Disney Classics

[Michael]

Anyone a fan of Mary Poppins?

It's a movie I've not seen since I was a very little boy but this morning I just felt like blowing some cash so I bought the DVD and Julie Andrews' new memoir of her early years. Once I was so pissed at Julie for baring her breasts in S.O.B. and that's how hard it was for me to shatter the illusion that she was no longer Mary.

I'm looking forward revisiting this childhood fave and that mechanized robin after more than 30 years.

[tryavna]

I remember being a fan of this when I was a kid. Apart from Dick van Dyke's hilariously awful Cockney accent, it's not too bad. Robert Stevenson was easily the best director to work regularly for Disney (not counting Richard Fleischer, who only made 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea), and he brings a dark visual sensibility that's strikingly at odds with most of Disney's other live-action output. I also remember Mary Poppins having a surprisingly long and complicated narrative for a Disney film. (You have to keep track of quite a few characters and extended episodes.) Plus, there are a number of great British character actors to spot throughout: Elsa Lanchester, Arthur Treacher, Glynis Johns -- not to mention Jane Darwell.

Actually, come to think of it, Mary Poppins is probably one of only two Disney live-action film I wouldn't mind revisiting. (20,000 Leagues is the other.)

[Stagger Lee]

My wife and I watched this again recently and had a great time. The last time I had seen it I was still too young to understand anything more than how hilarious the bottomless carpetbag was. Maybe it has to do with my having watched this many times as a little kid, but I love this movie. I'm afraid I can't remember well enough to be specific, but it seems to me that I noticed a surprising amount of depth in Mary Poppins' character, or at least in Andrews' acting.

[Michael]

Pinocchio has been my favorite Disney film all my life. It has to be the most darkest film coming from Disney. The boy gets kidnapped into a very sick society and ends up dead from being drowned. And also the most beautiful - the blue fairy, the goldfish, the whale, Jiminy Cricket and so much more. Does anyone know if it's coming out on DVD?

Has anyone read Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal Gabler? I'm considering about getting that book.

I will get back here once I revisited Mary Poppins.

[Mr Sausage]

It has to be the most darkest film coming from Disney.

You have no idea. I was watching this movie once in childhood and drifted to sleep in the middle of it. Well, what happened is that I drifted into a dream that was an extension of what I was just watching, plot and all, and instead of the mean guy chopping up a wooden doll as in the movie, my dream had him chopping up Pinocchio while the doll screamed and the guy laughed maniacally. That one was scarring; took me a while to realize that it was a dream and not actually part of the movie, too.

[Michael]

Finished Mary Poppins just now. Hmm. The magic is no longer there for me. I was turned off by how poorly lit it was. It should had been filmed in Technicolor. Everything about it (except Julie Andrews of course) was kind of flat and the last third of the film was a total drag that I fought hard from falling asleep. Strange that my mind kept drifting to Meet Me in St. Louis which I think is the most lushly filmed and delightful musical ever made; that Minnelli film definitely spoiled me for good.

[HerrSchreck]

Pinocchio has been my favorite film For-Fcking-Ever. I absolutely adore Pinocchio. And it absolutely is dark-- when Lampwick turns into a fuckin donkey and it yelling and screaming "slats! help!" and bugs out kicking chairs all over the poolroom... sublime nightmare.

Funny, me and my girlie were just talking about Poppins last night, and how we both wouldnt mind seeing it again. I actually think its an excellent film... though not beneath Contempt haw haw haw...

[domino harvey]

I've been reluctant to make a thread about it since I gather few would be willing to share my enthusiasm but especially if you like these types of movies, Enchanted is sort of brilliant.

[Rowan]

I saw Mary Poppins recently with my nan and thought it still had it. Although when I watch films in company that I’m very familiar with I tend to unconsciously/vicariously experience the film from their point of view - this can be good and bad of course - it’s why I love showing films to friends, like it’s the first time all over.. screening the personal, introspective worlds of Tarkovsky with a keenly-felt cynical presence can be torture though.

