The first Walt Disney movie to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar (and there wasn’t another until Beauty and the Beast was nominated in 1991), this is a delightful, old-fashioned musical based on the PL Travers books.
Julie Andrews deservedly won an Oscar for her portrayal of lighter-than-air nanny Mary Poppins, who floats into the lives of Mr and Mrs Banks (David Tomlinson and Glynis Johns) and their two boisterous children Jane and Michael.
Many of the song and dance sequences will enchant young and old – ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’, ‘A Spoonful of Sugar’ and ‘Chim Chim Cheree’ especially – and the mix of live action and animation still looks pretty impressive four decades on.
Grown-ups may scoff at Dick Van Dyke’s appalling attempt at a Cockney accent as chimney sweep Bert, but the uncritical can just sit back and enjoy a funny, toe-tapping film that boasts the best dancing penguins ever.
Is Mary Poppins suitable for kids? Here are our parents’ notes...
Very small viewers may be scared when the children get lost in grimy London.
If you like this, why not try: Bedknobs And Broomsticks, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Nanny McPhee, Peter Pan, Hans Christian Andersen,