Mary Poppins/Bedknobs and Broomsticks

One of the greatest children’s films ever, “Mary Poppins,” released in 1964, is as perfect and innovative a musical as anyone had seen, with a timeless story, strong performances, a flawless combination of live action and animation, wonderful songs, and a genuine script with every likability of the P.L. Travers of what it is based on.

The film begins when distant parents (David Tomlinson and Glynis Johns) decide to put an ad for a nanny to watch over their noisy children, Michael and Jane Banks (Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber). The children write their own letter, and when their father rips it and throws it in the fireplace, the pieces somehow come back together and go up their chimney.

The next day, Mary Poppins, played by Julie Andrews, shows up, flying down from the sky with an umbrella as her parachute. She is not an ordinary nanny as Michael and Jane find out, as she takes them on so many enjoyable adventures, while also teaching them lessons on proper behavior.

Mary introduces the children to new people like Bert the chimney sweep, played by the great Dick Van Dyke. He goes with them on a holiday somewhere that has animated penguins, who given them tea on a carousel having weirdly stubborn horses, and Uncle Albert, played by Ed Wynn, whose contagious laughter has peculiar side-effects. TV Guide said in their review, “In retrospect, we consider Andrews a trifle young for the role; she lacks the wisdom of, say, an Irene Dunne, our ideal vision of the role.” There is also the magnificent Jane Darwell in her final role playing the Bird Lady.

The movie won five Academy Awards and was producer Walt Disney’s magnum opus in a career that earned him more Oscars than anyone else. The memorable songs by Disney writers Richard and Robert Sherman include so many catchy songs like A Spoonful of Sugar.

Next up is the 1971 classic, “Bedknobs and Broomsticks.” Angela Lansbury played an apprentice witch who wants to really help England out in World War II, and she shows off her singing, dancing and comedy skills.

When Lansbury’s character, Eglantine Price, who lives in a small British village, unwillingly adopts three children from London, she tries to hide her witchcraft training from them. Obviously, that won’t be possible. It’s not long before Charlie (Ian Weighill), Carrie (Cindy O’Callaghan) and Paul (Roy Snart) become involved in Eglantine’s devoted plans. They are lucky because they get to travel with Eglantine on a bed with a magical bedknob. Eglantine also gets her pretender teacher, played by David Tomlinson, to help find clues that will help her create a powerful spell called “substitutionary locomotion.” What happens is the creation of a magical army no one could really go up against.

Betty Jo Tucker said in her review, “My only complaint about Bedknobs and Broomsticks involves inclusion of an overlong animated soccer game sequence. After watching the DVD bonus features, I’m even more upset about that.” Obviously, a choice had to be made about whether to use the soccer idea or a musical song with Lansbury in a Music Hall rendition of a song written just for her by the Sherman Brothers. You could say that they made the wrong choice to not include a song by Lansbury.

Tucker noted, “In Music Magic: The Sherman Brothers, a fascinating bonus item, we learn the origins of the film’s songs, including what was deleted plus what made it into the final version of the movie. Another bonus addition offers stills of Lansbury performing “A Step in the Right Direction,” which was also deleted from the film. Bummer! Wish we could have seen the actual film footage of this number. But at least we hear Lansbury’s lovely voice as the photos show up on our television screen.”

I truly believe that everyone should check these two movies out, as they are my two absolute favorite Disney live-action movies. Sad that “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” wasn’t really liked by certain people without comparing it to “Mary Poppins.” That shouldn’t be done, despite that I know they are similarities, but they are two completely different types of films. Still, I highly recommend these two films for everyone. How odd that we just started the month and we already got to my two favorite ones.

Look out tomorrow for more excitement in “Disney Live-Action Month.”