Movie Musings: Disney and More

To Kill a Mockingbird + Disney = Mary Poppins

Walt Disney once had a conversation with his son-in-law, Ron Miller, (one of his very few surviving relatives, 1933-present). Walt asked him “Did you see To Kill a Mockingbird? Boy, that was a heck of picture! I hope to God, I can make a movie like that!” He was finally able to do so with Mary Poppins (1964). When Pamela Lyndon “P.L.” Travers relinquished him the rights to adapt her book for the silver screen in 1961, he combined animation with live actors, which was something the he had never done in any of his movies, and it had never been done before by any other filmmaker. “Poppins,” went onto become the biggest hit in the history of the Disney studios at the time, winning 5 Academy Awards. Did it ever occur to you though, that while To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) is a simplistic black-and-white drama and “Poppins,” is a lavish color musical, there are some intriguing similarities between both movies?

Both “Poppins,” and “Mockingbird,” tell family-oriented stories. They tell stories of families where things aren’t necessarily well for everyone psychologically, emotionally, and financially. Atticus Finch and George Banks who are the two respective patriarchs. Both, in general, good human beings, but both conflicted between their families and their careers. Atticus is torn between being a widowed father of Scout and Jem and his reputation with the town of Maycomb, Alabama, as he is chosen to defend the wrongly accused African-American man, Tom Robinson. George is torn between how financially well his bank is doing and being neglectful of his wife, Winifred and kids, Jane and Michael. Besides that, the children in “Poppins,” and “Mockingbird,” struggle a bit in the “behavior” category. Scout is a feisty, tomboy and Jem is a rude, rebellious boy. Neither have as much respect for their father’s authority-nor for many of the townspeople-as they should. Jane and Michael don’t necessarily equal Scout and Jem in attitude, but they do equal them in rambunctiousness and also don’t respect their parents’ authority prior to the arrival of Mary Poppins. Essentially, both movies tell stories of how the children learn to respect their parents better, but also how the parents learn to pay closer attention to their children and love them more. While they have very different plots, they still send the same message to us as an audience that family comes first!

I’ll bet you never would have thought that “Poppins,” was in any way connected to “Mockingbird.” Both films also garnered Academy-Award Nominations for Best Picture. Neither won that award, but they both won Best Acting Oscars (i.e. Gregory Peck for Best Actor as Atticus Finch and Julie Andrews for Best Actress as Mary Poppins). They also received nominations for Best Original Score and Best Art Direction (“Mockingbird,” scored Best Art Direction and “Poppins,” won Best Original Score.) 

Both “Poppins,” and “Mockingbird,” have gone on to become two of Hollywood’s most prestigious films for their own, unique reasons. But they are both stories where the families are changed for the better!