The second of the bank holiday weekend treats was yet another viewing of the classic that is Mary Poppins which for me was the start of a Julie Andrews double bill as I decided to watch an online copy of The Sound of Music. Like with Streisand in the previous post, Mary Poppins was Andrews' debut film and also earned her a Best Actress Oscar in addition this is to date the Disney film that has been nominated for the most Oscars with a staggering thirteen nods. I don't know how much of a plot summary I have to do for either of these films but essentially Mary Poppins concerns Jane and Michael children of banker George Banks who are constantly unruly and don't really do with nannies. After an incident with some wind and a ripped up note Andrews' Poppins comes into their life and lets them live with free abandon having tea parties on the ceiling and entering an animated world via a painting. However there are life lessons learnt along the way and some darn fine songs with Dick Van Dyke being an added bonus however his cock-er-ney accent leaves a lot to be desired. There's no denying that Mary Poppins is one of the best films that Disney has ever produced and it still looks as good as it ever did. I watched the majority of the film with my mum who seemingly knows every word to every song and it is definitely a film that sticks with you and for me there isn't a bad song among the bunch my favourite meanwhile is an obscure part of the film in which Van Dyke and David Tomlinson duet just before George Banks gets fired. I have to say that the film was revolutionary at the time with its combination of animation and live action which today seems fairly commonplace but these sequences are so expertly put together that the visual effects Oscar that the film won was more than deserved. Overall I challenge anyone to watch Mary Poppins and not enjoy it it is a masterpiece but oddly it wasn't the Julie Andrews film that won Best Picture.
That in fact went to the film she made directly after Poppins that being The Sound of Music again playing a nanny only this time to a group of petulant Austrian children just before the Nazi occupation of the country. Once again I'm sure not a lot of plot detail is needed but just in case Andrews plays Maria an unruly novice nun who is tasked to look after the seven Von Trapp children who are treated like an army by their widower Captain father. The children briefly try to trick her but they soon warm to her niceties as does the Captain when he realises that she has turned his children into a choir. After the briefest of courtships Maria and The Captain marry but pressure on him to join the Nazi movement mounts so the family use a concert performance as the moment to flee to neutral Switzerland. There are a lot of things to like about the Sound of Music the majority of the songs, the costume design and the Austrian scenery all count in its favour but for me even though it has the Nazis in it is still a little bit twee. I feel that Mary Poppins has more of an edge to it as it deals with the class system in London while the Nazi movement in the Sound of Music is essentially presented as a minor hindrance to the singing career of seven children and a nun. That's not to say The Sound of Music is a bad film it does what it does well and still looks great but if we're judging films in which Julie Andrews plays a nanny its always going to be Poppins over Maria for me everytime.
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