Rating: G
Genre:
Drama
Release Date: 05/07/2002
SubTitles: English/Espanol
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD5.1/THX
Run Time: 134 Minutes
Flags: Child Classic
Distributor/Studio: Walt Disney Video
Eleanor H. Porter's story of
Pollyanna, "The Glad Girl," was first filmed in 1920 by
Mary Pickford. While entertaining, the
Pickford version tended to reduce the supporting characters to stereotypes.
Disney's 1960 remake of
Pollyanna wisely offers three-dimensional characterizations, enhancing the charm and believability of the story. In her first
Disney film (indeed, her first American film),
Hayley Mills stars as
Pollyanna, an orphan girl sent to live with her wealthy aunt
Polly (
Jane Wyman). A humorless sort,
Aunt Polly is taken aback by
Pollyanna's insistence upon seeing the happy side of everything. With her best friend and fellow orphan,
Jimmy Bean (
Kevin "Moochie" Corcoran),
Pollyanna spreads her sunshine all over town, transforming such local curmudgeons as hypochondriac
Mrs. Snow (
Agnes Moorehead), hellfire-and-brimstone
Reverend Ford (
Karl Malden), and reclusive
Mr. Pendergast (
Adolphe Menjou) into positive, life-affirming sorts. This she does not by being simpering or syrupy, but by applying common sense and refusing to indulge anyone's self-pity. Only
Aunt Polly refuses to warm up. As the owner of the town orphanage,
Aunt Polly will not hear of having a new, more modern facility built, and when handsome
Dr. Chilton (
Richard Egan) stages a charity bazaar in defiance of
Aunt Polly,
Pollyanna is forbidden to attend. She escapes to the bazaar by climbing down the tree next to her upstairs window; but when trying to return home,
Pollyanna falls and injures her legs. Facing possible permanent paralysis, the "Glad Girl" is for the first time disconsolate and pessimistic. Her spirits are uplifted by the townsfolk whom she's helped, and finally by
Aunt Polly, who's realized the folly of her stubbornness. Ebulliently optimistic once more,
Pollyanna leaves town for an operation, as the townsfolk cheer her up and cheer her on. Possibly because it was perceived as having only little-girl appeal (a false perception indeed),
Pollyanna was not the big hit that it should have been in 1960. Its latter-day reputation as one of
Disney's finest features rests primarily on its many successful television showings. The film was remade for television with an all-black cast as
Polly in 1989.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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