I CAN recite far too many lines and sing every single song from Mary Poppins - a misspent youth!
So when I saw the film, Saving Mr Banks, appear in our Love Film list, I was rather excited about it being posted through the door! The film, for those who have missed it, is based on the author of Mary Poppins, P. L Travers, and documents Walt Disney’s battle to buy the rights to her book and create the film we all know and love.
And for those who don’t like musicals, please don’t discount it. Mark is equally averse, but he still thought this film was fantastic!
When something is starring Emma Thompson, I immediately show an interest. But knowing she was accompanied by Tom Hanks, Paul Giamati, BJ Novak and the wonderful Bradley Whitford, to name a few, I thought it had to be a winner.
Despite having watched Mary Poppins so many times I can almost say Supercalifradgilisticexpialidocious backwards, I had no idea of the book’s background or its author. And I only recently discovered that Mary Poppins wasn’t there to save the Banks children, but their father.
Some stories just ‘get’ you, and this one certainly does. It’s one of the most genuine, funny, sad, heart-warming and touching films I’ve ever seen. Despite her harsh and cutting (very British) stiff upper lip, it’s impossibly not to love the protagonist from start to finish - and not just because she’s played by Emma Thompson.
I have no idea how accurate to reality this film is, but I hope that it’s true enough to its characters that Walt Disney really was as charming and brilliantly fun as Tom Hanks played him, and Mrs Travers was just as much the battle-axe - with a secret heart of gold.
I also hope to god that when all Disney’s script writers sit down to turn their words into motion pictures, that they are all served mountains of iced buns, cream cakes and jelly shaped into the face of Mickey Mouse.
As Mary Poppins would say, it was “practically perfect in every way’. Now spit spot, it’s time for bed!
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