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:

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

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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

The planning and composing of the songs took about two-and-a-half years.

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Goofs

When Mary Poppins is tidying the nursery, the pictures straighten, but in the next shot, they are still crooked.

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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

Version of Meri Poppins, do svidaniya (1983)

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Soundtracks

"Mary Poppins Overture"
(uncredited)
Written by Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman
Performed by Irwin Kostal

User Reviews

One for the ages

How good is Mary Poppins? I remember singing "Let's Go Fly a Kite" with my then four year old son when we first got it on a now-lost video. He is now a young man, and little brother is a teenager. I am going to buy the DVD for their children, who may not be born for ten more years. I'll watch it myself until then. It's that good. We all have opinions, and mine is that, in the long list of Disney classics and masterpieces, this one is at the top. It is the perfect combination of story, song, characters, actors, whimsy – you name it. I believe it is one of the best movies ever made in any genre.

Need proof? How many songs can you hum in the car or sing in the shower? Chim Chim Cher-ee; Spoonful of Sugar; Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (thank God for copy and paste); Let's Go Fly a Kite. What about songs that put a lump in your throat and a tear in your eye? Feed the Birds. Great composing, great fit to the story. And Julie Andrews is as good a singer as you will find.

More proof? What about delightful scenes? A tea party on the ceiling. The fox hunt on merry-go-round horses. Dancing on the rooftops of London.

Memorable characters? Bert, even with his horrible accent, is a blast. Old Mr. Dawes. Uncle Albert. Mrs. Banks, that independent woman (as long as it did not annoy Mr. Banks). Jane and Michael having the experience of a lifetime. And poor Mr. Banks, so concerned with being the lord of his castle but learning the important lessons in the nick of time. His illusion of control begins to unravel the moment that Poppins woman walked in the door, and he never figures out who she is and how she did it to him.

Neither do we, really. She is both the cause of much madness but the stability within it as the story moves along. It is one of Disney's greatest talents to craft movies and stories that operate on multiple levels. Children love dancing penguins and fireworks. Adults may as well but they can register the message here of what is truly important in life. Poppins has the answers. It is better we don't analyze who she is – and or course she never explains anything. The Banks family is just glad she was there for a while, and we should be glad that Walt Disney left us with this masterpiece.