Mary Poppins - 2-Disc 40th Anniversary Edition as with Brother Bear (1 Viewer)

[Rob T]

I'll be getting it.

 

[Ruz-El]

I've been waiting for this, I've never bought the movie, and actually declared it at one point to be disney crap, until I saw it at work and was completley blown away by it.

I can't beleive how ignorant I could be in my youth!

this is a great film, and a must own for any film fan!

 

[Brian Kidd]

Hey now, Ryan. Angela Lansbury was friggin' perfect as Eglantine Price. David Tomlinson was great as well. I'll keep my beloved, yet much maligned, BEDKNOBS just the way it is. I do wish the disc had a commentary track, though. It would have been great to hear Scott MacQueen talk about what it took to restore the film, as closely as was possible, to the Roadshow Version. Alas, since MacQueen no longer works for the House of Mouse, that won't happen.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

I don't follow the logic. You don't have to be a staff employee of a movie studio to do a commentary. Wasn't Scott MacQueen in charge of the Disney archives at the time when he worked on the supplements for Universal's Bride of Frankenstein?

Regards,

 

[Ryan Wong]

Yeah, they are excellent. But Angela's voice keeps remind me of teapod.

 

[Brian Kidd]

Sure he was, but AFAIK MacQueen didn't leave Disney as a happy camper. Can you see Roy coming back to do a commentary? How about Katzenberger? Kapeesh?

 

[Joshua Clinard]

When Eisner is gone, I am sure that Roy will come back, and he will probably participate in a commentary for SOTS.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

I cannot wait. You can bet this will be one DVD review where all the stops are pulled out. I've got the archive edition LD (great color and sound) and the current DVD (overly dark picture and thin/bright sound) and will do a comparison with both of these to the new edition...on the *projector*... (I just love saying that )...

-dave

 

[Ernest Rister]

"Hey now, Ryan. Angela Lansbury was friggin' perfect as Eglantine Price."

I just watched the mostly-uncut DVD of Bedknobs this Saturday -- Lansbury nails the "unmarried book-wormy nerdy spinster" side of Eglantine, but (and I know this is going to sound harsh) watching her during some of the production numbers like "Substitutiary Locomotion" is like watching my grandmother do the Chicken Dance. I know she's a fabled Broadway star, but as Shirley Jones proved in Music Man you don't have to look like a 50 year old librarian to play a spinster. One can only imagine what someone like Audrey Hepburn could have done with the role.

 

[MatthewA]

Audrey Hepburn, eh? Then the controversy over the My Fair Lady casting would have come full circle (Julie Andrews would not have been able to do this film had she been cast in My Fair Lady), as Disney asked Andrews before anyone else to play Miss Price in Bedknobs, but she turned it down. Between Audrey Hepburn (b. 1929) and Angela Lansbury (b. 1925) there is an age difference of merely four years, however, and Audrey had retired in 1969 (only to un-retire to do Robin and Marian).

But in Angela's defense, she doesn't do much dancing at all in the film to begin with, except for one still-missing number (still photo montages are not a good indicator of dancing ability) and portions of two others. In fact there's not that much elaborate choreography in Bedknobs & Broomsticks save for "Portobello Road," "Beautiful Briny" and "Eglantine"

 

[Ernest Rister]

"In fact there's not that much elaborate choreography in Bedknobs & Broomsticks".

Even where it exists, it isn't what I could call elaborate (not compared to say, Oliver, or even Mary Poppins). That's one of my beefs with the film. For a musical, the staging of the production numbers seems particularly stale and flat-footed. Again, not to be harsh towards Ms. Lansbury, but during the "Substitutiary Locomotion" number, there's a section where she steps to her right with one foot while both her arms and her other leg swish to the left, and this is repeated. She looks like she's trying to imitate some rubber hose animation left over from "Candy Carnival".

The "Eglantine" number is the nadir of the film, in my opinion. It is excessively long, and almost maddeningly stage-bound. David pushes a ladder one way, turns around and pushes it the other way, he walks around the room, he hides behind the couch, pokes his head up and makes a funny face (three times) -- I swear it looks like they made the whole thing up the day they shot it.