Michael, I think you’re right about a number of things. It does look very flat (is the dvd at fault here? characters faces have disturbingly gray undertones..). The chalk pavement picture sequence looks vibrant enough, but the animation here has always seemed to me (even as a child) a bit charmless and unimaginative (the prancing of the impossibly weighty horses on the hunt, equalling their riders in pomposity, is inspired though!).

As an adult one of the most enduring aspects of the film has to be the ambiguous characterisation of Poppins herself. She’s manipulative, brusque, egotistical and even cold. The way she orchestrates the humiliation of the father is incredible. Her hypnotising of the children during ‘Stay Awake’ and of course ‘Feed the Birds’ had a similar sinister quality on revisiting. Andrews plays the uncompromising, dominatrix-like aspects brilliantly, and I think the unexplained, repressed chemistry between Mary and Bert works well too.

Another high point for me is the extremely painterly sequence of Mr Banks taking the long walk to be fired, while a majestic funereal dirge variation on ‘Feed the Birds’ swells on the soundtrack.

Pinocchio is incredible. The earlier Disney animations are all masterpieces in book - Snow White, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi. Each is so different stylistically, and so much darker and more vital than conventional wisdom would have us believe (before the 50s blandness of Cinderella and co set in). Bambi is actually remarkabley unsentimental and filled with knowing humour. Lampwick turning into a donkey scared the hell out of me, and still does. When his final cry for ‘Maamaaaa!’ deforms into a piercing squawk it makes my blood run cold. Also check out the ‘Pink Elephants’ number in Dumbo!

Pinocchio due out in a ‘Platinum Edition’ early next year I think. It was one of Disney’s first batch of limited issue dvds years back. Unfortunately, the transfer on this is a good way short of recent restorations like Bambi that really let you bathe in the beauty and texture of the artwork, so I’d advise waiting.

[HerrSchreck]

Pinocchio has been my favorite film For-Fcking-Ever

Not that I'd be TOO embarassed... but, correction: it's my favorite disney film. Sorta left that out.

I get misty just hearing "Hi diddly dee, an actors life for me."

That fox still gives me the creeps. And the whole scat-jazz routine causing pin-noke to feel like he's sick... ending with "MY BOY! YOU ARE ALLERGIC!"

Also love the semi-latter day Great Mouse Detective w Vincent Prince as Prof Ratigan.. and Fidget the crippled little sinister bat. Straight outa fz's Greggary Peccary.

[domino harvey]

Looking back, the darkest and most depressing Disney film, and this is probably a generational thing, is easily for me the Fox and the Hound.

[Lino]

Yeah, I can relate to The Fox and the Hound, too. Saw it as a kid (pre-school) and really had an effect on me. But as far as Disney movies go, my fave of recent years has been The Three Caballeros. I just love Joe Carioca to bits!

[Michael]

Michael, I think you’re right about a number of things. It does look very flat (is the dvd at fault here? characters faces have disturbingly gray undertones..). The chalk pavement picture sequence looks vibrant enough, but the animation here has always seemed to me (even as a child) a bit charmless and unimaginative (the prancing of the impossibly weighty horses on the hunt, equalling their riders in pomposity, is inspired though!).

Not sure if the DVD is at fault. Viewing it last night, I was disturbed by how gray everything looked. In such a very drab and flat tone. I was struck by how uninspiring and musty the whole thing looked.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

Also love the semi-latter day Great Mouse Detective w Vincent Prince as Prof Ratigan.. and Fidget the crippled little sinister bat. Straight outa fz's Greggary Peccary.

Yes! I dig Great Mouse Detective as well. Very underrated film. I haven't seen it in years. Time fer a revisit. The Black Cauldron is also a guilty pleasure.

[colinr0380]

Looking back, the darkest and most depressing Disney film, and this is probably a generational thing, is easily for me the Fox and the Hound.

Got to be The Black Cauldron for me!

[Michael Kerpan]

There's always Thomasina (which I recall as quite a downer overall -- though I don't recall the ending).

