MARY POPPINS 40th Anniversary Edition DVD is sure to please (1 Viewer)

[Joe Caps]

I'll try this again. In the prints I saw of Mary Poppins with Overture and Intermission Music (NO exit music) I did not say they were roadshow. It was not reserved seats.
This extra music was only in a few prints. The extra music at the end of the old LP overture is actually the end of the actual film Overture tacked onto the films Main title for the LP.

 

[Chris Farmer]

You know what they say. It ain't bragging if you can actually do it.

Sorry Ernest, not ragging on you. You clearly are the biggest expert on Disney in these forums, but it was still rather amusing to see you bring it up like this anyway. Or it's just my weird, sick, bizarre, twisted sense of humor striking again. [shrug]

 

[Greg_M]

"I'm surprised and downright disappointed to hear that the original Buena Vista logo and fanfare music have been removed and replaced with the Disney Pictures logo. That makes me angry. What the heck were they thinking? Why make this change now when the previous video and DVD releases have used the original fanfare and it's even included on the new Special Edition Soundtrack CD?"


I use to work at Disney records and everything they do is completely seperate from the Home Video division. It's great that the CD has included so much more.

 

[Steve Christou]

uh oh Houston... The ego has landed.

It would surprise 99.9999% per cent of the population if they had Mary Poppins on the brain Ernest, but I'm afraid it's probably just you. Just messing signor.

[bad cockney accent] Mary Poppins...Mary Poppins Yeah why not I'll pick this classic up for Xmas, just have to make sure whatsername doesn't find out, she'll think I'm getting soft in me old age.

 

[Doug Bull]

Gang, it's highly unlikely, but there is a very, very slim chance that the logo might have been dropped for some reason, only on the region 4 edition.

Sometimes, on very odd occassions there are very small differences in the studio credit titles between the 2 regions.
Normally these have to do with who owns the rights in other countries. ( eg. Titanic-Fox, Titanic-Paramount )

I'm not sure if the region one versions have them, but the region 4 DVDs of Walt Disney's "Alice in Wonderland", "Peter Pan", "Dumbo" and "Pinocchio" all start with the original RKO RADIO PICTURES logo.( fabulous)

Just don't get your hopes up too much though, as the packaging and featured extras on region 4 appears to be completely identical to the upcoming region 1 release.

 

[LukeB]

The Walt Disney Pictures logo is present on the Region 1 DVD as well.

 

[Les Perkins]

Ok, we can put to rest the controversy of Overture/Intermission/Exit music. While this is not an official Disney Company response, I am the independent producer who did the research on Mary Poppins, as well as create some of the bonus features. It’s exciting to see the enthusiasm of the debate on this issue. It is with that same passion that I went digging for said pieces of music, expecting to find them. They do not exist and we found no documentation to suggest they ever did. Nor does co-composer Richard Sherman recall such elements, and his memory on this film is phenomenal.

So here’s the detail, lest you doubt me, or simply enjoy these kinds of stories. In the course of physical inspection of hundreds of film cans, I was thrilled to discover reels from actual release prints marked with an intermission! I found both a stereo four-stripe mag. print and a mono optical. That print is what I put into the “Musical Journey with Richard Sherman” featurette. There’s a bad fade out at the end of “Stay Awake” but the tracks on both prints go silent: no music. Not willing to take that as the final word, I went to a separate department that stores all sound masters and found one version specifically marked intermission, so I ordered that original sound track from which release prints were made. Again, no intermission music. And the following reel just begins with a fade into Admiral Boom’s scene (“Glorious day, Mr. Binnacle…”) so I couldn’t find any Entr’acte music either.

As if that wasn’t enough, we also pulled virtually all the original orchestra session takes before they were edited. That’s how I discovered all the unused rooftop music. But I found nothing that could have been an Overture, Intermission, or Exit music, and I looked (listened). Irwin Kostal can even be heard identifying the alternate overture ending as being for the record album, but nothing else. (Ah ha! They were recorded at the same time.)

