| Mary Poppins | |
| Director: | Robert Stevenson |
| Producer: | Walt Disney |
| Cinematography: | Edward Colman |
| Editing: | Cotton Warburton |
| Studio: | Walt Disney Productions |
| Distributor: | Buena Vista Distribution Company, Inc. |
| Runtime: | 139 minutes[1] |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | $4.4–6 million |
| Gross: | $103.1 million (US/Canada)[2] |
Mary Poppins is a 1964 American musical fantasy comedy film directed by Robert Stevenson and produced by Walt Disney, with songs written and composed by the Sherman Brothers. The screenplay is by Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, based on P. L. Travers's book series Mary Poppins. The film, which combines live-action and animation, stars Julie Andrews in her feature film debut as Mary Poppins, who visits a dysfunctional family in London and employs her unique brand of lifestyle to improve the family's dynamic. Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson, and Glynis Johns are featured in supporting roles. The film was shot entirely at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, using painted London background scenes.[3]
Mary Poppins was released on August 27, 1964, to critical acclaim and commercial success, earning $44 million in theatrical rentals in its original run. It became the highest-grossing film of 1964 in the United States, and at the time of its release became Disney's highest-grossing film. During its theatrical lifetime, it grossed over $103 million worldwide. It received a total of thirteen Academy Award nominations—a record for any film released by Walt Disney Studios—including Best Picture, and won five: Best Actress for Andrews, Best Film Editing, Best Original Music Score, Best Visual Effects, and Best Original Song for "Chim Chim Cher-ee". It is considered Walt Disney's crowning live-action achievement and is the only one of his films to earn a Best Picture nomination during his lifetime. In 2013, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."[4]
A biographical drama based on the making of the film, Saving Mr. Banks, was released on October 20, 2013. A sequel, Mary Poppins Returns, was released on December 19, 2018.[5] [6]
In 1910, Winifred Banks returns to her home in London after a suffragette rally ("Sister Suffragette") and learns that her children, Jane and Michael, have run away, "for the fourth time this week", which prompted their nanny to quit her job. That night, Winifred's strict and ambitious husband George returns home from his job at the bank ("The Life I Lead") and places a newspaper advertisement for a stern, no-nonsense nanny. Jane and Michael present their own advertisement for a kind, sympathetic nanny ("The Perfect Nanny"), but George rips up their letter and throws the scraps in the fireplace. A strong wind draws the scraps up through the chimney and into the sky.
The next day, several sour-faced nannies await outside the Banks family's home, but a strong gust of wind magically blows them away. Jane and Michael then witness a young woman using an umbrella as a parachute to gracefully descend from the sky. The woman enters the Banks family's home and introduces herself as Mary Poppins. To George's shock, Mary is holding the children's advertisement, and the scraps have been put back together. She agrees with the advertisement's requests but promises George that she will be firm with his children. Mary manipulates George into hiring her. Upstairs, Mary helps the children magically clean their nursery ("A Spoonful of Sugar").
While walking in a park, the trio encounters Mary's friend Bert, a jack of all trades working as a street painter. Mary transports the group into one of Bert's drawings. While the children ride on a carousel, Mary and Bert sing while strolling ("Jolly Holiday"). Bert and Mary then participate in a horse race, which Mary wins. Mary uses a nonsense word to describe her victory ("Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"). When a thunderstorm dissolves Bert's drawings, the group is returned to London. While putting the children to bed, Mary sings a lullaby ("Stay Awake").
The next day, the trio and Bert visit Mary's odd uncle, Albert, whose uncontrollable laughter has caused him to float ("I Love to Laugh"). George becomes annoyed by the household's cheery atmosphere and threatens to fire Mary. She persuades him to take the children to his workplace. That evening, Mary sings a lullaby about a woman who sells bird food on the steps of the St. Paul's Cathedral ("Feed the Birds"). The next day at the bank, the children meet George's boss, the elderly Mr. Dawes Sr., who advises Michael to invest his tuppence in the bank, ultimately snatching the coin out of Michael's hand ("Fidelity Fiduciary Bank"). Michael demands it back; other customers overhear the conflict, and they all begin demanding their own money back, causing a bank run.
