No Deposit, No Return

Maybe if Walt Disney Studios had decided to make a real adaption of O'Henry's Ransom Of Red Chief the results might have come out better. Certainly the story had been used before most successfully by 20th Century Fox in their O'Henry anthology film O'Henry's Full House where Fred Allen and Oscar Levant played the luckless kidnappers of Lee Aaker. But this adaption, credited or not, in No Deposit, No Return is one of the Magic Kingdom's less successful family films.

I have no doubt that originally this was intended for Don Knotts to be once again teamed up with Tim Conway. If that had happened maybe the results would have been better. On the other hand you could believe Darren McGavin was a top professional safe-cracker a lot faster than Conway.

Brother and sister Brad Savage and Kim Richards are on Easter break from their boarding school in the United Kingdom and instead of being with their absentee mother Barbara Feldon, they are going to be spending time with their stuffy grandfather David Niven in Los Angeles. That's a terrific disappointment because Niven's just not a kid's person.

So after ditching chauffeur Bob Hastings sent to pick them up and falling in with crooks McGavin and Knotts, the kids hatch a scheme to stage their own kidnapping in the hopes of raising plane fare to Hong Kong where mom is and for their two accomplices to get out of a mounting gambling debt owed to Vic Tayback.

Kids under the age of 12 might approve of this film. Every adult in the film is positively clueless, including cops Herschel Bernardi and Charles Martin Smith. Having kids be the smartest ones in a film is always guaranteed to please a juvenile audience. But you've got to wonder how Bernardi and Smith ever got on the force and how McGavin, Knotts, and Tayback ever succeeded in a life of crime.

As for David Niven this was one of two films he made for the Magic Kingdom, the other being Candleshoe. That one being set in England took advantage of Niven's background. In No Deposit, No Return, Niven's considerable charm is stretched to the breaking point.

Recommended strictly for grade school kids. I'm sure William Sidney Porter is glad he wasn't given any screen credit for this.

It undoubtedly runs for too long, but 'No Deposit, No Return' still satisfied me.

It has a similar vibe to it as 'Candleshoe', which Disney released roughly twelve months after this. The plots are different, but there are a few things that I found alike; the obvious being David Niven, who appears as the older gentleman in both, as well as his character's living room; that latter claim is based on my memory only, mind.

Niven is good in this, though he's doesn't really do that much - at least compared to his co-stars. The two kid actors are solid, Kim Richards the standout; almost a year after Disney viewers saw her in 'Escape to Witch Mountain'. Darren McGavin and Don Knotts are a fun duo, while Herschel Bernardi - who reminded me a lot of Nick Sandow in terms of looks - does well too.

The plot is ridiculous, but I actually found enough entertainment in it - mostly thanks to the aforementioned cast. The humour, while nothing LOL-worthy, is satisfactory. My only true negative is the pacing of the run time. It's fine, but this story would've been perfect for 90mins; rather than 112mins - those extra minutes are very noticeable and, ultimately, add little.

When all is said and done, though, I had a suitable time with this.

This film is full of fun and comedy. You are going to laugh so hard you'll hurt! The building ledge and police chase scenes are outrageously hilarious! Don Knotts does a great job in this movie. Definitely one of his best!

Duke and Bert played (Eavin and Don Knotts) are two safe-cracking burglars who are out to bust out their big job. They plan to rob the safe of a millionaire. Unfortunately they get entangled with the two grand kids of the millionaire. The grand kids want to run away and force the bank robbers to chaperone them. A comic Disney movie that proves that crime may not pay, but it can be funny.

What more could you ask for from Disney, their formula comedy films were a staple from the 1950s through the 70s. In this film, two children are supposed to spend their vacation with their grandfather. Problem is, they don't like him, so they concoct a plan to be kidnapped. The kidnappers couldn't have been better cast with Darren McGavin and Don Knotts.

This film couldn't be made in today's world, with all the child abductions going on, but back in 70s though, the atmosphere was different. The point of the movie though, is money is not what loves you back, and the grandfather needed to learn that. This is one of the last Disney films to star Don Knotts.