douglas64 This is 2 hours 32 minutes of pain until the 15 mins at end where it is suspenseful. Story writing had set ups with no payoffs. The audience is repeatedly disappointed, making scenes pointless. For example, The air scenes added nothing, missing the payoff you expect. Spoiler alert but not really: In air scene, by happenstance Millie's necklace turns off the engines. Now you expect a harrowing near crash. But nothing. A smooth landing follows. Pointless scene. The acting was poor except Julie Andrews who carried the movie. MTM was obviously coached to act in an uninspired way unlike what we know what she could do. Only two flashes of the Mary we know. Otherwise, She spoke in obviously flat and superficial manner for some inexplicable reason. We know it was not MTM choice because all the actors other than Andrews and Channing act in a similarly flat and superficial manner. If you like musicals like we do, they are some fun numbers. You could fast forward to watch those scenes. MTM showed she can dance very well.

rps-2 This is one my favourite movies of all time so I was DEE-lighted to see that Turner Classic had programmed it. I had my DVD recorder churning away and my eyes glued to my flat screen TV. 1967 is a long time ago. There were no flat screen TV's or DVD's in those days. Not even any Turner Classic Movies or home satellite dishes. Yet this movie is as relevant and as much fun now as it was then. Silly, extravagant, over the top and who cares that some of the buildings and the cars in the shots were wrong because Julie Andrews, Mary Tyler Moore and Jamie Fox are so right! As were Beatrice Lillie and Carol Channing. Whadda cast!!! There is a boisterous, tongue in cheek, satirical,refreshing energy that pervades every scene. Even the nasty business of white slavery is made a basic part of the plot without in any way trivializing the problem although I wonder if the producers would get away with their oriental stereotypes had the film been made today. No message, No serious stuff. No humping scenes or gun battles.Not even any F words! Just a lot of laughs and a lot of great toe tapping twenties music.

Ed Saw most of this again on TCM this evening after seeing it complete many years ago.The cast was charming and carried off the clichés and cartoonish adventure with great aplomb. The villainous Mrs. Meers was played by the great comedienne, Bea Lillie and the rest of the cast especially the women (Julie Andrews, Mary Tyler Moore and Carol Channing), were excellent as they continued to prove in their later careers.Of course the two "orientals" were extremely racist caricatures (played by Jack Soo and Pat Morita) up there with Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffanys in that respect.But much of it went on far too long and this was further drawn out by the endless "Intermission" with Julie doing the singing throughout, and the unbelievably endless closing credits.

mark.waltz When I was 13, this became one of my new "favorites". By the age of 30, that opinion had shrunk a bit. Now, umpteen years later, it remains a friendly memory, but the qualities of the film I thought were gems are now rhinestones. The audience knows immediately it is getting something special when Julie Andrews' voice sings the title song as she walks down Fifth Avenue, first a non-stylish frump, and bit by bit transforming herself into a "modern". Over the credits, there are bits and pieces of subtitles expressing Andrews' feelings, and this pops up throughout the movie. First, she comments on how ridiculous that her figure doesn't allow her beads to hang straight, and much later, notices that all society girls seem to be flat chester. Throughout the film, she performs a Jewish Wedding Song and dances with James Fox about a new dance he just made up called the "Tapioca" (which she gleefully announces she had for pudding). Of course, her whole world falls apart when her new boss (John Gavin) whom she had her sites on (for his alleged money), falls for her new pal, Dorothy (Mary Tyler Moore). But when Dorothy suddenly disappears, Andrews, Gavin and Fox all realize that something nefarious has occurred, and it all involves Mrs. Meers (Beatrice Lillie), Andrews' landlady.The opening shot of the squeaky laundry cart remains totally and hysterically unforgettable, as does the shot of the chopstick hair wearing Bea Lillie, playing a comic Mrs. Danvers/Maleficent/Gale Sondergaard's "The Letter" character spoof. "Oh, pook!", she rants when frustrated,"Shoo show" when ordering her "dumber than a bleached blonde" sidekicks about, and her ominous "Sad to be all alone in the world", which has more meaning than the compassion she pretends to have for the orphans she encounters at her 1920's Manhattan hotel for single young ladies. From the time she utters this at the newly arrived Mary Tyler Moore (as an orphan) to her final hick-up after saying the line, Lillie is hysterical. In short, this is her film, even in spite of the leading lady (Julie Andrews) and the Oscar Nominated Carol Channing.No doubt that Ms. Channing was worthy of the nomination. Wouldn't you after tap-dancing on a Xylaphone to "Jazz Baby" and being shot out of a cannon into a group of acrobats and immediately breaking into the song "Do It Again"? Her line "Rasberrys!", like some of Mrs. Meer's (Lillie) mutterings, has hidden meanings. Channing was Broadway's darling after her triumph in "Hello, Dolly!", and got a lot of sympathy from the inside Hollywood crowd after young Barbra Streisand got her role in the movie version of that long-running smash. Channing plays a wealthy earth-mother type who takes an interest in Andrews, and tries to persuade her that true love is the only way to make a marriage work.As for Andrews, in 1967, she could do no wrong, and audiences were thrilled to have her back in a musical after two dramas in 1966 ("Hawaii" and "Torn Curtain"). That would change the following year with the over-long "Star!". With hair like Maria Von Trapp and some stylish 20's fashions, Andrews made a perfect "modern". Who better to break up Mrs. Meers' white slavery ring than Mary Poppins? Mary Tyler Moore does what she can with a really unexceptional part, but like Andrews and Channing was at the top of her popularity after the hit TV series "The Dick Van Dyke Show". Her role is simply too goody goody to believe, although she does occasionally break out of it, such as her crack about a nasty socialite at Channing's Long Island party.The men are James Fox, as the eager beaver who hopes to date Millie, and John Gavin as the oh-so-swell boss. Fox and Andrews share a joy ride after the tapioca sequence, and later Fox repeats an old Harold Lloyd gag when he climbs up the building Millie works in after a misunderstanding. When they must try to entrap Mrs. Meers, Fox dresses in drag, looking more like Hedda Hopper than a new-in-town orphaned girl. It's all quite fun and harmless, yet about 20 minutes too long. Film critic Judith Christ said it would make a perfect 65 minute movie. There are some great minor characters as well, particularly Andrews' possessive supervisor and the nasty Judith Tremaine (the flat-chested socialite at Muzzy's party). Unfortunately, the 2002 Broadway version took out most of the camp, even if it did introduce the unflappable Sutton Foster to Broadway stardom. In a season with "Urinetown" and "Mamma Mia!", it was "Millie" that won the Tony. So for total camp, see the movie, but be aware that some moments really are "Thoroughly dumb and silly".