I have never been able to make it through the entire Vulgaria story in one sitting. It could be shorter I think. I liked all of the movie before that and liked all those song numbers, but there weren’t any good ones in the second half I thought (at least not worth watching the whole thing for). I liked Mary Poppins a lot more and its diversion in the sidewalk drawing was good and short (not that I say that the Vulgaria story had to be quite that short, but it could have been trimmed)
who agrees? who thinks I am completely wrong?
Also is it Gert Frobe’s (Fröbe?) real voice or dubbed like in Goldfinger?
To answer this question, a little film history background is necessary.
In 1964, Disney released the hugely successful Mary Poppins. The following year, 20th Century Fox, released the even-more successful The Sound of Music. Hoping to duplicate the mega-grosses these two movies generated, Hollywood produced a number of big-budgeted family-friendly musicals that ran longer than two hours. Unfortunately, most of these films turned out to be tedious bombs that almost drove several studios to near-bankrupcty and crippled the once-healthy genre of the movie musical. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang–along with the Rex Harrison verison of** Dr. Doolittle, **Star, and Hello Dolly–was one of these movies. They all operated under the (mistaken) belief that longer is better and that audiences would feel cheated if the film’s length was under 2.5 hours.
So, what songs would you cut from any of these movies? Unless, this is hijacking the thread, but I think the OP’s question has been answered admirably by NPD.
Mary Poppins? Definitely the Uncle Albert scene. Adds nothing, and is just annoying, like most of Ed Wynn’s schtick.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? I never liked Up from the Ashes. It comes so late in the film that it’s just annoying filler, as opposed to Me Old Bamboo which is filler, but comes earlier in the film so it’s not as annoying.
I like the Uncle Albert scene and find those types of jokes hilarious. I would cut Go To Sleep and The Bird Lady Song (but also I don’t understand what is the point of the Bird Lady besides just having something for Michael to spend his money on)
but anyway I never thought Mary Poppins was too long even though I don’t like those particular scenes
edit: and yes I know that Mr, Banks is supposed to look beyond the edge of his nose to see the bird lady, but I still feel like I am missing something
I’d like to add Disney’s own follow-up to Mary poppins in that list. Bedknobs and Broomsticks is intolerably long. They had David Tomlinson back, the Sherman Brothers doing the songs, and many Disney regulars, but – it-- just ---- goes – on – and – ON! If they’d cut it to half the length or so it would’ve been much better.
I agree about Chitty Chitty Bang Bang being way too long as well. The Sherman Brothers jumped the Disney Ship, and they had Dick Van Dyke, and the movie still wasn’t a major success. Have a look at the book it came from – it’s practically a pamphlet! This movie is the very definition of 'padded".
I always thought that CCBB could be split into two movies – I don’t really mind either the wrap-around story or the Vulgaria – I just think both together makes for a dis-jointed and way-too-long movie.
Nothing to add to the question that hasn’t been answered, but. . .
Lionel Jeffries (Grandpa Potts) was six months younger than his Dick van Dyke, who played his son.
Or it’s a nice change of tone and gives the movie depth. I wouldn’t cut anything from Mary Poppins. I don’t think it would have had the staying power that it has if it had been action, action, action.
I think I’ve been confusing/combining Chitty Chitty and Mary Poppins all these years. Although I enjoy and appreciate the movies, I’ve never made it through either one of them, always fall asleep.
I love Mary Poppins, and I love the first half of chitty chitty bang bang. I have never seen the Sound of Music, but I think i might like it. gotta see it some day.
I made a whole topic about this before, but another song I hate that slows down the movie to a halt is “Cheer Up Charlie” from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". That is the only part of any movie that I fast-forward through. I don’t like the Mary Poppins songs I mentioned earlier, but nevertheless I watch them everytime I’m watching the movie.
Also I fast forwarded through “The Morning Report” on the new Lion King DVD, but that isn’t a part of the original movie
I only read one of the books, but it had multiple stories in it. They were very different from the movie, to the point that I really had trouble associating the two. Sort of like the difference between “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” and “Who Censored Roger Rabbit.”
Did you dislike the books or did you think that they were better than the movie?
I kinda wish they had made Chitty Chitty Bang Bang into two movies. They might have been able to start a whole franchise instead of wasting everybody’s time with ever-more Bond films. Stupid cold war penis-measuring flicks, those were (except for Casino Royale, which totally rocked).
Off-topic, Cracked.com ruins Mary Poppins for any future viewing in a recent Photoshop contest. Don’t click that link if you want to keep enjoying the movie.
I’m not sure you could call Bedknobs & Broomsticks a “follow-up” to Mary Poppins, as it came out 7 years later. But for what it’s worth, I absolutely adored Bedknobs as an 8-year-old; I think I was right smack in the target demographic when it came out. IMDb has the original running time at 117 minutes, which doesn’t seem overly long. A 1980 re-release was apparently cut to 99 minutes… But, the 1996 25th anniversary video was padded out to 139 minutes. Maybe this is the one you saw; I could definitely imagine that bordering on intolerable.
I was all of 13 months old when *Mary Poppins *came out, and home video wasn’t a thing yet, so I think I kind of missed the boat on that one. Yes, I’ve seen it, and I appreciate it, but I don’t recall it as a fond childhood memory like I do B & B. As for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, I think I saw it in its original theatrical release – I do remember Dick Van Dyke and the titular flying jalopy, but being 5 years old at the time, I can’t recall whether I got bored or not. And I don’t believe I’ve revisited CCBB since then.