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

[SteveK]

David - I'm very much looking forward to your review, and to adding this title to my collection to replace my current copy. I remember seeing Mary Poppins in grade school. I also had the soundtrack, but I don't remember it having a book along with it, so apparently my folks didn't get me the deluxe version. But I'm looking forward to owning the deluxe DVD!

Steve K.

 

[Al (alweho)]

You can remedy that oversight with the new 2 CD soundtrack release - a deluxe package with an extensive color booklet.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...835139-6154523

Besides restoring more musical bits and pieces to the soundtrack (even including the Buena Vista fanfare), the second disc has audio of story sessions with author P.L. Travers and the Sherman Brothers. Her rather brusque (and quite creative) suggestions/comments are priceless.

 

[rich_d]

This certainly has been an interesting thread to read!

I think that each generation's youth have films that truly capture them. That are indelibly embedded in us whether we saw the film once or twelve times. Such is the case with Mary Poppins.

I was in grade school at the time of initial release and saw it only once in the theatre (unfortunately, going to films was a big deal as we did it so seldomly). Still, I remember checking the paper every week to see that the film was still playing; which it did for months.

In school we had contests to see who could say Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious the fastest and out of school we read the Travers books and listened to the LP (that we begged long and hard for our mother to buy us).

My kids were bothered by the fake looking scenery etc. but it doesn't bother me a bit (o.k. the bird is a little much). But when the overture with Feed the Birds comes on the screen and we're moving slowly over London - it is like re-entering a dream.

Bert: Goodbye Mary Poppins. Don't stay away too long.

 

[BBbrowd]

Well said, Rich_d. There are films that really make an impact on children. I first saw Mary Poppins in the theater in 1973 when I was about 7 years old. I have been in love with it ever since. Most of my friends are "Star Wars" nuts. That is the film that impressed them the most. I liked Star Wars okay, but for some reason it did not impress me and win my admiration like Poppins did. Mary Poppins will always be my most treasured memory.

Oh... and I think the bird that sings on Mary's finger is still very effective!

 

[Ernest Rister]

The bird is bad-ass. More convincing than Salacious Crumb, at any rate.

 

[Everett S.]

Hi,

I was a projectionist back in 1967 I worked in many theaters,and we sometimes cut out the intermission card at the end of the run to use in other films to make more money at the consession stand! This happened so much that the film company's sent out letters to theater owners that no intermission could be added if it did not have one.This letter was also put in the film cans.Also I cannot remember
any roadshow film without an intermission.But since Mary Poppins was short for a roadshow film It is possible it did'nt have one.And sometimes the manager
would say to cut out the intermission if there was few
patrons in the theatre.

Everett
AOR always!

 

[ArthurMy]

Mary Poppins was not a "roadshow" picture. It played exclusively, but it was not a traditional roadshow like Ben-Hur or King of Kings or West Side Story, where in every city it was reserved seats only. There was no intermission in the United States unless the theater took it upon themselves to do it. Les has provided enough documentation and proof to put this to bed.

 

[Stephen PI]

John Maher put this post on Film Score Monthly's message board today.

Just to make things interesting, the following is a reply (to someone other than myself), from Randy Thornton, who overseas restoration of Disney soundtracks, re: missing music from the new MP CD:

From Randy Thornton:
There was indeed an Intermission in "Mary
Poppins" that only appeared in certain venues (it
occurred after the "Stay Awake" sequence). There
was also Entrance and Exit Music recorded as
well. When the original soundtrack was released,
much of the instrumental sections within the
songs were edited out so that the vocal elements
would be highlighted. This was common practice in
those days as the general rule-of-thumb was the
belief that the public would be bored with those
sections. So the original soundtrack had special
endings and bridges specially recorded so the
material could be re-edited to focus on the vocal
elements. Not even the underscore of the film was
included, so the addition of Intermission, or
Entrance / Exit Music was never intended as a
record release.

I had originally planned to include the
Intermission Music on this new edition, but soon
realized that I didn't have the space. I even
discovered an alternate track to the "March
Across the Rooftops" but couldn't include that
either. Though some may say that I could have
included some of this material by excising the
Travers Meetings, but I found the bonus material
so important that I decided to included these
historic recordings as opposed to including
musical material that most people weren't aware
existed and, truth be told, was not actually
considered part of the film (as most people
remember it).

I worked with a few people that were doing the
DVD, and though I supplied them with the
orchestra sessions so that they may rebuild the
Intermission and Entrance / Exit Music, no one
could find Evelyn Kennedy's notations of exactly
what these tracks would have included. It seems
that no one knew what the track was supposed to
have sounded like. The last I heard, they were
still in a quandary of what the intermission
really consisted of. As far as the music only
track on the DVD, I really couldn't say. I know
that a Music and Effects Only track was available
on the Laser Disc, but I do not know what they
have planned for this Anniversary Edition.