Jane and Michael flee the bank and get lost in the East End. Bert, now working as a chimney sweep, escorts them home ("Chim Chim Cher-ee"). The three and Mary venture onto the rooftops, where Bert dances with other chimney sweeps ("Step in Time"). George later receives a phone call from the bank, requesting a meeting with him regarding Michael's actions. The children overhear the phone call and become concerned. Bert scolds George for neglecting Jane and Michael and advises him to spend more time with them before they grow up ("A Man Has Dreams"). Hoping to make amends, Michael gives George the tuppence. Stricken with regret, George slowly walks through London to the bank, where he is given a humiliating cashiering. Lost for words, George exclaims "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious", tells a joke Uncle Albert had told the children, and happily walks home. When Mr. Dawes Sr. understands the joke, he floats up into the air, laughing.
The next day, Mary Poppins tells the children she must leave. George mends his children's kite and takes the family out to fly it. At the park, the family encounters Mr. Dawes Sr.'s son, Mr. Dawes Jr., who reveals that his father died laughing at the joke ("Let's Go Fly a Kite"). Mr. Dawes Jr. says his father had never been happier and gratefully rehires George. Mary watches the family and decides her work is done. As Mary flies away, Bert looks up and says, "Goodbye, Mary Poppins. Don't stay away too long."
The film's main basis was the first novel in the Mary Poppins series. According to the 40th Anniversary DVD release of the film in 2004, Disney's daughters fell in love with the Mary Poppins books and made Disney promise to make a film based on them. He first attempted to purchase the film rights from P. L. Travers as early as 1938, but Travers repeatedly refused; she did not believe a film version would do justice to her books.
Disney was also then known primarily as a producer of animated films, and had yet to produce a major live-action work. For more than 20 years, he made periodic efforts to convince Travers to release the rights, including visiting her home in Chelsea, London.[10] He finally succeeded in 1961, although Travers demanded and obtained script-approval rights. The Sherman Brothers composed the music score and were involved in the film's development, suggesting the setting be changed from the 1930s to the Edwardian era. Pre-production and music creation took about two years.
Travers was an adviser to the production, even being billed as the film's Consultant. However, she disapproved of the dilution of the harsher aspects of Mary Poppins' character, felt ambivalent about the music, and hated the use of animation so much that she ruled out any further adaptations of the later Mary Poppins novels.[11] She objected to a number of elements that made it into the film. Rather than original songs, she wanted the soundtrack to feature known standards of the Edwardian period in which the story is set. However, due to contract stipulations citing that he had final cut privilege on the finished print, Disney overruled her.
Much of the Travers–Disney correspondence is part of the Travers collection of papers in the State Library of New South Wales, Australia. The relationship between Travers and Disney is detailed in Mary Poppins She Wrote, a biography of Travers by Valerie Lawson. The biography is the basis for two documentaries on Travers: The Real Mary Poppins and Lisa Matthews' The Shadow of Mary Poppins.[12] [13] [14] Their relationship during the development of the film was also dramatized in the 2013 Disney film Saving Mr. Banks.
In March 1961, Disney announced that it might cast Hayley Mills and Mary Martin in the film.[15]
Julie Harris, Angela Lansbury, and Bette Davis were considered for the role of Mary and Cary Grant was Walt's favorite choice for the role of Bert;[16] Laurence Harvey and Anthony Newley were also considered for Bert.[17]
Julie Andrews, who was making her feature film acting debut after a successful stage career, was given the prime role of Mary Poppins soon after she was passed over by Jack L. Warner and replaced with Audrey Hepburn for the role of Eliza Doolittle in his screen adaptation of My Fair Lady, even though Andrews originated the role on Broadway.[18] [19] When Disney approached Andrews about playing Poppins, she was three months pregnant. Disney assured her that they were willing to postpone filming until she had given birth so that she could take the part.[20] Disney considered actor Stanley Holloway for the role of Admiral Boom, but it went to Reginald Owen, due to Holloway's commitment to My Fair Lady.[21]
