Mary Poppins (1963)

Mary Poppins
Directed by Robert Stevenson
Written by Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi from books by P.J. Travers
1964/USA
Walt Disney Productions
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Mary Poppins: You know, you *can* say it backwards, which is “docious-ali-expi-istic-fragil-cali-rupus” – but that’s going a bit too far, don’t you think?[/box]

A treat at all ages.

The Banks children, Jane and Michael, go through nannies at a rapid rate.  The latest to leave in a huff is Katie Nanna (Elsa Lanchester).  What the children would really like is attention from their workaholic banker father (David Tomlinson) and sufragette mother (Glynnis Johns).  Like a miracle, Mary Poppins blows in on a favorable wind to make everything all better.  She introduces the children to Burt (Dick Van Dyke), a cockney jack of all trades, and takes them on fabulous adventures.

The little troupe travels to the English country side where they have fun at a carnival, on the farm, and in a fox hunt and over the roofs of London with the chimney sweeps.  Finally, Mary’s suggestion that Mr. Banks take the children for an outing to his bank eliminates the need for her services.  With Hermoine Baddeley as a maid, Arthur Treacher as a constable, Ed Wynne as Uncle Albert and Jane Darwell as the Bird Woman.

I’ve loved this movie since it came out and nobody’s going to change my mind now.  In fact, watching it this time I was amazed at how fast I was totally immersed in the story and music.  Dick Van Dyke’s execrable Cockney accent even had its peculiar charm.  Julie Andrews is the glue that holds the whole thing together.  She has a certain charming tartness that helps all that sugar go down.  Recommended.

Mary Poppins won Academy Awards in the categories of Best Actress; Best Film Editing; Best Effects, Special Visual Effects;  Best Music, Original Song (“Chim-Chim-Chiree”); and Best Music, Substantially Original Score.  It was nominated in the categories of Best Picture; Best Director; Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium; Best Cinematography, Color; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color; Best Costume Design, Color; Best Sound; and Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment.