“The definitive release that ‘ Mary Poppins’ fans should own. The 45th Anniversary Edition is restored, remastered and loaded with even more special features than the 40th Anniversary edition! A fantastic DVD release!”
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TITLE: Mary Poppins: 45th Anniversary Edition
DURATION: 139 minutes
DVD INFORMATION: Color, Digitally Mastered
RATED: G
COMPANY: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Released on January 23, 2009
Directed by Robert Stevenson
Screenplay by Bill Walsh, Don Dagradi
Based on the Mary Poppins Books by P.L. Travers
Co-Producer: Bill Walsh
Music and Lyrics by Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman
Music Supervised and Conducted by Irwin Kostal
Starring:
Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins
Dick Van Dyke as Bert/Mr. Dawes, Sr.
David Tomlinson as Mr. Banks
Glynis Johns as Mrs. Banks
Hermione Baddeley as Ellen
Karen Dotrice as Jane Banks
Matthew Garber as Michael Banks
Elsa Lanchester as Katie Nanna
Arthur Treacher as the Constable
Ed Wynn as Uncle Albert
Experience the extraordinary animation, dazzling special effects and award-winning music of Walt Disney’s “Mary Poppins” in this restored and remastered 2-Disc 45th Anniversary Special Edition!
Join the “practically perfect” Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews) for a “Jolly Holiday” as she magically turns every chore into a game and every day into a whimsical adventure. Along the way, you’ll be enchanted by unforgettable characters such as the multitalented chimney sweep Bert (Dick Van Dyke).
Unpack Mary’s magical carpetbag full of bonus features, including all-new bonus from the “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” Broadway production of “Mary Poppins”. You won’t need a “Spoonful of Sugar” to love every moment of this timeless Disney classic!
A fantastic and magical family film, “Mary Poppins” continues to be a Disney classic that would win five Academy Awards and would be remembered for being a film that combined Disney’s cartoon animation and real characters, the film debut of Julie Andrews but most of all, the spectacular chemistry and musical dance numbers featuring songs that continue to be classics.
“Mary Poppins” debuted back in 1964 and is about the Banks family. Mr. Banks (David Tomlinson) is a person who holds himself to the highest degree. He works at Dawes Tomes Mousley Grubbs Fidelity Fiduciary Bank in the City of London, lives in an exquisite home and lives with his wife Mrs. Banks (Glynis Johns) who is involved in the women’s suffrage movement and have two children Jane and Michael.
Mr. Banks has to constantly hire a Nannie and the problem is that his children tend to frighten their nannies away with their practical jokes. If anything, they cause a little mischief for attention because they simply feel that their father does not care for them. Although, Mrs. Banks has a clue, Mr. Banks is more focused on his job and making sure the children learn from the best and are well-disciplined.
While searching for a new nannie, the children make their own prerequisites that they show their father. But not liking what they want, he rips their letter and throws it in the fireplace. The pieces of the letter eventually go up the chimney and next thing you know, the day of the interviews with the nannies, Mary Poppins shows up to the Banks home ready to assume her position as nannie until the winds direction changes.
Mary Poppins instantly bonds with the children and takes them to another world with her friend Bert (Van Dyke) and eventually, trying to find ways to get the Banks family to bond.
“Mary Poppins” is a family-friendly and wonderful film that continues to be timeless no matter how old you are when viewing it. From the musical performances to the music and overall planning for this film, it still continues to impress me today. Especially the more you learn about the behind-the-scenes of the creation of the film. And fortunately, there are plenty of special features and commentary to learn all the behind-the-scene details in this 45th Anniversary Special Edition.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
Mary Poppins was digitally restored and remastered in this 45th Anniversary Special Edition. Although an older film, the remastering does look good for a film of its time. Granted, I would love to see how this film would look on Blu-ray but for DVD, the video looks very good.
