Trion - A Nanny and the Professor reference? Dear Lord, you must be as old as me. That was a favorite of mine when I was a kid.
StG
Well, StGermain, when the show first aired I think I was four. Or there abouts.
Fortunately it was rerun in syndication when I was a bit older and just starting to see that Nanny’s charms weren’t confined to the supernatural. 
Good show. I really liked the fact that the mystical elements were very subtle. Often you weren’t even sure if there was anything strange going on. It lent Nanny an air of mystery. And while the show did get a bit treacly at times, it never lost a certain down-to-earth aspect (the plots and settings were very middle-class standard).
Anyway - sorry about the hijack.
Of course her Oscar for MP was her consolation prize for being passed over for the part of Eliza Doolittle in the film version of My Fair Lady. Andrews could have starred in a driver’s ed film that year and won the award.
Not that I don’t think she did a wonderful job in both films…
I’ve only seen a few minutes of B&B so I have no real basis for comparison other than saying that Tomlinson’s performance in the street magic number was more animated than his entire performance in MP.
Oh, and say what you will about Pete’s Dragon but Shelley Winters made for one scary as shit hillbilly.
don Jaime thanks for the history lesson, and the justification for the McDowell character.
I agree that the dancing in Portabello Road lasted way too long (and didn’t need Keenan Wynn doing the prototype for Mister Noodle from “Elmo’s World”). I was also put off by the “let’s-dumb-it-down-for-the-Americans” attitude displayed by calling the football match “soccer.” In fact, I could have done without the football match, entirely, although The Beautiful Briny Sea needed to be there.
I’m a little conflicted on whether the overall superiority of B&B as a story makes up for the fact that it only gave us the High Lama from Lost Horizons, whereas, MP gave us Arthur Treacher, Ed Wynn, and the Bride of Frankenstein.
I like Pete’s Dragon. But then, I’ve never seen MP or B&B in their entirety.
Yeah, well Pete’s Dragon does have its cringeable moments, but you gotta love any movie that has Helen Reddy (looking a bit butch, IMHO, for all that she was wearing a dress), standing on a cask of beer with a shit-eating grin on her face as she watches the foam geysering out of the bunghole.
MP is - IMHO - far the superior film.
Short list:
Step in Time.
What’s the name of his other leg?
Practically perfect in every way.
The insane admiral.
Dick Van Dyke.
David Tomlinson’s performance in MP is far superior to BB. Love his interviewing. And the British pound is the envy of the world.
Let’s go fly a kite!
Spoonful of sugar.
Feed the birds.
BB has NO tunes to compare - with the possible exception of Briney Sea. It is just long. From the interminable Portobello Road, to the unfunny soccer game. Just what that deathmarch needed - additional scenes!
Gotta give you the final battle, tho.
I saw B&B when it first came out and thought it was the best movie I’d ever seen. (Of course, I was only six at the time and have seen a few more movies since then.) I actually didn’t see Mary Poppins until a few years later when it was re-released. I remember liking it but it didn’t bowl me over as much as B&B did when I saw it.
In retrospect, Mary Poppins is probably the better movie (although I haven’t seen either one all the way through since I was a kid). As Dinsdale says, there are more memorable elements in MP than B&B. (However, I wouldn’t go as far as to say B&B is a “deathmarch” since it does have it’s share of entertaining scenes.) Moreover, when MP originally came out in 1964, Disney (i.e., the studio) was at its pre-Michael Eisner peak and still seemed willing to try new things. (After all, who else had done a fantasy-musical-Edwardian period piece that mixed live action and animation partially animated at that point?) More importantly, Disney also still knew how to please a large audience.
In contrast, when B&B came out in 1971, movies had changed beyond recognition (MP’s competition at the box office included My Fair Lady and Doris Day romantic comedies; B&B came out the same year as Carnal Knowledge, A Clockwork Orange, and Straw Dogs); the movie audience was smaller, more adult, and more jaded by the times; Disney was in period of creative limbo; and Uncle Walt was taking an ice nap. Instead of a willingness to try something new, Disney–completely clueless on how to make a hugely successful movie in the film world of 1971–chose to redo MP’s successful formula with B&B and hope it would work again. Unfortunately, the law of diminishing returns had set in by that point and, by the time of Pete’s Dragon in 1977, the formula was completely exhausted. (Disney couldn’t sell its movies to kids by then since George Lucas had just blown their minds with Star Wars.)
Finally, Dinsdale is right about David Tomlinson’s performance being better in MP. He was so good at playing stiff upper-class Englishman that playing a weaselly con artist in B&B seems too much of a departure. That was a role that cried out for someone like Peter Sellers.
Strong disagreement:
Feed the Birds->dreary (granted, I’m apparently the only person in the world who thinks so, but still)
Spoonful of Sugar->icky sweet and irrelevant to the story: you coulda put it in Pete’s Dragon and it would have been just as appropriate
Let’s Go Fly A Kite-> Yeah. Uh-huh. Lame, a bad song to end on, a desperate attempt to be Irving Berlin (it has a “Your a Grand Old Flag” feel to me).
Jolly Holiday was a lame song, redeemed by a very funny dance number that did nothing to move the plot forward.
Supercalifrag…etc-> Another “Lift out” song. Coulda been in ANY musical. Hell, you coulda plunked it into Oklahoma! (Will comes back from Kansas City and instead of showing 'em the Two-Step, he teaches 'em the new word everyone’s talking about)
Sister Sufferigate rocked, as did the “Nanny” song (the one Jane and Michael sing). And Chim-Chiminy was fantastic, granted (although again, it didn’t move the plot, such as there was a plot, forward at all).
