Overall, Saving Mr. Banks contains a lot of moments that, to the best of our knowledge, did occur during the making of Mary Poppins. However, not unlike Disney's method for adapting Travers' book, the film plays fast and loose with the emotional reality of that production.
Deriving its title from the father in Travers's story, Saving Mr. Banks depicts the author's tragic childhood in rural Queensland in 1906 and the two weeks of meetings during 1961 in Los Angeles, during which Disney attempts to obtain the film rights to her novels.
In addition to the violent scenes mentioned above, Saving Mr Banks has some scenes that could scare or disturb children under five years. For example: A couple of flashback scenes show P.L. Travers's father getting very upset and bursting into tears while in a drunken stupor.
In her will, PL Travers left her literary estate (including the copyright in Mary Poppins) upon a settlement, the beneficiaries of which were her descendants and a charity she had set up.
Is Saving Mr. Banks the true story of Mary Poppins?
Saving Mr. Banks is based on a true story. Well, it's based on a true story the way the movie Mary Poppins is based on the book Mary Poppins — which is to say loosely, and without some of the really unusual and intense juicy parts.
Travers, Disney devoted two decades to bring the nanny that is "practically perfect in every way" to the silver screen. In the early 1940s, Walt Disney made his daughter Diane a promise: he would adapt her favorite 1934 children's book, British author P.L. Travers' Mary Poppins, into a big-screen masterpiece.
Travers was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1977 New Year Honours, with the ceremony with Queen Elizabeth II taking place later that year at Buckingham Palace. She died in London on 23 April 1996 at the age of 96.
Travers never married, but she was romantically involved with both men and women. She adopted a son from an impoverished acquaintance of Yeats; he was one of a pair of twins. She told him that she was his birth mother, and he did not discover her fabrication until he was 17 when his twin appeared at the door.
As for disliking children, in 1939 she adopted a baby boy named Camillus (one of twin boys from Ireland) who she raised as her own son. In a 1982 interview with the Paris Review, Travers also expressed gratitude to children for including her books “in their treasure trove.” So she must have liked children a little.
Saving Mr. Banks is lovely in many ways, including its lead actors, Thompson and Hanks, who are irresistibly winning. But it's a tale of two stories, both of which are indulged, making for a tonally uneven film. To start, the movie Mary Poppins is a fairy tale.
What are the unsettling images in Saving Mr. Banks?
Saving Mr. Banks is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for thematic elements including some unsettling images. Violence: A character with an alcohol addiction behaves erratically, smacks his head against a wall, and falls from a stage. A character coughs up blood, which is seen on his face and handkerchief.
Saving Mr. Banks shows that many writers use they personal experience and life and become a part of the author. It is hard for writers to let go and particularly for Travers, as she has so much invested in Mary Poppins, so much of herself in it. Her books allowed her to have some wish fulfilment.
George Banks, more commonly known as "Mr. Banks", is the former secondary antagonist in the 1964 film, Mary Poppins. He is similar in character to George Darling from Peter Pan, and was inspired by P.L. Travers' own father, himself a strict, no-nonsense banker and was inspired by Walt Disney's father, Elias, as well.
Climactic Moment: After Walt leaves, Mrs. Travers finally signs the contract. Resolution: Mrs. Travers attends the Hollywood premiere and experiences personal catharsis through the movie.
Mrs Banks is married to George Banks and is the mother of Jane, Michael, John, Barbara, and Annabel Banks. Her first name is never revealed in the books, but was given as Winifred in the film and the stage musical.
George Banks: Male, 40s. The father to Jane and Michael Banks, is a banker to the very fiber of his being. Demanding "precision and order" in his household, he is a pipe-and-slippers man who doesn't have much to do with his children and believes that he had the perfect upbringing by his nanny, the cruel Miss Andrew.
He is a long time friend of Mary Poppins, though their relationship is noted to be strictly platonic (but there are hints to suggest a more romantic interest between them).
Travers' love of the written word soon reasserted itself and she began writing articles for newspapers and magazines. Moving to London in 1924 to pursue her writing career, she met famous poets and writers like George William Russell and William Butler Yeats and joined their literary circle.
Banks is the patriarch of the London family that Mary Poppins helps in the book and movie. Author P.L. Travers based the Mr. Banks character in part on her own father, Travers Goff, portrayed by Colin Farrell in the film Saving Mr.
Is There a Love Connection between Mary Poppins and Bert the Match-Man? The 1964 Disney movie Mary Poppins certainly suggests such an interpretation. However, Mary Poppins's author P.L. Travers had a different opinion and denied any romantic relationship between these two fictional characters.
We realize that Mary Poppins came not to fix the children, nor was this their journey, but to fix Mr. Banks, a character, dragged down by conflicting loyalties. The wind changes and Mary Poppins must now leave the Banks children, presumably to help assist another family.
