Mary Poppins (139 min) Synopsis: A magical English nanny, Mary Poppins, arrives at the home of Mr. and Mrs. George Banks, facing the park at No. 17, Cherry Tree Lane in London, to the delight of their young children, Jane and Michael. The proper English father is too preoccupied with his responsibility at the bank; the mother, an ardent suffragette, is not really aware that their two children, left in the care of one nanny after another, are unhappy and unable to communicate with the parents they truly love. Mary Poppins has come to change all this. She settles into the house, and soon has everyone wrapped around her little finger. Mary, along with her friend Bert and a host of chimney sweeps, teaches the children how to have fun, and in so doing makes the Banks household a happier place. By the time she opens her umbrella and flies off on a beautiful spring evening, the family is united together in the park, flying a kite. Cast: Julie Andrews (Mary Poppins), Dick Van Dyke (Bert), David Tomlinson (George Banks), Glynis Johns (Mrs. Banks), Ed Wynn (Uncle Albert), Hermione Baddeley (Ellen), Karen Dotrice (Jane), Matthew Garber (Michael), Elsa Lanchester (Katie Nanna), Arthur Treacher (Constable Jones), Reginald Owen (Admiral Boom), Reta Shaw (Mrs. Brill), Jane Darwell (bird woman) Songs: “Sister Suffragette,” “The Life I Lead,” “The Perfect Nanny” “Spoonful of Sugar,” “Jolly Holiday,” “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” “Stay Awake,” “I Love to Laugh,” “Feed the Birds,” “Fidelity Fiduciary Bank,” “Chim Chim Cher-ee, ” “Step in Time,” “A Man Has Dreams,” “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” Directed by Robert Stevenson U.S. Theatrical Release Date: August 29, 1964 (World Premiere at Grauman’s Chinese Theater on August 27, 1964) US Theatrical Reissues: 1973 and 1980 US Home Media Releases: December 30, 1980 (VHS); November 1982 (VHS/LD); November 5, 1985 (VHS); October 14, 1986 (VHS); October 6, 1987 (VHS); October 4, 1988 (VHS); July 12, 1991 (VHS); February 20, 1992 (LD); April 3, 1993 (LD); October 28, 1994 (VHS); August 26, 1997 (VHS); October 1, 1997 (LD); March 24, 1998 (DVD); March 31, 1998 (VHS); July 4, 2000 (VHS/DVD); December 14, 2004 (DVD/VHS); January 27, 2009 (DVD); December 10, 2013 (BR/DVD) Trivia: • The film received 13 Academy Award nominations, from which it won five Oscars for Best Actress (Julie Andrews), Best Song (“Chim Chim Cher-ee”), Best Music Score (Richard and Robert Sherman), Best Film Editing (Cotton Warburton), and Best Special Visual Effects (Peter Ellenshaw, Eustace Lycett, and Hamilton Luske). • There was also a special Scientific award to Petro Vlahos, Wadsworth E. Pohl, and Ub Iwerks for the creation and application to use of Color Traveling Matte Composite Cinematography, which helped make possible the combination of live action with animated actors in the film. • The special-effects work on Mary Poppins was the most challenging the studio had ever known. Everything from the two-strip sodium process and piano wire to bungee cords were used to create the magical sequences. • The work of the special-effects crew, as well as all the production staff, was the culmination of years of Disney innovation. In fact, only Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood, the choreographers, and Irwin Kostal, musical arranger, had to be brought in from the outside; Disney staff members could be called upon for all of the other tasks. • The entire film was shot on soundstages at the Disney Studio in Burbank. • P. L. Travers, author of the popular books on which the film is based, continued writing new adventures for Mary Poppins long after the film, and in the late 1980s worked with a Disney screenwriter on a film sequel that never materialized. • In 2004 a stage adaptation of Mary Poppins opened in England. The Copyright Laws of the United States recognizes a “fair use” of copyrighted content. Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act states: “Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.” This video and the “Animation Compendia” YouTube channel in general may contain certain copyrighted works that were not specifically authorized to be used by the copyrighted holder(s), but which we believe in good faith are protected by federal law and the fair use doctrine for one or more of the reasons noted above.