Pinocchio is probably my favorite Disney feature film too. I also have a lot of affection for Jungle Book (my favorite later Disney film).

As to live action films -- I always was rather fond of Horse Without a Head (though the book was better).

[tryavna]

Viewing it last night, I was disturbed by how gray everything looked. In such a very drab and flat tone. I was struck by how uninspiring and musty the whole thing looked.

Hmmm.... It could well be that revisiting Poppins would give me the same reaction, Michael. But as my earlier post indicates, one of the things that I like about the movie is its drabness, darkness, and grayness. It's so atypical of how you might think a Disney film would ordinarily portray late-Victorian/Edwardian London -- yet it's probably a fairly close approximation of just how drab and fog-/smoke-choked the city probably was in those days. (In a way, it even reminds me of the opening stanzas of Eliot's "Prufrock": "Let us go then, you and I, when the evening is spread out against the sky like a patient etherised upon a table" and "The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes, the yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes licked its tongue into the corners of the evening, lingered upon the pools that stand in drains, let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys." But maybe that's a bit of a stretch.)

As for Pinocchio and Disney's other feature-length animated films: That is, of course, where Disney exceled. And there's a distinct charm to be found in even some of the weaker ones: Cinderella, Robin Hood, etc. But the early features, like Pinocchio, are absolute masterpieces -- and quite disturbing in many ways (the death of Bambi's mother and the transformation and later death of the wicked queen in Snow White, etc.).

[Michael]

tryavna, I love the glorious drabness of Carol Reed's London and Sweeney Todd (which I saw very recently). It's not so much about the production design of Mary Poppins that put me off. I'm not sure if it's the DVD transfer (what I watched was the 40th Anniversary edition). I was more perplexed by the very stale quality.. I was expecting something really spectacular and eye-poppingly gorgeous from the film that came from Disney. I often imagined how it'd be like if Minnelli had directed it. No, not every film he made is a masterpiece. I hate Gigi but there is no denial to his obsessive attention to details and colors. Disney should had hired him. Again, I can't help for having been spoiled by Minnelli. Same thing with Donen. Look at Funny Face. Shot on location in Paris but somehow it sparkles like a fantasy, one of the most beautifully lit films.

Too long for a children's film, the last third drags horribly. But Julie and her robin still rock.

[HerrSchreck]

I also have a lot of affection for Jungle Book (my favorite later Disney film).).

HOW IN GODS NAME COULD I FORGET!????

George Sanders absolutelyt sublime as Shere Khan. Ka... and >baba-doo-baaaaaaambalooboo< ol King Louie.

WOnderful!

[Svevan]

I don't believe we have a dedicated Disney thread (I did see this thread, but felt the discussion was oriented differently. Do we need to merge?), or threads dedicated to many (if any) of the animated films in the canon, other than perhaps some of the current ones. Since the vast majority of these were 20th, not 21st, this seemed the appropriate forum. Mods, if we need to make individual threads, I wouldn't mind starting a few for the films I want to talk about.

I'm more interested, however, in a critical re-eval of these 48 movies as a whole, from outside the Disney machine (even though it seems their special feature docs are pretty honest about internal and public reaction). Disney's gone through waves of quality, and for the past five to ten years, up to today, they've been pretty terrible while Pixar's taken the Disney mantle.

Of particular interest to me are some of the well-beloved but less revered Disney animated films, like 101 Dalmatians and Rescuers Down Under, which are not based on fairy tales and take place in "the real world." I love 101 Dalmatians, because of its art style (like where the backgrounds become single color at key emotional moments) and straight storytelling, but it seems on a lower-totem critically (and perhaps was a signal of waning quality at the time). Roger Ebert also wrote somewhat negatively about it recently.

I was interested to read that Sleeping Beauty was not a financial success when it was first released, and I'd be interested to hear others' opinions on it post-childhood (I haven't revisited since I was a kid, so I'm probably going to pick up the upcoming DVD).

