# Saving Mr. Banks (2013) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 17, 2014, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-mr-banks-2013/686335 "2014-04-17T12:38:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-mr-banks-2013/686335/1 "2014-04-17T12:38:50Z")
I just saw the movie Saving Mr. Banks and I’d like to recommend it to you. It stars Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks and tells the story of how Walt Disney acquired the film rights to the book about Mary Poppins and then produced the movie. The production of the movie was actually a very small detail. The real point of the movie was the damage that the book’s author (P.L. Travers played by Emma Thompson) had suffered for most of her life and how that compared to a similar kind of damage that Walt Disney had suffered and how the two of them came together and helped each other be happy and repair much of that damage. It was very uplifting and I would guess that most anyone will find this movie to be a real joy to behold. I am usually a pretty grouchy person (kind of a sourpuss) and watching this movie put a big smile on my face and I walked around for most of the day after watching it with this big smile on my face. There are some really superb performances in this film. A large part of the movie are flashbacks to Emma Thompson’s life as she was growing up in Australia. Do you recall the actor B.J. Novak? He played a character in The Office and also played a character in Inglorious Basterds. There was also Bradley Whitford who played a part in The West Wing and Paul Giamatti who played a limo driver who became friends with Thompson. I kind of expected the two of them to fall in love and get married at the end of the film. I was kind of stunned by Tom Hanks’ performance as Walt Disney. It took me a few minutes before I actually recognized that it was Tom Hanks who was playing Disney. There has been quite a lot of controversey recently about some of his work. There was the movie Captain Phillips. I read a few reviews of that movie and it seemed to me that about half the people who saw it hated his work in that film whereas the other half really loved it. I didn’t see that movie. But I really loved his work in this film. I believe that if you have two and a half hours available, you will very much enjoy spending that time watching this film and I hope it will make you as happy as it made me. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-mr-banks-2013/686335/2 "2014-04-17T13:33:42Z")
We’ve had a couple long threads on this movie: Saving Mr. Banks was practically perfect. > **[Saving Mr. Banks was practically perfect.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=711175)** > > I saw this Saturday morning with my wife and teen daughter. We all really enjoyed it. Tom Hanks was great as Walt Disney and Emma Thompson was incredible as P.L. Travers. I thought the story they wove was really enjoyable to watch. The entire cast... Refurbishing the Image of Walt Disney? (Harlan Ellison and Mary Poppins). > **[Refurbishing the Image of Walt Disney? (Harlan Ellison and Mary Poppins).](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=710930)** > > I just came across a video by Harlan Ellison which was occasioned by his viewing of the film Saving Mr. Banks (a Disney approved biopic of the relationship between Walt Disney and P.L. Travers and the making of her book into the movie Mary Poppins). ... ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-mr-banks-2013/686335/3 "2014-04-17T13:39:32Z")
Gosh! I had no idea. I’m pretty sure that I used the “Find” command in the editor to search of “saving mr. banks”. However, if it isn’t on the same page of the thread, then I guess you won’t see it. I guess you have to click on each page individually? Oh, dear. There is probably a way to use some kind of internet search for it. But I don’t know what that is. Past Tense, I thank you for letting me know. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-mr-banks-2013/686335/4 "2014-04-17T15:42:38Z")
Some of us never use the Straightdope search function. Instead we use Google Search: site:straightdope.com [then whatever we are searching for] Thus: [https://www.google.com/search?num=100&safe=off&site=&source=hp&q=site%3Astraightdope.com+saving+mr+banks&oq=site%3Astraightdope.com+saving+mr+banks&gs\_l=hp.12...3078.3078.0.8495.2.2.0.0.0.0.118.191.1j1.2.0.chm\_loc%2Chmss2%3Dfalse%2Chmnts%3D50000...0...1.1.41.hp..2.0.0.0.wCLJevksdIY](https://www.google.com/search?num=100&safe=off&site=&source=hp&q=site%3Astraightdope.com+saving+mr+banks&oq=site%3Astraightdope.com+saving+mr+banks&gs_l=hp.12...3078.3078.0.8495.2.2.0.0.0.0.118.191.1j1.2.0.chm_loc%2Chmss2%3Dfalse%2Chmnts%3D50000...0...1.1.41.hp..2.0.0.0.wCLJevksdIY) ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-mr-banks-2013/686335/5 "2014-04-18T00:46:54Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Some of us never use the Straightdope search function. Instead we use Google Search: > site:straightdope.com [then whatever we are searching for] > > Thus: > [Google Search](https://www.google.com/search?num=100&safe=off&site=&source=hp&q=site%3Astraightdope.com+saving+mr+banks&oq=site%3Astraightdope.com+saving+mr+banks&gs_l=hp.12...3078.3078.0.8495.2.2.0.0.0.0.118.191.1j1.2.0.chm_loc%2Chmss2%3Dfalse%2Chmnts%3D50000...0...1.1.41.hp..2.0.0.0.wCLJevksdIY) Excellent technique to remember. If I recall correctly, the Google search facility is very powerful. It allows for all kinds of Boolean search strategies. I will have to try to use it from now on. Thanks very much. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-mr-banks-2013/686335/6 "2014-04-18T06:16:00Z")
What a coincidence — me and the girlfriend just watched it earlier tonight. Historical inaccuracies aside, I enjoyed it quite a lot and even teared up a bit.