MARY POPPINS (1964)
Practically Perfect In Every Way ********** (of 10)
A supernatural nanny deviously helps a man realize his children are more important to him than he ever realized.
MARY POPPINS was the only movie I ever saw in theatres 3 times when I was a kid (once each in 3 different theatres, starting with a drive-in). That alone distinguishes it from every other film I ever saw in the whole of the 60s. I understand Walt Disney considered this his single greatest achivement. I can't argue with that! In retrospect, I can only think of 3 other live-action films his studio ever made I could rank up there with it, all adaptations of classics of one sort or another: 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, and GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE. This one without a doubt has a particularly special place in my heart, because it's the only one of those I saw when I was a little kid. Mind you, as at least one other reviewer has pointed out, this is not a "kids' film". This is a "family film". That means, yes, it can be enjoyed by adults as well, and in quite different ways.
The art direction, the writing, the music, the casting, the visual effects-- it's hard to imagine any film of this type that is more absolutely perfect in every possible way than this one. Watching it now on disc with a widescreen TV, I was thinking how much it might have been hurt trying to see it in "fullscreen" on an older TV. Thank goodness I only ever did that once (back in the early 90s at my best friend's parent's house, when HBO ran it). That was, by the most uncanny coincidence, the same day I was flying a kite in Chestnut Hill, with no idea I'd be seeing the film later that night.
This film introduced me to so much and so many things, starting with Julie Andrews. At age 5, I adored her. I can fully understand the kids being shattered at her sudden departure at the end-- after a mere 3-1/2 DAYS as their nanny! (And after she told their father she'd "give him a week"-- HAH!) Looking back, her character comes across as very uptight and almost cold on the surface, though Andrews manages to make her a lot warmer than she apparently was in the books. I fell in love with her far more in THE SOUND OF MUSIC!
Glynis Johns as Winnifred, the mother, is adorable in quite a different way, both for her enthusiastic obsession with getting women the right to vote (something that went completely over my head as a kid) to being 100% supportive of her husband, no matter what mood he might be in. One of my favorite moments with her is when she asks Burt to watch the children. It's the only time in the story where he's completely flummoxed and off-balance, and I realized Winnifred did to him what Mary did to her husband!
David Tomlinson's George seems together at first, but his narrow-mindedness that leads to so much irritation, the instant anything goes astray from his restricted view of how life should be, is obviously the problem. I grew up with a father somewhat like him, except in my case, my Dad NEVER had the kind of revelation George did. I had to figure out how to "get along" with him better on my own, and it took me more than 30 years to do so. Watching this movie now, makes me wish things had been different. My brother, who never quite developed a real personality, did manage to point out to me, 30 years ago, that George was really the main character in the film, as he's the one who changed the most by the end. He was RIGHT!
The domestics are each a kick in their own way. Hermoine Baddeley (like Glynis Johns) later turtned up on the 3rd season of BATMAN (as "Frontier Fanny"). Reta Shaw popped up in an episode of THE MONKEES, and was a regular on the tv series THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR, but was also the model for Jack Kirby's villain "Granny Goodness"! Elsa Lanchester, of course, was the title character in THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, and also had an absolutely hilarious role as the nurse in WITNESS FOR THE PROESECUTION. (I had no idea the first time I watched that she was married to Charles Laughton, who starred as the lawyer Sir Wilfred.)
Matthew Garber & Karen Dotrice are wonderful as the children. I suppose the character I related to as a kid was Michael, though I was far more repressed by my Dad than he was by his. It amazes me to think Garber only ever did 3 movies, all of them with Dotrice. The thing that blows my mind watching this is just HOW MUCH he resembles Tomlinson; I can really believe Michael is George's son. By comparison, Jane doesn't look like either of her parents at all! Very odd. Such a tragedy to read that Garber passed away at only age 21.
Of course, the guy who STEALS the entire movie is Dick Van Dyke as Burt, Mary's more down-to-Earth, friendly, jack-of-many-trades fellow magical person. I feel the NEED to say that, as Burt was the first Cockney I ever encountered on film, I have NEVER had the slightest problem with his accent. I watch so many English movies & TV shows, I really cannot comprehend why so many apparently do! I mean, geez, Brian Glover (on CAMPION) has a much-more impenetrable accent. The author may have objected, but it's clear to me Burt very openly loves Mary, but she's too intent on maintaining an "aloof" front to want to admit she feels the same way. Their relationship reminds me a lot of The Doctor & Romana on DOCTOR WHO, especially with Mary Tamm's Romana (except she was a lot more relaxed about showing her feelings).
Mary may set things up and exhibit more magical abilities, but Burt is REALLY the one who draws her out, explains to the children just how much their father is up against it so much, and is the one who genuinely GETS THROUGH to George in the scene when he fears his entire world is about to fall apart. In effect, I feel Burt is the real hero of the movie!
I had absolutely NO idea as a kid that Van Dyke also played Mr. Dawes. NONE! What a CREEP that guy is, too, grabbing the money out of Michael's hand. Later, it's not enough to be firing George from his job, he actually is enjoying HUMILIATING him-- and then gets infuriated when George, having his abrupt change of attitude, refuses to BE humiliated. The guy deserved to die laughing. As his son said, he was never so happy before! Arthur Mallet is another one where I had ZERO idea it was him in this movie until recently, and I've seen him in many things, including THE MONKEES, WKRP IN CINCINNATI, HALLOWEEN. The only other instance like this I can think of, of an actor totally vanishing under both make-up and a performance, was Ann Guilbert on THE NANNY. I kept seeing her name in the credits of that show and THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW, but had to look her up online to realize WHO she was playing on both shows. It was jaw-dropping when I found out.
I've seen this film twice on disc now, and both times it's gotten me extremely emotional, in an extraordinary way that goes far beyond any mere "nostalgia". From "Sister Suffragette" all the way to "Let's Go Fly A Kite", I seem to have found the perfect instrument to help me unleash any tensions going on in my life.
I have only ONE major complaint-- and it's not about the movie, it's about the DVD Disney put out. There are MULTIPLE advertisements for other films at the beginning of the disc, plus an excessively-complex "menu", plus an ad for the sound system, the Copyright warning, the comment about the commentary. Even hitting the "ADVANCE" button to skip over as much of this CRAP as possible, it takes a full ONE MINUTE and FORTY-EIGHT SECONDS to get to the start of the movie. UNACCEPTABLE!! This is absolute B***S***. And you know what? The only good thing is, they included a free DVD with the Blu-Ray. Disney's Blu-Rays, like Universal's and Shout Factory's, all contain a "disc authoring DEFECT", wherein if you hit "STOP", it instantly takes you back to the beginning before the menu. I like to take breaks while watching movies, especially long ones like this, but if I do it with the Blu-Ray, I'd have to suffer thru that 1:48 at the beginning EVERY SINGLE TIME, and then search for where I left off! It is especially infuriating when it's the "big" companies whose discs are like this, as a result of them trying to be CHEAP to increase their profits. It makes me want to try running off a custom bootleg copy, just to eliminate all the junk at the start of the disc. (I figured if nobody else was going to bring this up in their reviews, I WOULD.)
