8mm Forum: Mary Poppins

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Posted by Gian Luca Mario Loncrini (Member # 1417) on October 13, 2009, 07:06 AM:

Mary Poppins (1964)
Running time: 140 minutes
Derann release

Starring:
Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins
Dick Van Dyke as Bert and Mr. Daves senior
David Tomlinson as George Banks
Glynis Johns as Winifred Banks
Karen Dotrice as Jane Banks
Matthew Garber as Michael Banks

Produced by Walt Disney, and based on the Mary Poppins books series by P. L. Travers with illustrations by Mary Shepard, the film was directed by Robert Stevenson and written by Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, with songs by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman. It was shot at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California.

The film begins with Mary Poppins perched on a cloud high above London in Spring 1910. The action descends to earth where Bert, a Cockney jack-of-all-trades is performing as a one-man band at a park entrance, where he suddenly senses that his good friend is about to return. After the show, he breaks the "Fourth wall" and introduces the audience to the well-to-do but troubled Banks family, headed by the cold and aloof Mr. Banks and the loving but highly distracted suffragette Mrs. Banks.

The Banks' latest nanny, Katie Nanna, quits out of exasperation after the Banks children, Jane and Michael run off in pursuit of a wayward kite. Mr. Banks returns home from his job at a bank, and Mrs Banks reveals the children are missing. A policeman arrives with the children, who ask their father to help repair their damaged kite, but he dismisses them and advertises for an authoritarian nanny-replacement. Jane and Michael draft their own advertisement asking for a fun, kind-hearted and caring person, but Mr. Banks tears up the paper and throws it in the fireplace. Unnoticed, the note's remains float up the chimney.

The next day there is a queue of old and disagreeable nanny candidates waiting at the door. However, a strong gust of wind literally blows the queue away, and Mary Poppins floats down with her umbrella to apply. Mr. Banks is stunned to see that this calmly defiant new nanny has responded to the children's ad despite the fact he destroyed it. As he puzzles, Mary Poppins employs herself and begins work.

The children face surprises of their own: Mary possesses a bottomless carpetbag, and makes contents of the children's nursery come to life and tidy themselves. The trio then meet Bert in the park, where Mary uses one of his chalk pavement-drawings as a gateway to an outing in an animated countryside. The next day, they all visit Mary's jovial Uncle Albert, who floats whenever he laughs, and join him in a tea party in midair.

Mr. Banks grows uncomfortable with his children's stories of their adventures, but Mary effortlessly inverts his attempted dismissal of her services into a plan to take his children with him to the bank where he is employed. Mr. Dawes, Mr. Banks' extremely elderly employer, aggressively tries to persuade Michael to invest his money in the bank. When Michael protests, the other customers misunderstand, and start a run on the bank that forces the bank to suspend business. The children flee and wander into the slums of the East End of London. Fortunately, they run into Bert, now employed as a chimney sweep. He takes them safely home, explaining that their father does not hate them, but that he has problems of his own, and that unlike the children, has no-one to turn to but himself.

At home, a departing Mrs. Banks employs Bert to clean the family's chimney and mind the children. Mary Poppins arrives back from her day off and warns of the dangers of this activity, but is too late as the children are both sucked up the chimney to the roof. Bert and Mary follow them and lead a tour of the rooftops of London that concludes with a joyful dance with Bert's chimney-sweep colleagues. A volley of fireworks from the Banks' eccentric neighbour, Admiral Boom, who thought London was being attacked by Hottentots, sends the entire gathering back down the Banks' chimney. Mr. Banks arrives home, forcing Mary to conclude the festivities. Banks then receives a phone call from work ordering him to return immediately for disciplinary action. As Mr. Banks gathers his strength, Bert points out that while Mr. Banks does need to make a living, his offspring's childhood will come and go in a blink of an eye, and he needs to be there for them while he can. The Banks children approach their father to apologize, and Michael gives Mr. Banks his tuppence in the hope that it will make things all right. Banks gently accepts the offering.

