Shown at The FeckenOdeon on 31st January, 2015
As those of you who attend tonight’s film (Saving Mr Banks) will find out, Walt Disney promised his daughters that he would make a film out of their favourite series of stories - “Mary Poppins” by P.L.Travers. Because of the obstinacy of the author it was a promise that took 20 year to fulfil…. but that’s this evening’s story…
This is easily the best of Disney's experiments in combining animation and live action, and one of the studio's best-loved films. It was the last feature overseen by Walt Disney before his death in 1966. It was nominated for 13 Oscars and scooped five, including best actress for Julie Andrews in her screen debut. It was certainly the spoonful of sugar that sweetened the bitter pill Miss Andrews had swallowed when Warner Brothers cast Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Dolittle in the film of “My Fair Lady”. Julie had created the role on the West End and Broadway stage and was understandably miffed when Audrey (who couldn’t even sing) took the big prize. Revenge was sweet - Mary P beat Eliza D not only in the awards stakes - but also at the box office.
Mention does have to made of Dick Van Dyke’s “cockney” accent. Quite how Disney’s vocal coaches could have got it so wrong remains a mystery. Now 88 and still going strong Mr Van Dyke recently said he was completely unaware during the shoot that anything was wrong with his attempted cockney brogue. “I was working with an entire English cast and nobody said a word! People in the UK ask what part of England I was meant to be from and I say it was a little shire in the north where most of the people were from Ohio.” Ohio-ese apart, the film is packed with unforgettable sequences, adorable cartoon characters and timeless songs, it's quite simply supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
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