The Love Bug on DVD

Herbie rides again in this DVD release of the 1969 Disney live action hit.

Herbie, of course, is the title critter, a Volkswagen Beetle that’s as much person as it is funny looking car. He comes into the possession of down on his luck race driver Jim Douglas (Dean Jones) and, despite how ridiculous it may be to think of a bug beating a Bug-Eyed Sprite, starts leading him to victory after victory over honest to goodness race cars.

Naturally, Jim thinks it’s his skill when it’s really Herbie doing all the work, but after a while Jim begins to believe in the car's abilities - thanks both to the results they’ve obtained and a generous amount of cajoling from his buddy Tennessee Steinmetz (Buddy Hackett).

The bad guy is David Tomlinson, the busy Mr. Banks from Mary Poppins. He’s a shady and unscrupulous British car dealer and racer who wants Herbie at all costs - so he can destroy the poor beetle to ensure his cars win the races.

The love interest is provided by Michele Lee, and she’s about as sexy as Disney would allow back then.

It’s all very silly and unbelievable but its heart is in the right place and The Love Bug was a big hit that spawned far too many sequels.

Car buffs will love the supporting cast - the mechanical one, not the human one. There are old (then virtually new) AC Cobras, Ferraris, E-Type Jags, Triumphs, and so on. You don’t get to see them nearly enough, but what can you do when the star racer is the original econobox?

The DVD is pretty good. Disney has released it in a THX-certified widescreen format (16x9 TV compatible) and though the picture in places is extremely grainy, overall it’s pretty good. Audio is supposedly Dolby Digital 5.1, but we only noticed mono - and that’s fine considering the age of the source. Audio quality, however, is unremarkable.

This 2 disc special edition really piles on the extras, too.

Disc one includes a running commentary with Buddy Hackett, Dean Jones, and Michele Lee, along with the animated short Susie - The Little Blue Coupe. As usual, Disc 2 has the most meat, such as the deleted scenes Used Car Lot & Playground, and featurettes That Lovable Bug, The Many Lives of Herbie, and Herbie Mania. You also get “Lost Treasures: Searching for Herbie,” and the 1969 Disney Studio Album.

And there’s plenty more, too: a production gallery, behind-the-scenes promo, “Love Bug day at Disneyland,” “That Man Who Gave Herbie His Voice,” and a couple of Sound Studio entries. You also get production stills, advertising materials, an excerpt from the screenplay, and more.

The Love Bug, from Walt Disney Home Video
108 min. anamorphic widescreen (1.75:1, 16x9 TV compatible), Dolby Digital 5.1 surround
Starring Dean Jones, Michele Lee, David Tomlinson, Buddy Hackett
Produced by Bill Walsh
Written by Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, Directed by Robert Stevenson

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