A sombre and thoughtful Mr. Banks walks alone through the night-time streets. At the bank, he is formally humiliated and sacked for causing the first run on the bank since 1773 (it is stated that the bank supplied the money for the shipment of tea destroyed in the Boston Tea Party). However, after being at a loss when ordered to give a statement, Mr. Banks invokes Mary Poppins' all-purpose word "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!" to tweak Mr. Dawes. He gives Dawes the tuppence, tells the old man one of Uncle Albert's jokes and raucously departs. Dawes mulls over the joke, finally "gets it" and floats up into the air, laughing...

The next morning, the winds have changed direction, and so Mary must depart. Meanwhile, the Banks adults cannot find Mr. Banks, and fear that he might have become suicidal. However, Mr. Banks, now loving and joyful, reappears with the now-mended kite and cheerfully summons his children. The greatly-relieved Mrs. Banks supplies a tail for the kite, using one of her suffragette ribbons. They all leave the house without a backward glance as Mary Poppins watches from a window. In the park with other kite-flyers, Mr. Banks meets Mr. Dawes Jr., who says that his father literally died laughing. Instead of being mournful, the son is delighted his father died happy, and re-employs Mr. Banks to fill the opening as partner.

Her work done, Mary Poppins takes to the air with a fond farewell from Bert.

About production: the first book was the main basis for the Walt Disney film Mary Poppins, a musical with mixed live action and animation which premiered on August 27, 1964. It was the Sherman Brothers, who composed the music and song score, and who were also involved in the picture's development, who suggested that the setting be changed from the 1930s to the Edwardian era. Julie Andrews, who was making her movie acting debut after a successful stage career, got the prime role of Mary Poppins soon after she was passed over by Jack Warner and replaced with Audrey Hepburn for the role of Eliza Doolittle in his screen version of My Fair Lady, even though Andrews had originated the role on Broadway. Andrews later beat Hepburn for the Best Actress Awards in both the Golden Globes and Academy Awards for their respective roles.

Disney cast Dick Van Dyke in the key supporting role of Bert, thanks to his work on The Dick Van Dyke Show. Van Dyke also played the senior Mr. Dawes in the film. Although he is fondly remembered for this film, Van Dyke's attempt at a Cockney accent (lapsing out of it at times) was nonetheless widely ridiculed and is still frequently parodied. It is still often cited as one of the worst attempts at a British accent by an American actor, a fact acknowledged with good humour by Van Dyke himself on the 2004 DVD release of the film.

According to the 40th Anniversary DVD release of the film in 2004, Walt Disney first attempted to purchase the film rights to Mary Poppins from P.L. Travers as early as 1938 but was rebuffed because Travers did not believe a film version of her books would do justice to her creation. In addition, Disney was known at the time primarily as a producer of cartoons and had yet to produce any major live action work. For more than 20 years, Disney periodically made efforts to convince Travers to allow him to make a Poppins movie. He finally succeeded in 1961, although Travers demanded and got script approval rights. The process of planning the film and composing the songs took about two years. Travers objected to a number of elements that actually made it into the movie. Rather than original songs, she wanted the soundtrack to feature known standards of the Edwardian period in which the story is set. She also objected to the animated sequence. Disney overruled her, citing contract stipulations that he had final say on the finished print. Much of their correspondence is part of the Travers collection of papers in the Mitchell 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.

A number of other changes were necessary to condense the story into feature length. In the movie, there are only two Banks children, Jane and Michael. The satirical and mysterious aspects of the original book gave way to a cheerful and "Disneyfied" tone. Mary Poppins' character as portrayed by Andrews in the film is somewhat less vain and more sympathetic toward the children than the rather cold and intimidating nanny of the original book. Bert, as played by Van Dyke, was a composite of several characters from Travers' stories. Travers demanded that any suggestions of romance between Mary and Bert be eliminated, so lyrics were written for "Jolly Holiday" that clearly indicated that their friendship was purely platonic (some subtle hints of romance remain, however).

As mentioned above, Van Dyke played two roles in the film. Andrews did at least three: she provided the robin's whistling harmony during "A Spoonful of Sugar", and was also one of the Pearly singers during "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious". David Tomlinson, besides playing Mr. Banks, also provided the voice of Mary's talking umbrella as well as numerous other voice-over parts (including that of Admiral Boom's first mate). During the "Jolly Holiday" sequence, the three singing Cockney geese were voiced by Marni Nixon. (Nixon would later play one of Julie Andrews' fellow nuns in The Sound of Music; she also provided the singing voice for Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady).
From WIKIPEDIA

The 8mm release is supplied on 5 full 600ft spools. This is the complete theatrical edition with a very good soundtrack. The title has been printed both on Agfa LPP (and in STEREO) and Kodak Polyester film stock, although the most recent prints on this second stock have a bluish cast to the color and have no STEREO sound.

