Miss Eglantine Price is the protagonist of Bedknobs and Broomsticks. She is a witch in training, and is an inexperienced broom flyer.
Background
Personality
Miss Price is extremely determined and headstrong, but also very kind when she wants to be. She tries to treat others with respect when they offer it in return. She can also be absent-minded and terribly forgetful, which becomes a drawback when she has to remember the words to a spell. Her goal-oriented nature sometimes results in her lack of patience, as demonstrated with her frustration towards Professor Emelius Browne not giving her answers promptly. Through her adventures with him and the children, she learns to have more fun in life, allows her motherly nature to develop, and becomes enamored with him when he sheds his cowardice and displays his courage when the Nazis invaded Pepperinge Eye. When confronted with danger, she digs in her heels and while frantic, refuses to give up, and always has a smart remark or quip.
Role in the film
Miss Price is a patriotic woman who lives during World War II England and is learning to become a First Class Witch so she can try to do her part in the war effort. Her father was a soldier in the British army and served with the general of the Old Home Guard at Fimi Ridge, and she, in turn, was well acquainted with the general through him. She signed up for a mail-order Witchcraft Correspondence Course with Professor Emelius Browne, with the hope that the final spell could bring the war to a quick and peaceful end. At first she was reluctant to take in Charlie, Carrie, and Paul Rawlins, but seeing as her house was large and the evacuation of London's children was necessary, she felt she had little choice and decided to take them in temporarily.
At first when the children discover that Miss Price is a witch, it causes tension, but the four of them develop trust when they promise to keep her secret and she rewards them with the Traveling spell she places on the bedknob that was in Paul's possession. When she learns that Substitutiary Locomotion, the power to give life to inanimate objects and the final spell she needed, would not be sent to her, she and the children fly to London on the bed to find the College of Witchcraft's headmaster Professor Emelius Browne. She is surprised to learn that Prof. Browne is a conman magician, but he is even more surprised to learn that she can make the spells actually work.
While searching for the magic words that form the spell, the five of them visit many exciting and exotic locations including a stately London townhouse, Portobello Road, and the Isle of Naboombu. While Miss Price is determined to accomplish her goal, Prof. Browne hopes to entice her into becoming his magician's assistant and performing alongside him. Despite their contrasting goals and personalities, the two develop feelings for each other and the children. Eventually, their efforts result in a partially successful, small-scale test of Substitutiary Locomotion. With the goal completed, Prof. Browne, fearing that he was becoming to attached to Miss Price, Charlie, Carrie, and Paul, plans to head back to London.
Preparing to cast Substitutiary Locomotion.
However, before he leaves, Nazis invade Pepperinge Eye on a practice raid. Miss Price and the children are taken captive, but Prof. Browne meets up with them at the village Museum. With everyone's support, Miss Price is able to enchant all of the armor in the castle. She leads the magical army on her broomstick and they drive the raiders out of England. Before departing, the invaders set a bomb off near the workshop of the house. Her spells and magic were made possible with her witchcraft notes, equipment, and supplies like the Poisoned Dragon's Liver, so when its destroyed it deactivates all of her spells; except for the Traveling Spell. Her witchcraft career is over, but Miss Price is content knowing that she performed her part in the defense of her homeland. Having been inspired by Miss Price's bravery, Professor Browne enlists in the military service, but promises to return to her and the children to be a family at the war's conclusion.
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