The Tamarind Seed ( 1974 )

Judith Farrow (Julie Andrews) is still grieving over the breakup of a rather lurid liaison with her married paramour Group Captain Richard Patterson (David Baron). She is vacationing in Barbados, attempting to clear her muddled mind and heal her broken heart, when she meets the suave Colonel Feodor Sverdlov (Omar Shariff), a Soviet military attaché who is also vacationing for a respite. Feodor works in the Paris embassy circle and happens to know Captain Patterson. Coincidentally, he is also acquainted with Sam Neilson of the British Home Office, for whom Judith works as a personal assistant. 

Back in London, British intelligence officer Jack Loder (Anthony Quayle) and Home Secretary Fergus Stephenson (Daniel O'Herlihy) are curious as to why Feodor is in Barbados and decide to keep surveillance on him and his supposedly coincidental encounter with Judith. Loder believes Feodor is conspiring to win Judith over "to the other side" so that the Russians could use her as an inside agent. 

Judith thought she met a kind and understanding friend on her holiday but when Loder approaches her with his suspicions of Feodor's motives for meeting her, she begins to wonder if she is indeed being used as a pawn in a political chess game between the East and the West. 

The Tamarind Seed is an engrossing romantic espionage drama from director Blake Edwards. It is a long picture (125-minutes), and the pace is slow, yet the story is riveting and the film never becomes tiresome. This is due to the fine performances of all the principal players and Edwards' compelling script, which was based on Evelyn Anthony's 1971 bestselling novel. 

Julie Andrews, who was married to Edwards at the time, delivers an excellent performance as the bewildered Ms. Farrow. Andrews portrays Judith as a woman of intelligence and strength, lost and confused though she may be. Judith follows her heart, in spite of being warned against doing so. "He's going to recruit you, isn't he?" Loder tells her. "You're wrong. He'll never do anything like that. I know him." "Do you? I doubt that, Mrs. Farrow"...."If you are right and he tries to involve me in anything, I will tell you, but I will not be used to spy against him," she replies. 

Feodor does indeed seem to be the honest undeceptive gentleman she believes him to be. As their holiday in Barbados comes to a close, they agree to meet again - discreetly - in Paris. Here Feodor informs her that he told his superior General Golitsyn (Oskar Homolka) that he is building a relationship with her in the hopes of recruiting her as a KGB agent and that she must be frank and tell Loder of their meeting as well. “Let me teach you the first lesson about these little games,” Feodor explains. “You must try to tell the truth as long as possible. That way, when times change and you have to lie, there is a great chance that you will be believed.” 

Judith has no taste for these Soviet cat-and-mouse games and yet she finds herself embroiled in them through her relationship with Feodor, a relationship she has no intention of pursuing since he is a married man and decidedly Marxist. "It is a good sign that we have many dialectic disagreements and yet get along so well together", Feodor exclaims. Perhaps so, but when Feodor's life becomes endangered, Judith must weigh her feelings for him against her loyalty to her own values.

The Tamarind Seed was released in theaters in the summer of 1974 and was received with critical acclaim. The film was chosen to be shown for a Royal Command Performance and returned over three times its $2.4 million budget at the box office.

Freddie Young's beautiful cinematography elevates the film beyond a standard espionage drama and makes you feel like you are watching an epic. Indeed, with location filming in London, Paris, Barbados, and Switzerland and John Barry's lush score (not to mention Wilma Reading's wonderful rendition of "Play it Again"), it could very well be classified as a dramatic spy epic.

Also in the cast are Sylvia Syms, Bryan Marshall, Kate O'Mara, and Celia Bannerman.

The Tamarind Seed is currently available on DVD and via streaming on Tubi.

Promoting Poppins : The Merchandise of Mary Poppins

The Walt Disney Company today are pros when it comes to knowing how to promote their latest films but, back in the day, they had the marketing game pretty well in hand, too. 

In 1964, without the aid of the internet or a bombardment of television commercials, they promoted Mary Poppins to countries all over the world. And once the film became the success that it was ( critical acclaim, $31 million in box office receipts, 13 Academy Award nominations ) companies clamored to Disney to obtain permission to place Poppins on their products

Judging from the number of different products that were released over the next 10 years, Disney was pretty liberal in granting this permission. Below we have assembled a little gallery of some of the most popular Mary Poppins products of the 1960s and 1970s for you to peruse. If we are missing any, let us know and we will add it to the gallery. 

Enjoy! 

Coloring Books & Other Activity Books

This Whitman coloring book features some really spot-on illustrations of Julie Andrews and the Poppins children. 

Since Mary Poppins always had a bit of magic up her sleeves ( or hiding in her carpet-bag ), this set features a bit of magic, too....magic wipe-off crayons. 

