We all enjoyed watching the movie Mary Poppins while growing up. In fact it was one the top ten movies for many young girls who also enjoyed classics like Sounds of Music, Annie, My Fair Lady, and a host of others that raked in lots of money for the American film industry in the 60s.But for the sake of those of us that are yet to see the movie Mary Poppins let alone heard of it, here is a brief background of the 60s classic.
Mary Poppins is a 1964 American musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney loosely based on P. L. Travers' book series of the same name. The film, which combines live-action and animation, stars Julie Andrews, one of our very favourite movie legends who taught us the Do-Re-Mis in the Sounds of music. She plays the titular role of a magical nanny who visits a dysfunctional family in London and employs her unique brand of lifestyle to improve the family's dynamic.
The Banks' latest nanny quits her position, exasperated after the Banks children, Jane and Michael have run off for the fourth time this week. Mr. George Banks comes home from his job at the Dawes Tomes Mousley Grubbs Fidelity Fiduciary Bank, and Mrs. Banks reveals the children are missing. The constable 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 remains of the note float up the chimney.
The next day, a queue of elderly and disagreeable looking candidates await at the door. However, a strong gust of wind blows the queue away and Mary Poppins floats down, held aloft by her magical 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. Although Mary Poppins recites the ad, she also tells George that she is firm and will also lay down ground rules with the children.Mary Poppins employs herself and begins work, saying that she will stay for a trial period of one week, before deciding if she will take a permanent position. Mary Poppins possesses a bottomless carpetbag, and makes contents of the children's nursery come to life and tidy themselves (by snapping her fingers). This event afterwards prompts an array of fun filled adventures for the Banks children with Mary Poppins. The children ask Mary Poppins how long she will stay with them. Her response, "I shall stay until the wind changes."
Mr. Banks grows increasingly irate with his children's stories of their adventures, but Mary Poppins effortlessly inverts his attempted dismissal of her services into a plan to take his children with him to the Dawes Tomes Mousley Grubbs Fidelity Fiduciary Bank, where he is employed. Upon arriving at the bank, Mr. Banks' employers aggressively try to persuade Michael to invest his tuppence in the bank to the point of actually snatching it out of his hand without waiting for his permission. When Michael protests, the other customers misunderstand his cries and start a run on the bank that forces the bank to suspend business. The Bank Guard (Jimmy Logan) chases the children causing them to flee and wander into the slums of the East End of London.
Banks then receives a phone call from work ordering him to return immediately for disciplinary action. 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. At the bank, he is formally humiliated and sacked for causing the first run on the bank since 1773.
The next morning, the wind changes direction, and so Mary Poppins gets ready to depart. Mr. Banks, now loving and joyful, reappears with the now-mended kite and cheerfully summons his children. They all leave the house without a backward glance and in front of the park with other kite-flyers, Mr. Banks meets Mr. Dawes Jr., now in charge of the bank, who says that his father literally died laughing. Instead of being upset, the son is delighted his father died happy and re-employs Mr. Banks to fill the opening as junior partner. With her work done, Mary Poppins takes to the air with the help of her umbrella.
But little do you know that this happy sing along and exciting movie was actually a spin off of the writer's tragic and bitter ordeal as she coped with her father's drunkenness. This was brought to light in the movie Saving Mr. Banks, a 2013 American-Australian-British historical comedy-drama film centered on the development of the 1964 Walt Disney Studios film Mary Poppins, the film stars Emma Thompson as author P. L. Travers and Tom Hanks as filmmaker Walt Disney. The film depicts the author's fortnight-long briefing in 1961 Los Angeles as she is persuaded by Disney, in his attempts to obtain the screen rights to her novels.
Through flashbacks, Travers’ youth in Australia in 1906 is depicted, and shown to be the inspiration for much of Mary Poppins. Travers’ handsome and charismatic father Travers Robert Goff (Colin Farrell), fighting a losing battle against alcoholism, was very close to Travers, whom he nicknamed Ginty.
Travers’ working relationship with the Mary Poppins creative team is difficult from the outset, with her insisting that Mary Poppins is the enemy of sentiment and whimsy. She complains that the script is not rooted in reality and dramatically discards it out a window.
Travers has particular trouble with the team’s depiction of George Banks, head of the household in which Mary Poppins is employed as nanny, hence the name of the movie "Saving Mr. Banks". The studio team begin to grasp how deeply personal the Mary Poppins stories are to Travers, and how many of the work’s characters are directly inspired by individuals from Travers’ own past.
Saving Mr. Banks received some very positive reviews from film critics, with major praise directed to the screenplay and acting, particularly Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks' performances. Film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports an 81% "Certified Fresh" approval rating from critics, based on 215 reviews with an average score of 7/10. The site's consensus reads: "Aggressively likable and sentimental to a fault, Saving Mr. Banks pays tribute to the Disney legacy with excellent performances and sweet, high-spirited charm." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 65 (out of 100) based on forty-six reviews from mainstream critics, considered to be "generally favorable".
Saving Mr. Banks has earned $69,436,293 in North America, and an estimated $9,100,000 in other countries, as of January 13, 2014, for a worldwide total of $78,536,293.
The film has been widely considered to be a front-runner to receive a Best Picture nomination at the 86th Academy Awards.
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