As for audio, the film’s music and the dialogue comes out quite clear on my home theater. Audio is presented in either Dolby Digital 5.1 or Original 2.0 Theatrical Mix. The film sounds wonderful via Dolby Digital 5.1. Music really comes alive but I didn’t really notice all channels being utilized for those who were wondering but I did notice certain instruments being used in my front left and right channels of my stereo system which was nice. But this is pretty much a dialogue and music-driven film and both come out quite clear.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
This 45th Anniversary Edition of “Mary Poppins” is absolutely loaded with special features. Included are:
Disc 1:
- Audio Commentary—Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, Karen Dotrice and Richard Sherman recall the making of Mary Poppins. Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke did a commentary one one day, Karen Dotrice (plays the daughter in the film) and film and songwriter, Richard Sherman did a commentary on the following day. Both commentaries are spliced together and done quite well. What I found so fantastic is that Julie Andrews has not watched the complete film since the premiere back in 1964, so this was her first time watching it completely since then. And to hear these talents just commenting on different parts of the film and what they remember of doing those scenes was just nostalgic and informative. What a great commentary!
- Poppins Pop-Up Fun Facts—Select this option and fun-filled facts about the creation of this classic film pop up during viewing.
Disc 2:
- Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious: The Making of Mary Poppins—The definitive behind-the-scenes. This 50+ minute featurette takes a look at how this unique and beloved film came into being. Featuring interviews with the cast and learning so much about the film. A great featurette.
- Movie Magic—A look at the special effect techniques used to bring the magical world of Mary Poppins to life. For 1964, to combine both animation and live action film together and create this magical world was a technical marvel. So, this featurette was also great to watch!
- The Gala World Premiere—Footage from the Red Carpet. This was aired on television as a one hour special but the footage had been lost. Several minutes (not the complete version) of the archived film of this premiere was found in two countries, a black and white version and color and it was pieced together to create the 17+ minutes of footage from the red carpet premiere.
- Dick Van Dyke Make-Up Test – How Dick Van Dyke was made to look like the very old bank owner with make up and all.
- Trailers, Ads and More from the Original Release and Reissue of the Film – From the original 1964 trailers, TV spots, Julie Andrews theater greetings and the re-issue trailers from 1974 and much more.
- Mary Poppins Still Art Galleries – A lot of art was created for this film. So, these are the still art galleries.
Music & More
- Disney’s Song Selection—The whole family can sing along to “A Spoonful of Sugar,†“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious†and any of the film’s other memorable songs as the lyrics pop up on screen. Each song can be selected separately or while watching the film.
- Magical Musical Reunion—Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke and songwriter Richard Sherman reminisce about making Mary Poppins and the music that makes it so special. A fantastic featurette especially to see them sing once more. Fantastic!
- A Musical Journey with Richard Sherman —A delightful magical journey through some of the film’s locations with co-composer Richard Sherman, who reveals surprising secrets about the music of Mary Poppins along the way. Another fantastic featurette with Richard Sherman revealing some tidbits about the songs used for the film and how Walt Disney reacted to some of the songs.
Bonus Short
- The Cat That Looked at a King—Live action and animation bring a chapter of P.L. Travers’ Mary Poppins Opens the Door to life! Julie Andrews takes viewers into a magical animated world created in the style of the whimsical chalk drawings in Mary Poppins. This segment is about 10 minutes long.
Deleted Song
- “Chimpanzooâ€â€”A reconstruction of a song that did not appear in the movie using original storyboard and concept art, accompanied by a new rendition of the song performed by co-composer Richard Sherman.
Backstage Disney:Â Disney on Broadway
- Mary Poppins from Page to Stage —First a beloved children’s book, then a classic movie and now a smash hit Broadway musical! Fans can follow the story of Mary Poppins from page to stage as the creative team and cast discuss the creation of the musical production and preparations for the upcoming North American tour*.
- Step in Time—The Broadway cast of Mary Poppins performs the never-before-filmed number “Step in Time†from the show.
- Step in Time – A downloadable MP3 featuring the Broadway cast of Mary Poppins singing “Step in Time,†featuring Ashley Brown as Mary Poppins and Gavin Lee as Bert.
- Video Intro By Scenic & Costume Designer, Bob Crowley
- Bob Crowley’s Design Galleries—Concept art, costume designs, set designs and set models for the Broadway musical
“Mary Poppins” is definitely a true classic. The film was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar and eventually winning five academy awards for Best Actress, Film Editing, Music Score, Music Song for “Chim-Chim-Cheree” and Special Visual Effects”.
