Mary Poppins (film)
Mary Poppins is a 1964 American musical fantasy film directed by Robert Stevenson and produced by Walt Disney, with songs written and composed by the Sherman Brothers. The screenplay is by Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, based on P. L. Travers's book series "Mary Poppins". The film, which combines live-action and animation, stars Julie Andrews in her feature film debut as Mary Poppins, who visits a dysfunctional family in London and employs her unique brand of lifestyle to improve the family's dynamic. Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson, and Glynis Johns are featured in supporting roles. The film was shot entirely at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California using painted London background scenes.
Mary Poppins (film)
Travers was an adviser to the production. However, she disapproved of the dilution of the harsher aspects of Mary Poppins' character, felt ambivalent about the music, and so hated the use of animation that she ruled out any further adaptations of the later "Mary Poppins" novels. She objected to a number of elements that actually made it into the film. Rather than original songs, she wanted the soundtrack to feature known standards of the Edwardian period in which the story is set. Disney overruled her, citing contract stipulations that he had final say on the finished print. Much of the Travers–Disney correspondence is part of the Travers collection of papers in the Mitchell Library of New South Wales, Australia. The relationship between Travers and Disney is detailed in "Mary Poppins She Wrote", a biography of Travers, by Valerie Lawson. The biography is the basis for two documentaries on Travers, "The Real Mary Poppins", and Lisa Matthews' "The Shadow of Mary Poppins". Their relationship during the development of the film was also dramatized in the 2013 Disney film "Saving Mr. Banks".