Mary Poppins Returns: Emily Blunt's musical fantasy owes a lot to its iconic original featuring Julie Andrews

With most critics hailing it as the sequel of the year, Mary Poppins Returns is gradually winning hearts of critics as well as audiences alike. While most laud Emily Blunt’s understated depiction of the eccentrically innocent flying nanny, it would be worthy to note that the actress carries the weight of an indelible legacy with Mary Poppins. The original of course, was arguably Hollywood’s benchmark film that emerged every time someone needed a reference to a children’s feature film in the true sense of the word.

The 1964 American musical fantasy, directed by Robert Stevenson and produced by Walt Disney, was a winner from the get go. Featuring then-debutante Julie Andrews , the script of Mary Poppins was adapted by Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, and inspired from P L Travers’ eponymous book series. The musical swept the Academy Awards next season with as many as 13 nominations which included Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress in a Leading Role among others. Andrews was (in)famously snubbed by Jack L Warner and replaced with Audrey Hepburn for the role of Eliza Doolittle in his screen adaptation of My Fair Lady, which was in the running for Best Actress as well (ultimately losing the award which Julie won).

A troubled family always makes for good cinema viewing. Much like her charm in The S_ound of Music_, Andrews’ performance in Mary Poppins was termed “sweet and pert, with her crystalline voice enchanting on the songs” by James Powers, at the time writing for The Hollywood Reporter. Andrews, along with the generous help of Dick Van Dyke, elevated the already lovable narrative into the realm of a superb musical. The scores, produced by the Sherman brothers, was a career highlight for the duo, with songs such as ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ and ‘A Spoonful of Sugar’ entering popular culture as classics. Films which permeate the literature of its times are always a testament to the profound impact that it has had. The English dictionaries were soon to adopt the nonsense word of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious to denote ‘something wonderful.’

Mary Poppins connected with children and adults alike. At a time when The Civil Rights Act was signed on one hand and The Beatles topped billboard charts, it was almost as if the US and consequently, the world, needed the simplicity and enigma of simple magic. The heartwarming story of a dysfunctional London family being righted by the magical goings-on of the otherworldly governess and her special aide (Dyke) was the perfect escape that audiences lapped up.

Mary Poppins brought in the never-seen-before combination of live action and animation to the cinematic world of 1964. The film, many believe, has by far been Walt Disney’s ‘crowning achievement’, leaving behind a rich legacy of television series episode, plays and innumerable literary references. Andrews’ musical earned a sum total of $102,272,727 worldwide, which was no modest feat to achieve at the time.

Her performances in A Quiet Place and The Girl on the Train notwithstanding, Blunt was, as per most film critics, entering dangerous territories when she agreed to portray the formidable role of the favourite nanny. Some reports even state that Blunt’s take on the governess was more loyal to Travers’ source books, making the character (as per Blunt’s own admission) ’little meaner.’

Mary Poppins Returns is currently performing well at the box office overseas, standing at a worldwide collection of $200 million, as per reports . It is slated to release in India this Friday on 4 January.