In the early 1940s, when Walt Disney’s daughters fell in love with the book Mary Poppins, Disney promised them he would adapt the enchanting story into a movie. This is an essentially Disney story, and as such, it’s all about the Mouse. Banks, and one that relies less strictly on the historical record, is the backstory of how art, ownership, and commerce somehow combine to produce box office success.

Hanks with a treasure trove of primary material to study as he created his concept of the Disney persona.īut the core of Saving Mr. Travers (as she always insisted on being called) demanded that all meetings with the creative team be taped the Disney Archives also provided Mr. Much of the movie takes place in the rehearsal hall at Disney Studios, and historical documentation for the screenplay was abundant: Mrs. Travers, and Tom Hanks as media mogul Walt Disney. The cast is formidable, starring Emma Thompson as Mary Poppins’ fictional creator P.L. Banks is not a documentary, but a highly-entertaining feature film loosely based on the deeply antagonistic collaboration between two very strong-willed artists. The new movie proclaims it is “based on a true story,” a cheery phrase that cleverly balances truth-telling and let’s-pretend. The release comes on the eve of the movie's 50th anniversary next year and the Library of Congress has just announced that Mary Poppins is one of 25 legendary films being added this year to the National Film Registry, a pantheon of films that have cultural, historic, and aesthetic significance and “help define a national patrimony.” The story of how Mary Poppins was made is generating much critical and popular buzz in the new film Saving Mr.

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