There is nothing I can think of which more clearly shows just how widely accepted flying saucers had become by the 1970s than this film: a children’s film featuring benevolent aliens.
Of course it is a very Disney-fied take on UFOs, one which has a lot in common with the sort of films Disney was making just then. You know the sort of film I mean: kids (or overaged teens), a familiar cast of second string or aging actors, an absurd and eccentric premise, a lot of fantasy (or science fiction of the “more like fantasy” persuasion), and, of course, special effects.
Think Bedknobs and Broomsticks, or the somewhat later The Watcher in the Woods (or Joe Dante’s wicked little parody film in Matinee, My Uncle the Shopping Cart) and you have the general idea.
Tia and Tony are orphans who have no memories of their past before they ended up in the orphanage (although they know that they didn’t speak English). They want to fit in but find it very difficult because they have to hide their special gifts of telepathy and telekinesis.
Unfortunately, they come to the attention of the incredibly wealthy Aristotle Bolt (Ray Milland) and his lackey, Deranian (Donald Pleasance) who have their own plans for the children.
They escape, after finding a secret map which might help them find their way home, and go on the run, pursued by Bolt and his minions and the police. Their only help is their cat, an untamable stallion, and the usual old codger (…well, maybe not that old) played by Eddie Albert.
It’s all fairly straightforward and light-hearted, the sort of film Disney produced by the dozens in the Seventies. There’s even that cheating at sports moment Disney seems to have put in all their live action children’s films (although it is more minor an element here than in most of these and it actually works out badly for the children).
In other words, Escape to Witch Mountain is an innocuous piece of fluff made for kids, a little better than most of the breed, perhaps. But it was made for kids, and will be loved most by kids.
In a few years, Disney would be tripping over themselves, trying to create the next Star Wars, but for the moment, even if Walt’s death had encouraged them try to be a little more daring, they were content to keep doing what they were doing.
And they were really good at making things levitate…
rivets on the poster 
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