Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins

In person: Visual Effects Branch Governor Paul Debevec

In person: Visual Effects Branch Governor Paul Debevec

Walt Disney spent decades bringing P. L. Travers’s beloved character to the screen, and the result—a musical mixture of live-action and animation that garnered 13 Oscar nominations—is one of his greatest achievements. Julie Andrews gained instant movie stardom and won a Best Actress Oscar as the magical nanny who is practically perfect in every way. The Sherman Brothers’ irresistible song score features numerous classics including the Oscar-winning “Chim Chim Cher-ee.” The charming effect of merging live actors with animated ones was achieved by an alternative to blue screen known as the sodium vapor process, a photochemical film technique sometimes referred to as “yellow screen” due to the golden-hued lights used in conjunction with a white screen during initial filming.

Before the screening, visual effects artist Paul Debevec will give a demonstration of the sodium vapor process in the Shirley Temple Education Studio at 12:30pm. This demonstration is free with general admission.

DIRECTED BY: Robert Stevenson. WRITTEN BY: Bill Walsh, Don DaGradi. WITH: Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson, Glynis Johns. 1964. 140 min. USA. Color. English. Rated G. DCP.

Academy Museum film programming generously funded by the Richard Roth Foundation. 

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