It’s hard to believe that in 1964, there were two major musicals being created “Mary Poppins” and “My Fair Lady”, “My Fair Lady” which eventually went to Audrey Hepburn and “Mary Poppins” going to the unknown actress Julie Andrews.  It was probably a blessing that Julie Andrews wasn’t cast for “My Fair Lady” since “Mary Poppins” really jumpstarted Andrews career and eventually winning her the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Of course, actor Dick van Dyke was popular with his television series “The Dick Van Dyke Show” but these two talents and their musical performance were well done. I was quite impressed by how both would nail their dances and have them in sync and Julie Andrews would comment how the most difficult part of the film was syncing their mouths to the song and making sure their foot would match for that moment.
This film back in 1964 introduced a family film with state of the art technology at that time. Real life actors working together with animated humans and animals, the actors flying around and most importantly, the music that came from this film. Classics such as “A Spoonful of Sugar”, the award winning song “Chim-Chim-Cheree”, “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” and “Feed the Birds (Tuppence a Bag)”, to name a few. But what I discovered by watching the special feature was how important it was for Walt Disney.
“Mary Poppins” by P.L. Travers was created back in 1934 and for 20 years, Walt Disney would try unsuccessfully to get the rights for the film. But he eventually managed to and while on one hand, really making sure the cast and the staff were well taken care of, it was quite surprising to know how much P.L. Travers actually detested the film (she wanted the animation to be eliminated).   So, there are interesting tidbits including audio that appears on the special features of Travers showing her discontent as an adviser to the film. So, you get to learn more about this through a featurette on the DVD. But it shows you how much Walt Disney really wanted “Mary Poppins” and how he tried so hard to get the rights to it. But you really learned how much love went into the creation of this film and how much Walt Disney wanted this film to be loved.
Just interesting details of how special he wanted this film, from giving people a chance such as signing Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman (the Sherman Brothers) to a contract to write and compose music for “Mary Poppins” (and future Disney films), casting an unknown Julie Andrews which Walt Disney loved her performance in “Camelot”. Disney wanted her to be Mary Poppins and despite her being pregnant at the time, he waited for her until after she gave birth to become part of the film.  Another tidbit was while meeting with Julie, Walt Disney met her husband at the time, Tony Walton (a costume and set designer) and eventually giving him a chance to work on “Mary Poppins” (who also eventually inspired the Sherman Brothers for the music of “Winnie the Pooh”).   And my favorite tidbit, of Walt Disney casting well-known actress from the early 1900’s Jane Darwell in the “Feed the Birds (Tuppence a Bag)” in what would be her final role, which was his way of giving her a special thank you to her for her accomplishments in film. These are just among the few interesting tidbits from behind-the-scenes that one will learn through the various featurettes included on the DVD.
As for the DVD version, there has been four previously released versions of “Mary Poppins” on DVD.   When Disney released the 40th Anniversary “Mary Poppins” on DVD back in 2004, it was hard to imagine how Disney could top that with the 45th Anniversary edition. Surprisingly, Disney managed to pull of another spectacular release with the 45th Anniversary edition with even more special features than the original.
The new feature added to the 45th Anniversary edition of the DVD features the all-new “Mary Poppins: From Page to stage” which includes a fantastic documentary on the making of the Tony Award winning musical produced with Cameron Mackintosh. Despite P.L. Travers really disliking the Walt Disney film, “Mary Poppins” was eventually given a musical treatment after P.L. Travers gave Cameron Mackintosh the OK but of course with certain guidelines in her will and testament before her death.
The primary guideline was that a musical could be created with the understanding that only English born writers and no one from the original film production could be involved with the creative process of the musical. The musical was a great hit in the UK but when it came to doing the musical in the US, this is where things definitely gets interesting and Disney manages to create a lengthy featurette on the process of creating the musical in the US, also a featured performance of a “Step in Time”, an opportunity for people to download the MP3 and also a chance for people to see Bob Crowley’s designs for the musical.
The original film will always be magical and in the hearts of those who truly were captivated by it but this musical was amazingly done. The costumes, the stage setup, the designs, everything looked spectacular and sure enough, the musical received rave reviews in the US as well.
So, you really get all the fantastic special features from the 40th Anniversary including the bonus short animation “The Cat That Looked at a King” which stars Julie Andrews (and can be considered a short sequel) plus the new bonus features from the musical on this 45th Anniversary Edition.
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment managed to successfully pull of another spectacular release for the 45th Anniversary Edition. This is the definitive version to own! Highly recommended.