Whereas in Bedknobs you have:
“Old Home Guard” which apparently was adopted by some WWII home guard types after the film came out.
“Age of Not Believing”: A crucial song to Paul’s transformation from cynical punk and a great tune
“With A Flair” Perfectly defines Tomilson’s character and a great tune
“Eglantine” Sets up the romance and a great tune
“Portobello Road” Granted, the dance number Just! Won’t! End! but the intro to the song and the end of the song are creepy and atmospheric as all get-out.
“Beautiful Briney” Cute number, mostly filler
“Substitutiary Locomotion” the key to the entire piece, a catchier song by far than “Supercali…etc” and again atmospheric and wonderful.
What Mary Poppins has is a bunch of songs that could be plunked into any musical. None of the songs advance the plot the way the B&B songs did: MP was like a Reveue: bunches of songs tied together with the most threadbare of plots.
Plus (though of course, it’s just a matter of taste) I like the tunes in B&B better.
Fenris
I still sing songs from both and I’m an adult. I am! But, I’ve always been far more attracted to B&B because it’s got witches, and spells, and flying brooms and Nazis, and deserted mansions, and suits of armor and black cats, and boiled Dragon’s Liver, to name a few.
And fie on you who are poo-pooing Portabello Road! I love all the different dancing. It’s wonderful and exposed me at a very young age to the splendid variety of the world. It excited me and enthrolled me. Made me want to go out and see the world for myself. Sorry you missed that.
Me too, but th’ damn song lasts so long that I could have gone and seen the world while the song was going.
[\Taking dictation]
OK, people, we’re pussyfooting around the main thing, here. As the 21st century movie critic, I have to ask you, “Who speaks to you more, on a fundamental (and you know what I mean) level, Angela Lansbury or Julie Andrews?” I saw both films when they originally came out. (I haven’t seen the restored version of B&B, but am thrilled beyond the possibility of expression that there is one.) I promptly fell in love with Ms. Andrews and Ms. Lansbury at first sight, but consider this: as a mother figure, who would you want? Someone who comes drifting in on an umbrella, captures your love-starved heart and dream-starved soul, and then dumps you, or someone who owns her own house and can teach you how to magically animate suits of armor?
Both beautiful women who can sing, act, and dance. Unforgettable, powerful performances out of each. Real screen presence. But the armor won out.
[\End dictation]
…and then adopts you.
Good point. 
And Miss Price has CHARACTER and TRUE GRIT. She’s gonna do her damnedest for the war effort and to kick Nazi ass.
Miss Poppins*? Her sole characteristic? She’s sweet.
Miss Price throws herself into the front lines leading her troops into danger to save her country.
Miss Poppins? She’s sweet.
Miss Price travels all over the world at great personal hardship to stop a war.
Miss Poppins? She’s sweet.
Miss Price is willing to sacrifice her life, her fortune and her immortal soul (from dabbling in the Satanic arts) for the greater good.
Miss Poppins? She’s sweet.
Let’s be real, folks: if these women were real, only Eglantine Price would be a member of the SDMB.
Fenris
*The movie version. The book version of Poppins was creepy and not in an entirely good way. She was like the daughter of the Sun or some such.
Also, the book version wasn’t above traumatizing the children in horrible ways if they misbehaved. In one nightmarish sequence Jane was having a Very Bad Day and ends up trapped in what today would be called a “Collectible plate” (the kind with a picture painted on it, not the kind you eat off of) with a bunch of Victorian children and a creepy old letch. They try to kidnap Jane and there’s this weird undercurrent of pedophilia from the old guy. Of course Mary saves the day, but it doesn’t change the fact that she put Jane in danger to teach her a lesson.
I saw B&B maybe thirty years ago. I remember the first part, where we find out that Angela Lansbury is learning magic (such as flying a broom). I remember the part toward the end where they magically animate suits of armour to fight the Nazis. Fine.
But I can’t remember why, in the middle of the picture, there was an animated section where they were under the sea, surrounded by anthropomorphic fish. What the hell was that about?
*Originally posted by kaylasdad99 * (quoting me):
What is this, Great Debates?
OK, I’m a little shaky on details. The point is, the movie splits from the (dismal) book shortly after the bedknob first behaves in a magical fashion.
As a devoted Poppiite I’ll take your argument into serious consideration, rent both said videos, pop corn, eat chocolate, drink cherry coke and study this issue in its entireity.
The climax of B+B (where the old war uniforms come to life) always terrified me. As did the scene where all Mrs. Price’s clothes came to life and started flying around.
I loved the movie anyways. Still do, always will. I can still recite most of the lines from memory.
Feck Mary Poppins.
“Soccer” is an English term.
Miss Price’s whole reason for learning magic was that Professor Brown advertised the “Animate Clothing” spell. Miss Price took the whole course just to get her hands on that one spell. Just as she’s progressed to the point in the corresponence school where she’s ready for the spell, Prof. Brown closes the school down. With the help of the bedknob, she tracks him down and finds that he’s been swiping the spells from an old book, but the book
had been torn in half and Brown only has the first half which ends with “[…you can summon the force known as Substitutiary Locomotion.] The spell which creates this force is five mystic words. These words are…”
They then go on a hunt for those five words. The whole “Portobello Road” sequence is them hunting for the other half of the book…
and they find it, only to learn that the remainder of the sentence is “…engraved on an amulet known as The Star of Asteroth.” They then start hunting for the amulet and go to the animated island which was created by Asteroth (he was trying to turn animals into humans before his death). They get the amulet by pick-pocketing the king, only to find that the amulet couldn’t survive the trip back to London. However, Paul has been lugging around a picture book all this time and the picture book has a picture of the King wearing his amulet. They finally get the spell.
Fenris