Mary Poppins (film) Banks as a junior partner. With her work done, Mary Poppins flies away, with Bert bidding her farewell, telling her not to stay away too long. The first novel in the "Mary Poppins" series was the film's main basis. According to the 40th Anniversary DVD release of the film in 2004, Disney's daughters fell in love with the "Mary Poppins" books and made him promise to make a film based on them. Disney first attempted to purchase the film rights to "Mary Poppins" from P. L. Travers as early as 1938 but was rebuffed because Travers did not believe a
Mary Poppins (character) Banks children of whom she is in charge. Mary also has a friendship with Bert (Dick Van Dyke), a jack-of-all-trades who is quite at home with Mary's brand of magic. She also is less vain and selfish (although there are a couple of references to her vanity when she replaces a dingy wall mirror with a more elegant one, and sings a duet with her reflection), and far more sympathetic towards the two children than the nanny in the original stories. Emily Blunt portrayed Mary Poppins in the sequel "Mary Poppins Returns". In both the West End and Broadway versions