs, in the kitchen, Andre receives a long-distance call from his estranged wife. He weeps with joy when he hears her voice.

On Christmas eve, Wyler joins the girls in exchanging gifts. Heidi gives Wyler a cheesy travel kit, containing a thermometer, barometer and compass. Elizabeth gives her father the music box she bought as an experiment. Wyler opens the gift, breaks down, and leaves hurriedly. Elizabeth runs off in tears, while Heidi musically ponders, "Why Can't He See?"

Downstairs in the kitchen, Chef Andre and Wyler share a glass of brandy. Andre tells his boss of his new-found joy, as Wyler slowly begins to see the light.

Wyler returns to the darkened hotel room, and looks at the lovely gift from his only child. He musically laments, "Why Can't I See?" Wyler picks up the music box, and turns it on. Mady comes out of her bedroom, and hugs her father. Wyler apologizes for being such a jerk all these years.

Meanwhile, back on the mountain, the Wild Man shares a meal with Grandfather. The first words out of the crazy hermit's mouth is "Christmas!". The hermit then spills his guts; he tells a horrible story of losing his whole family in a bombing attack in WWII!

Soon, the Wyler entourage arrives back to Zurich, and soon they are trekking to Heidi's beloved mountain. Unbeknownst to them, the Wild Man watches from bushes! Heidi shows her friends her cherished home, but sobs uncontrollably when she remembers her lost Grandfather.

Heidi decides it would be unbearable to return to the cabin where she lived with her Grandfather, so decides to live with the Wylers. On their way back down the mountain, the group see a strange sight: the WIld Man escorting Grandfather! Heidi runs to her now completely-blinded Grandfather, and they embrace. Heidi thanks the Wild Man, and he welcomes her.

Wyler takes Grandfather and Heidi to Zurich, where the best surgeons in the world operate on the old man's eyes. Later, as the bandages are removed, Grandfather opens his eyes and beholds a lovely sight: his treasured one, smiling at him!

Heidi and Grandfather return to their mountain home, to live happily ever after.

***

THE NEW ADVENTURES OF HEIDI is certainly the ringer in the Heidi film canon, as it takes Johanna Spyri's characters and runs with them in a wholly new and refreshing direction, turning the cautionary childhood fable into a bizarre musical adventure with fantasy elements.

Like the arresting A GIFT FOR HEIDI (1958), NEW... HEIDI takes the 19th Century settings of the story and grafts them willy-nilly onto the modern world. The effect in both cases is disarming, but not unpleasant. In NEW... HEIDI, for instance, our first glimpse of the modern world is a little yellow VW Beetle, parked in the village square! At first it seems an anachronism, but when a gaggle of schoolgirls soon arrives in a bright red VW Microbus, we know the setting is deliberate.

The delightful child star Katy Kurtzman makes a most intriguing pre-teen Heidi, sporting the twin blond braids we have come to associate with the Swiss miss (although they appear nowhere in the original book), and dressed in Gingham for much of the trip.

Indeed, the influence of popular TV series of the day such as "The Little House on the Prairie" and "The Waltons" is evident in Heidi's look, as well as the general production design of Michael Baugh, which evokes the American Old West more than the Swiss Alps.

Regardless, Ms. Kurtzman is amazing in this multi-faceted role; she must convey both the guileless pluck of childhood and the effortless grace of budding adulthood. She also has to cry a lot, and sing a bunch of songs to boot! In this bravura performance, Katy does both with ease, essaying a fine job from a true professional.

The popular and always-welcome Burl Ives also gives a memorable performance as Grandfather (although some of his histrionics about his blindness border on the hyperattenuated).

NEW... HEIDI is a well-mounted made-for-TV production, featuring many emblems of the period, including garish color, trendy fashion, lots of zoom shots, and an abundance of location settings (our favorite being a wonderful shot of Park Avenue with about a foot of slush on it!). Indeed, NEW... HEIDI seems refreshingly avant-garde at times, with daring point-of-view camerawork and lovingly-crafted montage sequences. This was obviously no rushed "TV Movie of The Week".