Also, some stuff gets pegged as classic, like Aladdin and The Lion King, when to me they are just popular and well-drawn, with no guts. Others, like Jungle Book and Robin Hood, get varying levels of respect and I honestly have no idea how to judge them as films without completely erasing my childhood memories. I also want to talk about the "hip" newer films, like Treasure Planet and Atlantis: The Lost Empire. I think the latter is pretty fantastic, haven't seen the former.

I know several around here read scholarly books on Disney - any suggestions for reading and topics of discussion would be welcome.

Hope this is a topic people want to discuss!

[Fletch F. Fletch]

Yeah, I really enjoyed the Atlantis film especially Mike Mignola's style being adopted for the overall look of the motion picture. I grew up being a big fan of the live action Disney film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and felt that Atlantis was kinda an unofficial sequel... or at least existing in the same universe? There seemed to be a lot of references to 20,000 Leagues in Atlantis.

It's a shame that the film never really caught on with audiences and did not perform well at the box office as I thought a lot of care and thought went into it. I wasn't too crazy about the direct-to-video sequel, however.

[Gregory]

Right on. My view, as someone who grew up watching just about all the Disney stuff up through The Little Mermaid, is that most of their output doesn't hold up nearly as well as they'd have us believe. I much prefer the older films to things like The Little Mermaid and just about everything I've seen that came after it. The exception is the most recent animated film produced by Disney that I've seen, James and the Giant Peach, which I thought was outstanding.
I don't think the word "canon" really fits here, to put it lightly, though I know it's become a fairly common usage vis-a-vis the list of the animated films Disney produced, and I'm not directing this comment at the original poster.

[jojo]

Truth be told, I only consider HALF of pre-death Walt Disney productions to be "classics." Now, I have no problems with the argument that almost all of Disney's films (with the exception of their 80s output) have impressive production values and Disney's "Old Men" are worthy of all the praise that they get. But I think many critics place too much emphasis on the technological or budgetary aspects of animation, instead of looking at these films as an overall product. This is why 101 Dalmations gets slagged all the time. Despite sporting fresh, contemporary character designs and a genuinely witty script, critics didn't come around to it until recently, because at the time all they could do was focus on the seemingly lower budget and production values.

This is kind of what irks me about Pixar reviews as well. Now, I think Pixar makes great, great family entertainment, but people are so "wowed" by their production values that they don't see that Pixar animation still hasn't progressed much beyond "funny script, cute critters, family friendly entertainment." That they do this extremely well is beside the point. Since everyone else in theatrical animation is compared to Pixar, anything less than a decent imitation of the "Pixar formula" gets ignored or slagged.

[dx23]

Disney is releasing a 45th Anniversary Edition of this film:

Mary Poppins 45th AE (R1) in January
02-01-2009 18:00 | 1084 views | Dave Foster |


Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment have announced the Region 1 DVD release of Mary Poppins 45th Anniversary Edition on 27th January 2009 priced at $29.99 SRP. Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke star in this popular Disney classic based on the children’s stories by P.L. Travers.

The new extras on this 2-disc Special Edition focus on the Broadway musical version of Mary Poppins. Features include....

Backstage Disney
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 prepare to take the long running show on 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
* Audio Commentary—Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, Karen Dotrice and Richard Sherman recall the making of Mary Poppins.
* Poppins Pop-Up Fun Facts—Select this option and fun-filled facts about the creation of this classic film pop up during viewing.
* Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious: The Making of Mary Poppins—The definitive behind-the- scenes look at how this unique and beloved film came into being.
* Movie Magic—A look at the special effect techniques used to bring the magical world of Mary Poppins to life.
* The Gala World Premiere—Footage from the Red Carpet.
* Dick Van Dyke Make-Up Test
* Trailers, Ads and More from the Original Release and Reissue of the Film
* Mary Poppins 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 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.


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.


Deleted Song

* “Chimpanzoo”—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.

Any differences between this release and the previous version?

[Barmy]

Blech. I saw Poppins as part of the Fincher retro last week and was shocked at how lame and, yes, FLAT it was. And some of the worst animation imaginable. The kids were grotesquely moppety. I could go on, but I shant. Don't waste your tuppence on it.