We also checked the written correspondence in the production files. The only paperwork we found that discusses the possibility of an intermission was some correspondence in October 1964 regarding the Odeon Theater in England asking the Disney Studio if they might be able to add an intermission. So that allowed me to theorize that the intermission print might have been for England, which I had Mr. Sherman reference in the featurette. We found no reviews or other documentation to indicate an intermission anywhere else (although Radio City would have been a likely candidate). By the way, I saw Poppins in its first week at Graumann’s myself and I don’t recall an intermission. Juvenile film buff that I already was, I think a break would have made a memorable impression.

Could there have been in some theaters? Yes, and here’s how. It was not uncommon in that era for exhibitors with a sense of showmanship to play record albums before and/or after the feature. And when Poppins played locally at a theater near me in 1966, that theater took it upon itself to arbitrarily cut the film at one point and put up their own intermission card in order to break up the long film, presumably to sell more popcorn (I remembered that one). But this was not Disney created. Yeah, there’s the remote possibility that somewhere Disney created a different version, or used the special intermission print, but we sure can’t prove it.

I hope this lengthy explanation satisfies everyone’s curiosity. And as to the original distributor logo? Well, all I can say is we made sure for you folks that it ended up on the disc somewhere (at the end of the Premiere: Red Carpet featurette). By the way, the CD cut is the alternate, slower take. Oh, and the master dubbing units for this film were three-track stereo, not four, much to my own disbelief (I saw the recording logs).

Thanks for the good review. Per the title of another Sherman Brothers hit, “Enjoy It!”

 

[ArthurMy]

Les Perkins, thank you for your informative post. I find this happens a lot here (and on other groups) - people remembering things that simply did not exist. And others can tell them it wasn't so but they will not believe it. And when someone like yourself comes on and offers irrefutable proof that it didn't exist, they just disappear.

I saw Mary Poppins eight times on its initial release - no intermission, no overture, nothing but the film.

Again, thanks for the informative post which will hopefully but doubtfully put this matter to rest. There are still people who insist, and I mean insist, that there was a "To be continued" card at the end of the original release of Back to the Future.

 

[Ernest Rister]

Thanks, Mr. Perkins.

I'm waiting for a new DVD of Rescuers Down Under that begins with "The Prince and the Pauper" and then contains the original animated bridge/intermission between "Pauper" and Rescuers DU. It was a countdown clock interspersed with comments from the Ben Stein-esque "tutor" character from "Prince and the Pauper", letting the audience how much time they had left in the intermission before "Rescuers Down Under" began.

I also want the Tim Matheson/1982 version of "Fantasia", and a new DVD of "The Black Cauldron" that shows the deleted footage cut by Jeffrey Katzenberg when he came on board.

What can I say, I'm a completionsist.

 

[Mike Wadkins]

not to hi-jack the thread what was ?

 

[Ernest Rister]

The Black Cauldron -- Eilonwy's baubel as well as a boat and a gate during the escape sequence were all created via computer.


"The ego has landed" -- LOL...too right. Too much holiday cheer. My apologies for such ill-chosen words.

 

[Al (alweho)]

On October 14, 1994 Leonard Maltin hosted a 30th anniversary reunion screening of Mary Poppins at the Academy. Special guests included Marc Breaux & Dee Dee Wood, Edward Colman ASC, Karen Dotrice, Peter Ellenshaw, Bill Justice, Irwin Kostal and the Sherman Brothers. (Can you tell I still have the flyer?)

At that screening we saw a bit of silent film, a matte painting of London into which Mary Poppins flew into and across. Maltin indicated it was done for Radio City Music Hall, and that it hadn't screened anywhere else.

Les, did this clip make it onto the DVD, and could this be something that fueled all those overture/intermission/exit music rumors?

By the way, the panel discussion afterwards was a real treat - with so many wonderful stories told by all the participants. (Sadly it was also probably the last time Kostal was seen in public. Andrews was in Europe at that time and sent her regrets.)

 

[Ernest Rister]

"I'm not sure if the region one versions have them, but the region 4 DVDs of Walt Disney's "Alice in Wonderland", "Peter Pan", "Dumbo" and "Pinocchio" all start with the original RKO RADIO PICTURES logo.( fabulous)"

In Region 1, of the established animated features distributed by RKO, only "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "Saludos Amigos" have come to DVD missing the original RKO title cards (although, in the case of Snow White, the original cards are included as a supplement as they were on the 1994 laserdisc box set). In the case of "Saludos Amigos!", the DVD carries a Buena Vista title card.

