Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins is the first film I remember seeing, and since, judging by the release date, I would have been only three and change, I doubt there was any other before it, unless I had been taken in as an infant. Our family also had the soundtrack album, which we played incessantly, so I have a sentimental attachment to this film. I was pleased to see that the film holds up, and its charms are not just nostalgic.

The other wrinkle with Mary Poppins is seeing it after seeing the behind-the-scenes Saving Mr. Banks last year. I let out an exhalation of humor upon seeing, listed in the opening credits, "Consultant: P.L. Travers." And how.

Most of the success of this film is due to Richard and Robert Sherman, who wrote the songs. Almost every song in the score is still known to us. "Chim-Chim-Cheree" won the Oscar for Best Song, but "Spoonful of Sugar," "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," "Let's Go Fly a Kite," and "I Love to Laugh" are cemented firmly into Western culture. I think the best bit of songwriting is Mr. Banks' theme, "The Life I Lead," which by the end of the film is heart-rending. Because we know, from Saving Mr. Banks, that the movie is about him.

That's the curious thing about this film. Mary, played brilliantly by Julie Andrews in her film debut (she won the Oscar for Best Actress) is not a character per se but a force of nature. She has no arc--she's "practically perfect in every way" and does not change. She comes and go with the wind, and has no back story or development. The same could be said of Bert, her friend and co-conspirator, who has many jobs but seems to exist outside of the film (he addresses the audience directly). No, this movie is about Mr. Banks, and how he comes to realize what's important in life

As such, that's not a very original message. Mr. Banks plays a banker who likes his life peaceful and pleasant. His wife (Glynis Johns), is in the suffragette movement, which he tolerates, but his household is run by a staff, and his children are to be patted on the head after he returns from work and sent to bed. Mary is there to help him see the error of his ways.

The scenes that I found boring as a child--the bird woman, the visit to the bank, and Banks' long walk to get fired--are what I find most touching as an adult. Indeed, Banks, slowly making his way to see Mr. Dawes, the ancient president of the bank, while the music swells, is deadly to a three-year-old but devastating to a man of 53.

The magic realism of the film is also enchanting, although the visual effects are primitive compared to today. The sequence in which Mary, Bert, and the children jump into one of his sidewalk chalk drawings isn't as enthralling to me today, partly because of the poor animation. And of course Dick Van Dyke, as Bert, supplies one of the legendary bad accents, though he's loose-limbed enough in the dancing scenes.

Andrews, as Mary, manages to play a woman who is severe but is also fun. I think she was sexed up for the film, as there's just the slightest of romantic interest between her and Bert (she pointedly tells him he's wonderful because he doesn't take advantage--hmmm). She's not called on to do any gesticulating, but her facial expressions are so deliciously subtle that she can be read like a book. And, of course, her singing is heavenly (and it's her own voice--more on that in tomorrow's post).

But David Tomlinson as Banks really steals the show. His expression, with his drooping brow and wispy mustache, is just perfect, and his transformation is cathartic. "A wooden leg named Smith" indeed.

I'd say I had a good start at the movies.