Mary Poppins (1964)

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

Director:

Robert Stevenson

Writers:

Bill Walsh (screenplay), Don DaGradi (screenplay),

Stars:

Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson

Won 5 Oscars. Another 13 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Julie Andrews	...	Mary Poppins
Dick Van Dyke	...	Bert / Mr. Dawes Senior (as Navckid Keyd)
David Tomlinson	...	Mr. Banks
Glynis Johns	...	Mrs. Banks
Hermione Baddeley	...	The Domestic
Reta Shaw	...	The 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
Jane Darwell	...	The Bird Woman
Arthur Malet	...	Mr. Dawes Junior
James Logan	...	Bank Doorman

Storyline

The movie combines a diverting story, songs, color and sequences of live action blended with the movements of animated figures. Mary Poppins is a kind of Super-nanny who flies in with her umbrella in response to the request of the Banks children and proceeds to put things right with the aid of her rather extraordinary magical powers before flying off again.

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Plot Keywords:

magic | banker | bank | nanny | umbrella | 

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Taglines:

It's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

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Genres:

Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Musical

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 December 1964 (UK)

Also Known As:

Meri Popins

Filming Locations:

Walt Disney Studios, 500 South Buena Vista Street, Burbank, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$102,300,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

139 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Dick Van Dyke had his heart set on playing Mr. Dawes, Sr., and said they didn't have to pay him, he just really wanted to do it for the fun. Although Walt Disney had offered him the part of Bert right out, he made him audition for the part of Mr. Dawes, Sr.

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Goofs

During the "Step in Time" number when the chimney sweeps pop out of the chimneys, in one scene all three sweeps are seen coming up behind the chimneys and not out of them.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Bert: All right, ladies an' gents! Comical poem! Suitable for the occasion, extemporized and thought up before your very eyes! All right, 'ere we go!
[sings]
Bert: Room 'ere for everyone. Gather around.
[speaks]
Bert: The constable - responstable! Now 'ow does that sound?
[no response]
Bert: Hm.
[dashes over to Miss Lark, sings]
Bert: 'Ello, Miss Lark, I've got one for you.
[...]

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits stop for a brief moment to show Mary Poppins seated on a cloud and applying makeup to her face, then the camera pans away and the credits resume.

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Connections

Referenced in Trading Spaces: Top Living Rooms (2007)

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Soundtracks

"Sobre las Olas (Over the Waves)"
(1887) (uncredited)
Written by Juventino Rosas
Hummed and Danced by Dick Van Dyke

User Reviews

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Number 17, Cherry Tree Lane?

"Mary Poppins" is one of Disney's best live-action films and one of the most popular either. It's a light-hearted comedy and a delightful movie that is so much fun to watch. The movie looks dated for today's standards, but it is undeniably charming. In fact, its old-fashioned charm is timeless. It's a good movie and a classic, so the fact that it looks dated is not a major problem.

It's easy to understand why "Mary Poppins" is such a beloved classic: its simplicity, its magic, its special/visual effects, its beautiful songs, its good morals, its charm, its characters, its classic humor, its combination of live-action and animation and great actors. The way how this combines live-action and animation is very good. Amazing for its time and keeps working out fine.

The sceneries and landscapes of London city are stunning when Mary Poppins is floating on the air (angles of view never seen before or after this, not even in Peter Pan's movies). The walks through London's streets also allows us to know this beautiful city better, as well as its monuments and respective wonderful architecture. The landscapes through the roofs of London are simply amazing and the dancing numbers are excellent.

«Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious» is the longest and strangest word I've ever heard. Definitely a nonsense but charming word. In fact, I had to practice this word for about a month. Now I can say it easily, but I had serious difficulties to say this word at first.

"Mary Poppins" is an amusing and magical tale, with some valuable morals about family, education and stuff like that as well, combined with light humor.

The characters are interesting in general. Bert is a very cool guy which a cheerful personality, a fine artist, an excellent dancer and speaks with a cockney accent. Dick Van Dyke is awesome as Bert and the way he dances is incredible. He was in excellent shape here. He really dances like Ray Bolger.

The Banks children (Jane and Michael) are absolutely adorable. They're both sweet, innocent and so cute. Michael Banks is the funniest of the two, with his goofy faces in an adorable way and his hilarious way of being «extremely stubborn and suspicious». And they're portrayed by two of the most charismatic and talented child actors of all time: Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber. It's really sad that Matthew Garber went to Heaven so young (at the age of 21).

Mary Poppins is «the perfect nanny». A magical woman who is also firm and serious but kind and cheerful. Great performance by Julie Andrews, one of her very best. Winifred Banks is a lovable mother, greatly portrayed by Glynis Johns. George Banks is a workaholic, impatient, cold and very serious father most of the time, but at the end of the movie he changes radically his attitudes and becomes a jolly and lovable father. Good performance by David Tomlinson.

Uncle Albert is a character with a minor role but a strong presence. He's very jolly, maybe a little too much, but he's simply hilarious. Ed Wynn is awesome and hilarious as Uncle Albert, a role that resembles somehow the Mad Hatter from "Alice in Wonderland" (1951) - a funny coincidence, because he was the voice of the Mad Hatter. I admit that at first the whole "I Love to Laugh" sequence was a little too much for me, but I quickly got used to it and ended up finding it great fun.

The soundtrack is gold. There are so many lovely songs that it's difficult to chose a favorite. I have many favorites: "The Perfect Nanny", "Let's go fly a kite", "Stay Awake", "The Carousel Horses", "A Spoonful of Sugar", "Feed the Birds (Tuppence a Bag)", "Jolly Holliday", "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious", "Sister Suffragette", "Chim Chim Cher-ee" and "Penguin Dance". On the other hand, "A Man Has Dreams", "Step in Time" and "The Life I Lead" are nice too, but my favorites are definitely the ones I listed first. The only song I don't like very much is "Fidelity Fiduciary Bank". The only part I like in that song is «You'll see, Michael, you'll be part of railways through Africa, dams across the Nile, fleets of ocean greyhounds, majestic, self-amortizing canals, plantations of ripening sea».

Oh, I love the merry-go-round and the carousel horses of this movie. They're all beautiful. The merry-go-round has a very nostalgic effect for me - it reminds me about childhood. The merry-go-round was so much fun to be in. I also like the animated characters, especially the penguins and the fox.