Andrews also provided the voice in two other sections of the film: During "A Spoonful of Sugar", she provided the whistling harmony for the robin, and she was also one of the Pearly singers during "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious". David Tomlinson, besides playing Mr. Banks, provided the voices of Mary's talking umbrella, Admiral Boom's first mate, and numerous other voice-over parts. During the "Jolly Holiday" sequence, the three singing Cockney geese were all voiced by Marni Nixon, who regularly sang for actresses with substandard singing voices. (Nixon later provided the singing voice for Hepburn in My Fair Lady, and played one of Andrews' fellow nuns in The Sound of Music.) Andrews later beat Hepburn for the Best Actress Award at the Golden Globes for their respective roles. Andrews also won the Oscar for Best Actress for her role (Hepburn was not nominated for it). Richard Sherman, one of the songwriters, also voiced a penguin, and one of the Pearlies.[22] Robert Sherman provided the speaking voice of Jane Darwell because Darwell's voice was too soft to be heard in the soundtrack. He is heard saying the only line: "Feed the birds, tuppence a bag."[23]
Disney cast Dick Van Dyke in the main supporting role of Bert after seeing his work on The Dick Van Dyke Show. After winning the role, Van Dyke lobbied to also play the senior Mr. Dawes. Disney felt he was too young for the part, but Van Dyke won him over after a screen test.[24] Van Dyke had trouble with Bert's Cockney accent. English character actor J. Pat O'Malley provided some coaching;[25] but although Van Dyke is fondly remembered for the film, his attempt at a Cockney accent is considered one of the poorer accents in film history.[26] (It was #2 in a 2003 poll by Empire magazine of the worst film accents.[27]) Van Dyke claimed that O'Malley "didn't do an accent any better than I did".[28] In 2017, Van Dyke received an award for television excellence from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), at which time he said, "I appreciate this opportunity to apologise to the members of BAFTA for inflicting on them the most atrocious cockney accent in the history of cinema." A chief executive of BAFTA responded, "We look forward to his acceptance speech in whatever accent he chooses on the night. We have no doubt it will be 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'."[29]
Filming took place between May and September 1963; post-production and animation took another eleven months.
The scene in which Mary Poppins and Bert interact with a group of animated penguins is noted for its use of the sodium vapor process. Rather than using the more common bluescreen process to insert the actors into the animated footage, the actors were filmed against a white screen lit with sodium vapor lights, which have a yellow hue. A special camera was fitted with a prism that filtered this light to a separate reel of film, creating a highly accurate matte that could be used to isolate the actors from the background. This created a crisp, clean image and even allowed the partially transparent veil of Mary Poppins's costume to let through light from the background. The film received the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects in 1965 for this effect.[30]
Peter Menefee, one of the 12 dancing chimney sweeps supporting Bert, provided some insight into the film's choreography:
The film's choreographers were Dee Dee Wood and her husband Marc Breaux.[31] Walt Disney attended the rehearsals for the rooftop scenes every day.[32]
See main article: Mary Poppins (soundtrack). The film features music and lyrics by brothers Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, who took inspiration from Edwardian British music hall music.[33] Irwin Kostal arranged and conducted the score. Buena Vista Records released the original soundtrack in 1964 on LP and reel-to-reel tape.[34]
Mary Poppins premiered on August 27, 1964, at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. The film's poster was painted by artist Paul Wenzel. Travers was not extended an invitation to the event, but managed to obtain one from a Disney executive. It was at the after-party that Richard Sherman recalled her walking up to Disney and loudly announcing that the animated sequence had to go. Disney responded, "Pamela, the ship has sailed" and walked away.
Mary Poppins was released in late 1980 on VHS, Betamax, CED and LaserDisc. The first version features a VHS cover of Mary Poppins flying with her umbrella. The 2nd release in November 1982 has a cropped image of Mary, Bert, and the Children from the "Stepintime" roof dance fireworks scene, while the 3rd release on November 6, 1985, has a full-length picture on its cover. The 4th and final release, on October 4, 1988, as part of the Walt Disney Home Video collection, features the Penguin dance. On October 28, 1994, August 26, 1997, and March 31, 1998, it was rereleased three times as part of the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection. In 1998, the film became Disney's first feature film released on DVD. On July 4, 2000, it was released on VHS and DVD as part of the Gold Classic Collection. On December 14, 2004, it had a 2-disc DVD release in a Digitally Restored 40th Anniversary Edition as well as its final issue in the VHS format. The film's audio track featured an "Enhanced Home Theater Mix" consisting of updated sound effects, improved fidelity and mixing, and some enhanced music (this version was also shown on its 2006–2012 ABC Family airings), but the DVD included the original soundtrack as an audio option.