Result is that brown striped prints are definitely better (color, sound and brilliance) than the newest copies. Picture stability is also absolutely good as all Disneys released by Derann.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on October 13, 2009, 05:17 PM:

Gian ...

First off, a very good read! I like a review that gives you some good details. More text than illustrations!

Was this originally released as a scope film and, if so, was this Derann release in scope as well?

Is there any chance you could give us some screenshots from this great film?

Posted by Gian Luca Mario Loncrini (Member # 1417) on October 13, 2009, 05:46 PM:

Osi, the movie was not originally released in scope and Derann editon is not too. But it's a stunning 4:3 anyway. Pictures already posted on the WHAT FILM DID YOU SHOW LAST NIGHT section, but here's some extra shots expecially for you!

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on October 13, 2009, 07:18 PM:

Boy, your not kidding, a great, well saturated print! Very sharp!

Didn't Disney release a second 200ft release, which was the "Jolly Holiday" sequence? I believe they did, but it is apparently, rather rare!

Posted by Gian Luca Mario Loncrini (Member # 1417) on October 13, 2009, 07:23 PM:

Yes, Osi. Disney Home Movies issued that segment (JOLLY HOLIDAY) and I agree it is not very easy to find it. But it sometimes appears on Derann used films list and on Ebay.

The copy I own is printed on Kodak SP and color is holding very well. Cannot say it's like shots posted above, but very good indeed, still plenty of blue and green.

Posted by Patrick Walsh (Member # 637) on October 14, 2009, 05:53 PM:

I have that 200ft extract JOLLY HOLIDAY and it has to be one of the best I have seen colour and sharpness wise!
I have several 200ft extracts from disney's life action films and the colour and shapness is very good.
Patrick [Big Grin]

Posted by Jeroen van Ooijen (Member # 1104) on October 15, 2009, 04:45 AM:

I have that Jolly holiday extract also,i love it! [Wink]

I didn't know that it was difficult to find it! [Confused]

Posted by Graham Sinden (Member # 431) on October 15, 2009, 11:28 AM:

Gian, do you notice any difference in colour between the Agfa and Kodak stock when projected?

Graham S

Posted by Gian Luca Mario Loncrini (Member # 1417) on October 15, 2009, 07:03 PM:

Definitely yes!

Posted by Gian Luca Mario Loncrini (Member # 1417) on October 16, 2009, 07:36 PM:

Look at here:

Mary Poppins Gala Premiere

Posted by Tony Milman (Member # 7) on October 20, 2009, 12:28 AM:

Gian
Cracking review. I have this print also and it is one of the best I have in terms of sharpness and colour saturation. Some of the detail in the faces close up on a large screen has to be seen to be believed

Posted by Gian Luca Mario Loncrini (Member # 1417) on October 20, 2009, 08:58 AM:

Hey Tony, thanks a lot.
I do totally agree with you! Cheers.

Posted by Gian Luca Mario Loncrini (Member # 1417) on November 21, 2009, 02:40 AM:

Oh my...
I was not supposed the footage of the 1964 World Premiere of MARY POPPINS existed!
I found RIGHT TODAY the video posted in one on my previous post in super 8!

Here it is once more! Great discover!

Mary Poppins 1964 Premiere

[ November 21, 2009, 04:03 AM: Message edited by: Gian Luca Mario Loncrini ]

Posted by Greg Marshall (Member # 1268) on November 21, 2009, 06:47 AM:

Great review, Gian! Maybe one day I'll acquire this feature.... hard to find.

Posted by Gian Luca Mario Loncrini (Member # 1417) on November 21, 2009, 08:36 AM:

Thanks Greg. Be sure it won't be the 'cyanotic' edition eh eh eh.
Good luck!

Posted by Gian Luca Mario Loncrini (Member # 1417) on December 07, 2009, 06:35 PM:

Greg, take a look here:

Mary Poppins on Ebay

Good luck!