Another magical book.....paintless and dot-to-dot coloring. What could be easier? Just brush the paper with water and watch the pictures appear, pictures as lovely as Bert could draw himself.

A Golden Funtime Coloring Book. Not sure what the "cut out" means. Tear sheets?

Most coloring book covers liked to feature Mary Poppins in her customary flying pose, complete with umbrella open. 

On this cover, she sports some fancy yellow boots and is flying over a freeway. If Mary Poppins supports Shell Oil then that is the gas to use! 

Story Books & Comic Books

A beautiful cover from Gold Key comics emphasizing how Poppins is "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" ( you won't see this word typed twice in one post! )

A Golden Look-inside Book. Five little books hidden inside this one. If they all feature interior art as cute as this cover, I'm buying it. 

This is an interesting Spanish language storybook. Note how much Mary Poppins looks like a female bullfighter here. 

The classic Little Golden Book cover, probably one of the best-selling Mary Poppins pieces of merchandise. 

And look how cute the drawings are inside! 

A Golden Press souvenir book featuring photographs and behind-the-scenes stories about the making of the film.

Colorforms

Colorforms were cut pieces of vinyl that stuck "like magic" to the background cling surface. In this case, that surface image is Mary Poppins in her undergarments. 

The original Colorforms box art. Mary Poppins hair color is more of a reddish tint and her clothing is of a solid color. 

Paper Dolls

Paper dolls with no scissors needed, just a bit of punching will get them right out of their pockets. 

This set, from Whitman, gave you plastic stands to display them on. 

A Golden Funtime book offered a whole bunch of activities in one: 4 paper dolls, story to read, pictures to color, and a carousel to build. 

Good looking doll clothing, too. 

Record Albums & 45s

The 33rpm and its reissue with the cassette tape of the read-along storybook featuring the same cover artwork. 

Another "story and songs" book, this time with Marni Nixon doing the voice of Mary Poppins and Richard M. Sherman reading, too. Richard is one half of the Sherman Brothers, the songwriting duo who composed the music to Mary Poppins. 

A cover variation of the same record. 

Disneyland Records was a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company so not only did they collect from other companies' merchandise but they marketed their own, too!

This 45 record featured "One Man Band" as a bonus song, which was the tune that Bert sang in the opening of the film ( to the melody of "Chim-Chim-Cheree" )

A blurry image of one of the original album covers. 

This was the most famous release and it is quite common to see it at rummage sales and second-hand stores. The sheet music featured the same painted artwork.

And, of course, there were covers released.....the big band maestro Lawrence Welk was one of the first to release a Poppins album. 

Then Duke Ellington toyed with the music.....

....and even Ray Walston "spoke" the lines in rhythm. 

This British release featured a rather dark looking design on its cover. 

Whereas the illustrator who painted the cover to this later ( 1968-1975 ) release decided to redesign Mary Poppins and the children altogether. They look like Edith Nesbit characters here. 

This cute cover was from another British release. Note the Indian and the gent with the top hat. 

This is the funniest looking cover from the New York Theatre Orchestra LP release. Mary Poppins looks like a dressed mannequin here ( a male one at that! ).

Another unusual cover, this one clearly inspired by the art of Peter Maxx. Mary Poppins looks "high" in this drawing, and not because she is flying in the air!

A British release album, featuring the Mike Sammes Singers. This fine group ( sort of the British version of the Ray Conniff Singers ) often did Disney cover albums to coincide with the release of their new films.

And speaking of Ray Conniff.....this chorus would never pass up a chance to do those great Poppins tunes. 

Sticker Books

A lovely cover to a sticker fun book, featuring some smug looking horses. 

Another sticker book, this one from a later release. 

Advertisements

Advertisments were a bit more difficult to find. Hefty featured some great artwork of Mary Poppins toting her carpetbag ( not garbage bags? ) in the air. 

And Kraft Chocolates offered a fantastic prize for this giveaway advertisement: a carpetbag filled with $10,000 in cash! I wonder who the lucky winner of that contest was. 

Dolls and Dollcraft

McCall's issued a stuffed doll sewing pattern and then followed it up with some more patterns featuring costume variations. These patterns can be found on Etsy. 

A series of dolls released by E.I. Horsman as early as 1963. Tonner released a series of dolls more recently that feature a stunning array of wardrobe changes. 

Lunchboxes

This lunchbox from Aladdin came in two options, tin or vinyl. 

Puzzles

And who can forget puzzles! This is a simple frame-tray puzzle from Whitman....

...and then there is this unusual block puzzle with picture scenes. 

I would have liked to own this one....Bert conducting the animal choir.

And lastly, a Jaymar interlocking Mary Poppins Picture Puzzle featuring the final scene in the movie, Let's Go Fly a Kite.