On January 27, 2009, the film was rereleased on DVD as a 45th anniversary edition, with more language tracks and special features (though the film's "Enhanced Home Theater Mix" was not included). Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released it on Blu-ray as the 50th Anniversary Edition on December 10, 2013.[35] In February 2024, the British Board of Film Classification reclassified Mary Poppins from U to a PG due to Admiral Boom's use of the word "hottentot" to refer to the dancing chimney sweeps.[36]
Mary Poppins earned $31 million in theatrical rentals in the United States and Canada during its initial run.[37] It was one of the top 12 grossing films in the United States for 32 weeks.[38] It earned rentals of $44 million worldwide in its initial release.[39]
The film was re-released theatrically in 1973, in honor of Walt Disney Productions' 50th anniversary, and earned an estimated additional $9 million in rentals in the United States and Canada.[40] It was released once more in 1980 and grossed $14 million. It returned a total lifetime rental of $45 million in the United States and Canada[41] to Disney from a gross of over $102 million.
It was the 20th most popular sound film of the 20th century in the United Kingdom with admissions of 14 million.[42]
The film was very profitable for Disney. Made on an estimated budget of $4.4–6 million,[43] [44] it was reported by Cobbett Steinberg to be the most profitable film of 1965, earning a net profit of $28.5 million. Walt Disney used his huge profits from the film to purchase land in central Florida and finance the construction of Walt Disney World.
The film received universal acclaim from critics. Whitney Williams of Variety praised its musical sequences and Andrews' and Van Dyke's performances in particular.[45] Time lauded the film, stating, "The sets are luxuriant, the songs lilting, the scenario witty but impeccably sentimental, and the supporting cast only a pinfeather short of perfection."[46] Bosley Crowther, reviewing for The New York Times, described the film as a "most wonderful, cheering movie … for the visual and aural felicities they have added to this sparkling color film—the enchantments of a beautiful production, some deliciously animated sequences, some exciting and nimble dancing and a spinning musical score—make it the nicest entertainment that has opened at the Music Hall this year."[47]
For The Hollywood Reporter, James Powers applauded the performances, visual effects, musical score, production design, and choreography, and commented: "Mary Poppins is a picture that is, more than most, a triumph of many individual contributions. And its special triumph is that it seems to be the work of a single, cohesive intelligence."[48] Ann Guerin of Life criticized the creative departures from the novels, particularly the "Jolly Holiday" sequence. She noted that "[s]ome of the sequences have real charm, and perhaps the kids will eat them up. But speaking as a grownup, I found a little bit went a long way." She concluded, "With a little more restraint and a little less improvement on the original, the film's many charms would have been that much better."[49]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critics consensus reads, "A lavish modern fairy tale celebrated for its amazing special effects, catchy songs, and Julie Andrews's legendary performance in the title role."[50] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 88 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[51] Critic Drew Casper summarized the impact of Mary Poppins in 2011:
Mary Poppins is widely considered Walt Disney's "crowning achievement". It was the only Disney film to receive a Best Picture nomination in his lifetime.[64]
Some of the profits from the film were used to build the Walt Disney World Monorail System; reflecting this is the MAPO (MAry POppins) safety system included on all Disney monorails. Walt Disney World's Railroad steam locomotives are also fitted with a boiler safety device marked MAPO.
Never at ease with the handling of her property by Disney or the way she felt she had been treated, Travers never agreed to another Poppins/Disney adaptation. So fervent was her dislike of the Disney adaptation, and of how she felt she had been treated during the production, that when producer Cameron Mackintosh approached her about the stage musical in the 1990s, she acquiesced on the conditions that he use only English-born writers and that no one from the film production be directly involved.[65]
See main article: Mary Poppins Returns. On December 19, 2018, Walt Disney Pictures released the film Mary Poppins Returns. The film takes place 25 years after the original,[67] Mary Poppins, and features a standalone narrative based on the remaining seven books in the series. Rob Marshall directed, while John DeLuca and Marc Platt served as producers, with Emily Blunt starring as Poppins, co-starring Broadway actor Lin-Manuel Miranda. Dick Van Dyke returned to portray Mr. Dawes Jr. Karen Dotrice also appeared in a cameo role.