Posted by Brian Hendel (Member # 61) on December 11, 2009, 07:24 AM:

I won Mary Poppins! I hope it looks as good as the screen grabs posted above... and not one of the later blue tinted ones. I definitely bid higher than I thought I would but it's a title I've always wanted so I couldn't resist...

Posted by Gian Luca Mario Loncrini (Member # 1417) on December 11, 2009, 09:16 AM:

Well done, Brian.
My compliments.
Let us know (even if I'm surek it is a good print, considering the description).
Bravo!

Posted by Greg Marshall (Member # 1268) on December 13, 2009, 07:24 AM:

I also bid on this one, but glad Brian got it. It will turn up again someday. I'm currently bidding on another item, so I'm reserving funds for it... hope to win it!

Brian.... did that print turn out to be a stereo print? Noticed the stereo label on Gian's, and don't think it was on Dave's.

Posted by Gian Luca Mario Loncrini (Member # 1417) on December 14, 2009, 06:16 PM:

So happy for Brian and a little bit sad for you, Greg. I posted that link hoping you would have the possibility to win it.
Let's hope anyway Brian will be satisfied with that copy.
Cheers.

Posted by Brian Hendel (Member # 61) on December 18, 2009, 06:44 PM:

Just received the Mary Poppins print today... I'm in the middle of reel #2 right now and I'm pretty sure it's one of the blue tinted prints. It doesn't look like the screen snaps above from Gian's print(which inspired me to bid) so I'm a little bummed out. I am going to write Dave Thomas (a very reputable dealer) and see if he has another print from the earlier batch of prints with the better color. I am only watching it on a Eumig 710 so I can't tell if it's stereo - and the low wattage lamp probably isn't helping with the vibrance of the colors - but I can't imagine it will be that much of a difference. Don't get me wrong -- It's still a beautiful print just not AS beautiful as the shots above...

Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on December 18, 2009, 11:03 PM:

Brian, just wondering what will happen if you use a warmth filter in front of your lens? Will that make any good? I think you can order (or look at ebay) for $5

cheers,

Posted by Brian Hendel (Member # 61) on December 19, 2009, 06:03 AM:

I tend to not like filters because they darken the image... it's really not that much of an issue. If I hadn't seen the above screen caps I wouldn't even have thought it was an issue. Actually the more reels I went through the better it was looking to me... especially the animated sequences really looked beautiful so I'm OK with the print overall.

Posted by Gian Luca Mario Loncrini (Member # 1417) on December 19, 2009, 06:11 AM:

Hi Brian, are you in a position to post some screen captures? I now believe there could be very different prints in term of quality, out there. I wonder if is the result of a damaged negative or what. The blue tinted copies I was referring to in my topic post are REALLY cyanotic.

Just to have an idea about the quality of yours and to use both mine and your pics as referece for other collectors, if you don't mind.
Ciao.

Posted by Brian Hendel (Member # 61) on December 19, 2009, 09:51 AM:

I don't believe it has anything to do with the negative... it's just that Derann uses different labs and they process the prints in varying qualities. I have had odd reels of features that have been gorgeous so I order the full feature... and it looks totally different as to brightness, contrast, and color quality and I was always told by Derann it was different labs. It could be more different lab technicians also paying less attention to what they're doing also. For example, I have had about 8 prints of Scars of Dracula over the years and they have all been totally different looking.

Posted by Gian Luca Mario Loncrini (Member # 1417) on December 19, 2009, 10:47 AM:

Hello Brian.
The fact is that all newest copies of 'Mary Poppins' are on the blue side and it can't be only because of different stocks or printing process.

Anyway, the most important thing is that you are happy with your new arrival. And if you are, we all are. Take care and greetings from Verona [Wink]

Posted by Greg Marshall (Member # 1268) on December 19, 2009, 04:33 PM:

Don't be sad for me, Gian.... the funds I would have used on this print if I had won, have gone toward (finally) my GS1200 that I'm picking up from Dan Lail while I'm in Atlanta over the Christmas holidays. What a perfect gift to myself, eh?

Posted by Gian Luca Mario Loncrini (Member # 1417) on December 20, 2009, 11:05 AM:

This is a great piece of news, Greg! Holiday in Atlanta and GS... What's more??? [Wink]

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