Mary Poppins (1964)

Director:

Robert Stevenson

Writers:

Bill Walsh (screenplay) &
Don DaGradi (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

29 August 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Musical

Tagline:

See It Again and Again with that Supercalifragilistic Music! [re-release Australia 1976]

Plot:

A magic nanny comes to work for a cold banker's unhappy family.

Plot Keywords:

Carousel | Slide Down Bannister | Bank Of England | Job Promotion | Chimney Sweep

Awards:

Won 5 Oscars. Another 12 wins & 12 nominations

Cast

Julie Andrews	...	Mary Poppins
Dick Van Dyke	...	Bert / Mr. Dawes - Senior
David Tomlinson	...	Mr. Banks
Glynis Johns	...	Mrs. Banks
Hermione Baddeley	...	Domestic
Karen Dotrice	...	Jane Banks
Matthew Garber	...	Michael Banks
Elsa Lanchester	...	Katie Nanna
Arthur Treacher	...	The Constable
Reginald Owen	...	Admiral Boom
Ed Wynn	...	Uncle Albert
Reta Shaw	...	Domestic
Arthur Malet	...	Mr. Dawes - Junior
Jane Darwell	...	The Bird Woman
James Logan	...	Citizen

Runtime:

139 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

France:U | Iceland:L | South Korea:All | USA:Approved (certificate #20453) (original rating) | USA:G (re-rating) (1972) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Canada:G | Chile:TE | Finland:S | Peru:PT | Spain:T | Sweden:Btl | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Walt Disney Studios, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Walt Disney Productions

Trivia:

The chorus performing as the animated Pearly Band during "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" was comprised of songwriter Richard M. Sherman, vocal coach J. Pat O'Malley and Julie Andrews.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The two Robin parents building their nest outside the children's bedroom window are both male.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Bert: Aw'right ladies an' gents! Comical poem! Suitable for the occasion, extemporised and thought up before your very eyes! All right, 'ere we go! Room 'ere for everyone, gather around. The constable - responstable! Now 'ow does that sound? Hm... 'Ello, Miss Lark, I've got one for you. Miss Lark... likes to walk... in the park... with Andrew! Hello, Andrew. Ah, Mrs. Corry, a story for you. Your daughters were shorter than you - but they grew!

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Flushed Away (2006)

Soundtrack:

Feed the Birds (Tuppence a Bag)

I urge people to try it again.

`Tart', `not nearly so sentimental as ‘The Sound of Music', `Disney's finest achievement' ... I'd read critics' comments like these with puzzlement. Had they seen the same film I had?

Of course they had: it's just that someone had got it wrong; and as it turned out, it was me. I still think that anyone who calls `Mary Poppins' Disney's finest is being silly - Disney's finest hour was clearly the one that saw `Pinocchio', `Fantasia', `Dumbo' and `Bambi' - but what we have here is a fine, clever film, NOT overly sweet.

What won me over was the ending. David Tomlinson changes from a mechanical banker to a human being with surprising fluency. It's not any one scene: it's the entire extended sequence, from the run on the bank to the end credits. And it's not just Tomlinson's acting, either, but the long, lingering shots of him standing and walking in darkness, and a use of music that's far more sophisticated than I'd first supposed it to be, the general intelligence of the script. The last lines given to Mary Poppins I'd missed the point of the first time round. She's a riddle throughout the film which the film's conclusion partially, but only partially, unravels.

Considered as a musical `Mary Poppins' lacks something. WHAT it lacks is revealed when we hear the Jane and Michael tramping around the house singing `Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' (a great song, by the way) - and they GET THE TUNE WRONG. They get it wrong in exactly the irritating way that children WOULD get it wrong. This may be an inspired touch of realism, but it surely violates the ethos of musicals, as do the deeply pedestrian songs `Stay Awake', `Sister Suffragette' and `A Spoonful of Sugar'. This was the side of `Mary Poppins' I'd remembered. I'd forgotten the haunting quality of `Feed the Birds' and `Let's Go Fly a Kite', and the punch of the score as a whole.

So anyway, I'm now a convert. I can't find anything to seriously object to except Dick Van Dyke's ludicrous accent, which makes him sound almost, but not quite, like Bugs Bunny.