It would be interesting to see someone try their hand at a modern remake of Bedknobs. "The Age of Not Believing" is actually a very moving song, if delivered gently. Angela Lansbury hits it with a hammer. Maybe that sums up my feelings about her in the role in general. She's too cold, too clipped -- there's no warmth in her performance of Ms. Price.

 

[MatthewA]

I couldn't agree less. Though she seems cold to you, the character is pretty serious-minded in the first place. She does warm up eventually, even if not to Winnie-the-Pooh-like warmth and fuzziness. And her rendition of "Age" is far more restrained than her version of "If He Walked into My Life" on the cast album to Mame.

If they even discussed a remake of this film at the development table I would probably never see another Disney film again if they paid me.

I thought this thread was about Mary Poppins anyway, in which case I have no business here at all for reasons I don't care to go into, so I'll close by saying ultimatedisney.com rules!

 

[Ernest Rister]

"If they even discussed a remake of this film at the development table I would probably never see another Disney film again if they paid me."

Why? Walt Disney made a career out of remaking other films, plays, and stories. People remake films all the time. The Producers is getting a new lease on life, Peter Jackson thinks he has something new to say with King Kong, Spielberg is set to take on War of the Worlds -- why would even discussing a new version Bedknobs and Broomsticks cause you to never watch a Disney film again (especially since they've already remade scores of classic Disney films, like The Parent Trap, The Absent Minded Professor, 101 Dalmatians, and That Darn Cat).

Why can't someone take a crack at Bedknobs and Broomsticks, a good property that missed the mark? Francois Truffaut said the only real way to criticize a movie is to make another movie. Bedknobs could be done right -- an appealing leading lady with warmth, inventive choreography, imaginative direction, not to mention the potential for modern f/x work. Keep the songs, just bring in some new talent. I fail to see what is so alarming about that.

"Though she seems cold to you, the character is pretty serious-minded in the first place."

Lansbury plays her as all business. And yet the woman rides into town on a motorcycle belching a long trail of yellow smoke. She's picking up a witch's broom at the post. She has a basement full of bottles labeled "posioned dragon's liver" and other such things. She has a terrible memory. She wants to use magic to defeat the Nazi army by animating inanimate objects. Face it, if you were reading that character summary on paper for the first time, you'd have to conclude the character was a bit of a loon. An entertaining loon (potentially), but a loon. This character is more than a bit off the beaten path. She should be eccentric, but endearingly so -- not Miss Marple with a spellbook.

 

[Brian Kidd]

To each is own, Ernest. Lansbury is one of my favorite musical theatre actresses. Her turn as Mrs. Lovett in SWEENEY TODD has yet to be matched and from most accounts, though I haven't seen it, her Mama Rose was also quite good. I agree that B&B is no MARY POPPINS but taken on its own terms, it's still miles ahead of most other films of its ilk. As for a remake, it couldn't be done. The story is much too innocent to survive into the present day, especially in the hands of the current Disney Mega-Corp.

 

[Drew Salzan]

Mary Poppins has to be the one title that I've replaced the most. First on VHS, then TWO times on LD (full screen and then letterbox) and lastly on DVD. The coming release sounds great (extras and all). Aside from the needed anamorphic remastering, I hope they fix the audio problems plagued by the previous DVD 5.1 (audible low frequency hum).

The same goes for the soundtrack: TWO times on vinyl, TWO times on CD (the second CD release had an extended and complete version of Step in Time). Let's hope the coming CD release is truly the ultimate and complete so I don't have to do this anymore :frowning:.

Aside: Did the original Roadshow engagement have an Overture or Intermission? Since I was only 4 when I saw it at Radio City Music Hall, I don't recall.

 

[Ernest Rister]

"To each is own, Ernest. Lansbury is one of my favorite musical theatre actresses. Her turn as Mrs. Lovett in SWEENEY TODD has yet to be matched and from most accounts, though I haven't seen it, her Mama Rose was also quite good."

Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd! Yes, she was great in Sweeney Todd. She was great as Mrs. Potts. She was great in Manchurian Candidate. She was great as Jessica Fletcher. For various reasons, I don't think her work in Bedknobs serves the character or the film.