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:

Magic | Bank | Umbrella | Banker | Nanny

Awards:

Won 5 Oscars. Another 12 wins & 12 nominations

Cast

Julie Andrews	...	Mary Poppins
Dick Van Dyke	...	Bert / Mr. Dawes Senior (as Navckid Keyd)
David Tomlinson	...	Mr. Banks
Glynis Johns	...	Mrs. Banks
Hermione Baddeley	...	Domestic - Ellen
Reta Shaw	...	Domestic - Mrs. Clara Brill
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	...	Citizen

Runtime:

139 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 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:

When she was filming The Princess Diaries (2001) in 2001, Julie Andrews discovered that her director Garry Marshall was living in the same house that she did when she was making Mary Poppins (1964). Some of The Princess Diaries (2001) was shot on exactly the same sound stage as the 1964 musical. Andrews knew this because there is a plaque on the sound stage saying that Mary Poppins (1964) was filmed there.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During the "Supercali..." song, when Bert and Mary sing "The biggest word you ever heard and this is how it goes..." Mary's head becomes slightly transparent and you can see the animation behind her. This goof might only be on the remastered 2004 DVD version.

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! 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:

Referenced in The Odd Couple (1968)

Soundtrack:

Sister Suffragette

re: one of those magic things

It's hard for me to explain the connection I feel with this film ... I was 7 when it came out, saw it twice in the theaters at the time, and of course have seen it over and over since then. I'm going to get the 40th anniversary DVD soon. You can argue about Dick Van Dyke playing an Englishman, about Julie Andrews being too sweet and young compared to the character in literature, about the fact that the whole thing was obviously shot on a soundstage. But just imagine being 7 or 8 or 9 or 10 or anywhere near there, and not getting out of your small town in the rust belt of the U.S. except maybe a few times a year on holidays, and you can imagine what seeing this magical, albeit Disneyfied, look at another world must have been like. Every time I see it, I think back to the beautiful old movie theater in which I saw it (a block away from the Catholic school I then attended, no less), to getting my mother to buy a certain box of cereal so I could get the Mary Poppins prize inside, to gathering on weekends with cousins to listen to the soundtrack and try to dance like Bert. I've been to London many times since then, but funny enough, as much as the great city has to offer, I've never been able to find that magical place I saw 40 years ago.