“Saving Mr. Banks” is an intoxicating feel-good movie for young-at-heart adults, inspired by the making of the film “Mary Poppins.” Beginning at 2:00 p.m., the movie will be shown in the Odell Public Library Program Room, 307 S. Madison Street, Morrison, IL, on Tuesday, November 18, 2014..
The movie focuses on two weeks in 1961. That is when the charming Walt Disney, portrayed by Tom Hanks, enters into the final stages of a 20-year pursuit of P. L. Travers, enacted by Emma Thompson. He wants the film rights to her hugely popular children’s book, Mary Poppins.
However, Mrs. Travers wants the agreement with Disney on her own persnickety terms. She is in a tizzy of disdain from the moment she arrives in Los Angeles, CA, from her home in England. She continually challenges the way the film is being made and how Hollywood is turning her beloved Mary Poppins into an adored movie character.
The screenwriters heed Mrs. Travers’s insistence on seriousness in portraying her childhood. Using flashbacks, we meet P. L. Travers as a seven-year-old in Australia, living in a remote outback town with her younger sisters, overwhelmed mother, and loving, alcoholic, banker father. In these flashbacks, the source of Mary Poppins is revealed. Walt Disney discovers the truth about the ghosts that haunt her. Together they set “Mary Poppins” free to become one of the most endearing films in history.
“I saw this movie in the theater last year and loved it,” stated Anne Frame. “I cannot wait to see it again. Both the book Mary Poppins and movie are favorites.”
Come to the Odell Public Library on November 18 and be entertained, as the tale of bringing Mary Poppins to life is told.