All of the R1 DVDs for the other animated features pre-1985 have either the original RKO title cards, or original Buena Vista cards and full musical opening fanfare. Some, like "Lady and the Tramp", start with a WDP card, followed by the original BV card.

Some of the more obscure live action titles that have just been released, like the excellent Greyfriar's Bobby, do not have their original title cards. Meanwhile, others do, like the acclaimed Treasure Island, Darby O'Gill and Third Man on the Mountain. Even the stunt-packed romp Hot Lead and Cold Feet has the opening BV logo, it is becoming more and more uncommon for a classic Disney title to not have its original opening title cards. I have quite a few Anchor Bay titles on DVD, and I cannot speak for these:

The Bears and I
The Black Hole
Candleshoe
Cat From Outer Space
Great Locomotive Chase
Happiest Millionaire
Napoleon and Samantha
Never Cry Wolf
Watcher in the Woods

The existing Gold Collection DVD for Mary Poppins does have both the WDP logo, and then the Buena Vista logo with the brief Kostal fanfare. If the original card and opening fanfare is indeed missing on the new DVD, it is hardly a deal breaker for me, but it makes me hang on to my GC edition of Poppins instead of giving it away to a relative as I originally planned.

I for one am not as hung up on absolute fidelity to original presentation as some, particularly where Walt was concerned. He was known to alter his films after the fact on several occasions, but most importantly, were he around today, knowing how trend-breaking he was in regards to refusing to sell TV rights to his classic films or air them on television, it is possible we might not have these films on DVD at all. Walt wanted them to be seen in theaters, and knew they had tremendous re-release value. Of his animated features, he only allowed Dumbo and Alice in Wonderland to be shown on TV in his time. All we can do is wonder what Uncle Walt would have made of home video -- it is entirely possible that were he alive, the landscape of Disney DVD would be dramatically different, and several titles that we have had the pleasure of watching in the home (including Mary Poppins) would be on home video moratorium, reserved only for theatrical re-issue.

Es posible.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I would like to join the others in thanking Les Perkins for sharing his information with us. I hope he will continue to be a presence here at the HTF.

Welcome!

 

[Doug Bull]

Thanks Les Perkins for your highly interesting and informative comments.
This is the kind of precious insider information that members of this Forum crave for. Thank You.

I'm sure everybody will be really thrilled by the extensive and entertaining supplementary features on the up-coming Region 1 Disc.
The short but sweet unused underscoring excert during the rooftop sequence on disc 2, is for a film score buff like myself, a real bonus.

Les, do you have any answer as to why the original Buena Vista card has gone missing from the movie itself?


Ernest, Thanks for the list of Disney region 1 DVD releases that contain the RKO logo.

 

[Chris Farmer]

Thank you Les for the informative post. As I've also said about Charlie de Lauzirika (God I hope I spelled his name right), it really is fantastic to have the very people who are working so hard on these DVDs as active participants on this forum. Your insights and discussion about what is and is not on the disc and the rationale behind it is welcome and informative, and very much appreciated.

 

[MikeEckman]

Thanks for the review. Perhaps Ive been living under a rock, but I wasn't even aware a new SE was on its way. I will definitely pick it up in R1 when it eventually comes out!

 

[Reagan]

Thanks, Les. The amount of research you've done is mind-boggling.

-Reagan

 

[Andrew Priest]

I'll admit I'm really looking forward to this new Mary Poppins release. The old Gold Edition really isn't very exciting, and the clip holding the DVD in my copy is even damaged. It's about time a good version of it comes out.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

I plan to have the review of the R1 disc up in the next few days...please be patient!

Not the expert in matters of intermission music and what not but I'll do my best to let you know how it looks and sounds...

One thing...I am personally disappointed by the missing "old fashioned" Buena Vista logo which I remember so fondly from my youth.

Mary Poppins is a very special film for me. It was the first "record" I ever wanted to buy (got my partents to get me the double-soundtrack/storybook LP when I was about 4 years old) and I spend *hours* listening to that vinyl and staring at those pictures in that book. What a special privilege to now review the latest 16x9 5.0 DVD!

-dave