 

[BBbrowd]

Interesting post. Thanks.

I respect Randy and am grateful for the job he's done, but I would have much preferred more music instead of the Travers meetings which at times are hard to understand and not something that one would want to hear over and over again. Several people have voiced the same about listening to the 40+ minutes of story meetings that go on and on.

The "Hollywood Spotlight Microphone" with Julie, Dick, & Irwin Kostal is a delight on the other hand.

Perhaps the story meetings would have worked better as part of the DVD extras instead of a Soundtrack CD.

 

[Ernest Rister]

There was indeed an Intermission in "Mary
Poppins" that only appeared in certain venues

Radio City Music Hall?

 

[Drew Salzan]

I agree that more music would have been preferable. It would have been nice if the original album overture with the Jolly Holiday and Feed the Birds extension as well as the other orchestral bridges (i.e. preceding Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious for example) could have been included. Or at least the overture and exit music be utilized for the DVD. Anyway, the new CD is great both fidelity-wise and content-wise. No real complaints here. I'm still debating whether to dip for the SIXTH time* and purchase the DVD or just wait for a HD edition.

*2 VHS, 1 full screen laserdisc, 1 letterbox laserdisc and 1 Gold Collection DVD.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Can't wait to pick up this new CD set. I'm currently working on the DVD review and hope to have it posted by Monday if not sooner!

 

[Jefferson]

In my years at HTF,my opinions have been mild...but
an alteration of even 8 seconds in a classic film
upsets me greatly. I should be grateful that the makers of the dvds of GONE WITH THE WIND and THE WIZARD OF OZ chose not to excise anything from the original.

POPPINS CD:
Despite Randy Thornton's good work,a great many of us Poppins fanswould have preferred some of the other music cutsto the Travers interviews which, though interesting,are not *ever* going to bear repeated listenings for me.
(I would have preferred the Marni Nixon/Bill Lee/Dal McKennon MARY POPPINS STORYBOOK LP, conducted by Camarata,to this 45 minute Travers interview stuff.)

I'm just shocked that the extended Overture from the LP was not an extra on either the new DVD *or* the "Mega" double CD.
And as for the new "perfect" DVD set:
I'm disappointed beyond any words
I could post, that the famous Buena Vista logo,
with Irwin Kostal's fanfare is not included.

***Yeah, i reformatted this post it for person that it irritated. Give me a break. (see below)

 

[RobertSiegel]

Too bad that extension of the overture isn't on the new soundtrack album. I always loved that extension. Sounds like a great disc. I love that original Buena Vista trailer at the begining, it's really sad to me they didn't use it because that's what I remember all those times in the theatre, that's when my excitement went up. Disney-please, with a special edition, can you please present things as they were in the theatre? It's enough you have taken traditional animation away but please don't screw around with what Disney actually did do himself. That Bueva Vista logo wasn't just something tagged on, it was created and thought through for Vista releases. It's PART of Mary Poppins, thanks.

I am excited about the things people are saying about the quality of the picture and sound. I disagree with some others that the last dvd looked decent, I always hated it, full of scratches and scars, and several scenes look good, the next not.

My main disappointment is that on the anniversary edition laserdisc, Disney gave us (though in mono) a separate music track. They could have done it in stereo this time. I wrote, but to aparently no avail :frowning:

 

[Al (alweho)]

What everyone seems to forget (or maybe just ignore) about isolated music tracks is that they require an extra music licensing fee - unless the composer or publisher waives it.

In a $100 LD box set that only sells a few thousand copies this is an easy fee to bury in the total cost of the item. It's a whole other matter when it comes to a $24 DVD that may sell a couple of million copies. Music people want their fees - that's just how it works.

And you also have to keep in mind many composers and publishers don't want to lose higher royalty CD soundtrack sales either, which is why they are reluctant to OK an isolated music track. You can thank the late Jerry Goldsmith for first putting his foot down on this issue.

I'm glad extensive movie box sets no longer cost me $100 or more to buy. I like getting a $24 DVD, and if the soundtrack costs me another $20 on CD I am still ahead of the game. Not to mention that the CD sounds so much better than any of those compressed DVD Dolby Digital or DTS tracks.

 

[Roger Rollins]

Al is correct.

In the old laserdisc days, or even in the formative DVD years, music costs were not unmanageable.

Now that DVD is popular, the greedy music publishers are looking at it as a cash cow and they want their cut.

