10 Best Mary Poppins Moments
2. Feed the Birds
“All around the cathedral the saints and apostles look down as she sells her wares. Although you can’t see it, you know they are smiling each time someone shows that he cares.”
With the help of a souvenir snow globe, Mary sings the sobering story of an old woman (Jane Darwell) sitting on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral selling bird seed for the pigeons at tuppence a bag. This gives the sheltered, middle class Banks kids a bit of a wake up call just in time for a trip to the bank with their father…
Earlier in the film, Mary settled the overstimulated Jane and Michael down with a fairly conventional lullaby, “Stay Awake”, but the next night she sends them to sleep with an important moral lesson. The kids are pretty unlikely to encounter poverty in their day-to-day lives, and their father’s profession actively feeds inequality in society, so Mary plants an idea in their minds; an idea of small acts of wealth redistribution, kindness fixing the world one step at a time. Mary really is practically perfect in every way, and though she sees the world for what it is, she sees the potential for good in every person as well. This is arguably one of the most beautiful songs the Sherman Brothers ever composed, and in Andrews’ angelic, soothing voice it never fails to bring a tear to the eye in this scene.
1. Mr Banks’ Revelation
“You’ve got to grind, grind, grind at that grindstone… Though childhood slips like sand through a sieve… And all too soon they’ve up and grown, and then they’ve flown… And it’s too late for you to give – just that spoonful of sugar to ‘elp the medicine go down.”
It’s telling, and accurate to the era that the film is set in, that when Mr Banks finally realises where he has been going wrong, what he has been missing in life, it’s Bert, another man that he admits it to, rather than the person who has made change possible, Mary Poppins. Finally knowing what he has to do, that time with his nearest and dearest is passing him by, George Banks gathers up his things and walks into the still-dark early morning to accept his fate at the bank as the Sherman Brothers’ score dramatically swells.
As he helps clear up the soot-streaked house following the chaos of “Step in Time”, Bert is in just the right place at the right time to give George Banks the wake up call he so desperately needs, to gently push him to realise how little time he has left with his children being able to behave like carefree children.
They may have caused him to lose face at work, but that was only because a child under 10 really shouldn’t have to think about their future or incrementing wealth rather than giving that nice old lady some money to feed the birds.
Before he is fired, Banks is humiliatingly stripped of the symbols of his class – his bowler hat, his umbrella, the flower on his lapel – but essentially ends up killing Mr Dawes Sr by telling a terrible joke at just the right moment and heading home with a new spring in his step, all because of Mary Poppins and the lessons she has imparted on his children.
Recommended for you: More “10 Best Moments” Lists from The Film Magazine
Mary Poppins is considered a practically perfect classic for a reason, the kind of film for all the family that reminds us of the importance of fun and imagination, kindness and empathy, that is passed down through the generations and keeps us all entranced and feeling good about the world. It is one of Disney’s crowning achievements and they may never hit quite the same heights again. Did all your favourite moments make the list or is there something we missed? Let us know in the comments below and find @thefilmagazine on social media – including Facebook and X (Twitter) for more insightful movie lists.