Eschewing the original plot for a mix-n-match updating, Heidi's pal Klara is transformed into Elizabeth (a most precocious and engaging Sherrie Wills), a rich brat who gets bored easily. Her father, Dan Wyler (the underemotive John Gavin), is a cold-hearted businessman, an instantly recognizable 20th century updating of Klara's father, Herr Sesemann. Wyler's secretary Mady (Marilyn Mason), is a long-suffering love interest with great facial expressions.

There are several subplots which turn NEW... HEIDI into borderline fantasy. The most absurd is the introduction of a crazy "Wild Man" who lives in a cave and spies on people. Some extremely silly comic relief is provided by Wyler's head chef, Andre (Alex Henteloff), who sports the worst French accent we've ever heaard. And certainly, the lurid possibilities inherent in two restless, fetching pre-teens alone in New York City in the sex and drug-addled mid-1970's would nary be risen today.

Even odder, at exactly the 60 minute mark, we are taken aback by a most disturbing lap dissolve, in which an airliner appears to be flying straight into the World Trade Center... Accidental of course, but unnerving, nonetheless. History is funny; this bizarre and inadvertant moment might place THE NEW ADVENTURES OF HEIDI in the history books forever.

But what marks NEW... HEIDI as a classic overall is the inclusion of a passel of songs by Buz Kohan, ranging from the haunting to the lamentable. Even better, almost everyone in the cast gets to sing something!

We start off with a winsome theme song, "On the Mountain" sung by both Heidi and her Grandfather. "Please Let Her Stay" features an impressive, and poignant split-screen duet between Heidi and Grandfather. Ives' first solo, however, "Wherever Their is Heidi, There is Love", seems terribly off-key. Soon, Elizabeth and Heidi sing another lovely duet, about "The Simple Things", utilizing some impressive montage and choreography. Wyler and his love-starved secretary Mady warble the sexist, regressive "That Man!", and "Women!", two sorry tunes which could have easily been lifted from any number of obscure 1960 Broadway flops! The girls return in good form with another cheeky duet, "I Miss Christmas", and its sequel, "This is Christmas!", both done in a high-energy way, very much in fact, like similar tunes from the Broadway smash "Annie". Finally, Heidi musically ponders, "Why Can't He See?", about Grandfather, as he replies, naturally, "Why Can't I See?".

Warts and all, we love THE NEW ADVENTURES OF HEIDI. The location shooting, the infectious songs, and of course the compelling presence of Ms. Kurtzman all make this a most desirable and unique addition to Heidi film catalog. NEW... HEIDI has the uncanny ability to evoke both the spirit of the original Johanna Spyri tale, as well as the singular mythos of the mid-1970's, no mean feat indeed. There is really nothing else like it, and we here at www.kiddiematinee.com are terribly fond of it.

Originally shown as an "NBC Thanksgiving Holiday Special Presentation" 1978, NEW... HEIDI has (perhaps) sadly been relegated to the budget-label public-domain netherworld, where it surfaces on many different VHS and DVD incarnations. This is fine, but for the fact that they all seem to be using the same 16mm print, replete with scratches, splices, color shift and missing tail credits. This movie is just screaming for a special edition DVD reissue, with commentary by Ms. Kurtzman (who has since gone on to memorable adult acting roles, as well as becoming an accomplished filmmaker).

And please be sure to read our exclusive interview with Katy Kurtzman: TV's All-American Girl!

***

(update 08-03-05):Thanks to two recently acquired posters (see below), we can now verify that THE NEW ADVENTURES OF HEIDI received theatrical distribution in Australia and Europe, and likely the UK. We especially like the Spanish one-sheet, which calls the film A VACATION IN NEW YORK FOR MISS HEIDI!

Video/DVD availability: VHS, DVD (various)