This problem is exacerbated by the fact that the publisher's revenues have been severely impacted by rampant music piracy.

So, who suffers?

We do.

 

[Adam*M]

In my months at HTF,
I have seen that
some people think
they are still on
an Apple ][ screen
with a 40 character
width, and I don't
know why.

And why are there two Mary Poppins threads, with all the moderators around here? From my experience here, it seems like you can get killed for posting the wrong thing at the wrong time, and a dup thread is instant death.

BTW, I just watched my Mary Poppins LaserDisc, and the quality is pretty bad. I don't know how I ever thought LD was good, when it all looks grainy and fuzzy to me now. I guess anything was better than tape back then.

Maybe in a couple thousand years when Disney finally stops getting copyright law extended to keep hold on some old black and white Mickey Mouse cartoons that nobody cares about anymore anyway, they can spend an extra 5 bucks and make a DVD without 20 minutes of ads, and with the original opening as seen in theatres.

Aw screw it, I'll just rip my LD.

 

[RobertSiegel]

Al,
I understand what you are saying....but when you go and buy your soundtrack CD, you get the vocals too. The extra music track on the Mary Poppins disc was minus the vocals, so it was something unique and unavailable to buyers of any other format of the movie, cd included. I happen to love (I am probably in the minority) those isolated music track releases, especially on the musicals where I can hear the orchestra without hearing the vocals (it was the same as on the SOUND OF MUSIC dvd, between Wise's commentary is the isolated music score minus vocals, and that was only 24.99). Yes, I know a person can sometimes get the same effect turning off the center channel, but it's not the same as listening to the isolated orchestral recording from a master tape.

I am still excited about this release, it's one of my favorite films,and I am hearing wonderful things about the transfer. That's what really matters most to me...I just wish this track had been added like it was on the laserdisc (which was $40 or $50 I believe, not 100.00, it wasn't a box set, reasonable in those days for a special edition laserdisc).

Joe C, are you reading this thread? Do you know what source Disney used for the music - only track on that laserdisc that was minus the vocals? The Orchestral stems?

As for the Buena Vista logo, judging by the amount of mentions here, things like that ARE important to alot of people. Dinsey: when I went to see this film as a child, which was dozens of times, and the Buena Vista logo came up, to me it was and has always been since, a part of the movie of Mary Poppins. The whole idea of classics restored for dvd is to get the original theatrical presentation as best as possible (for me anyway), and the fact this is gone is sad, granted it was only a few seconds long. Disney, please keep the original theatrical presentation completely intact. Is that asking too much? If you want your WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR logo on there too, so by all means place it on the begining of the disc, but let's be granted the one used originally too thanks.

 

[rich_d]

And what would you do if you were a composer of film scores?

Someone like a Jerry Goldsmith (and for that matter most composers of film scores) are writing melodies not lyrics. Thus the John Barrys, the Danny Elfmans, the Eric Serras, the Hans Zimmers of the world are making music residuals on film score CDs. Sometimes, there is no score issued on CD or the score (perhaps the main theme) is merely added to the CD Soundtrack of the popular artists/songs that graced that particular film. Part of the reason is that fees and music residuals for orchestras have risen significantly so that the film or composer must have a pretty big following for the individual score to be released at all. Or the score is released down the road as interpreted by the City of Prague Orchestra (whose fees are lower).

Thus when a composer's scores become available as an audio track on a DVD, shouldn't the composer be entitled to fees? After all, many DVD purchasers would be more reluctant to buy the stand alone CD, now wouldn't they? Particularly when someone strips the DVD audio stream and posts it to music groups on the Internet.

Does anyone have knowledge of the move (although small) to the 'score and effect' tracks of late in DVDs versus the score only approach. Is this been done to avoid paying royalties? I suspect that because it would seem that most people would rather not hear footsteps mixed in with the beautiful music score. Criterion did this on Rebecca and Spellbound for example.

I agree with others that stripping the original Logo and accompanying music shows Di$ney (yet again) to be the ... ah the heck with it.

If they really are concerned about their "branding" they could put there latest and greatest logo on first and then go to the one that is a part of the film. Universal (and so many others) have done this and it is even somewhat enjoyable to see the different Universal views of earth through the years. However, for Disney, this is far from new, my Poppins VHS video has a Disney Home Video logo with the Mouse and goes directly into the film from there (sans Buena Vista).

Occasionally I play golf with the senior tax guy at Disney. With the match already in hand I asked him if Disney had completed their latest initiative. (he bit) "What initiative?" The one to rid Disney of all creative talent I replied.

 

[ScottR]

I'm also concerned about the Aspect Ratio. Wasn't Poppins filmed in 1.75:1?