Pollyanna Film (Hayley Mills)

Film / Pollyanna

A young 12-year-old orphan girl comes to live with her aunt in a town embattled by feuds and intimidated by her aunt. By the time she must leave, she has transformed the community with her invincible will to see the the goodness of even the worst situations and bring it out for the best of all.

 

 

Director: David Swift

Adapted from: Pollyanna

Screenplay: David Swift

Cinematography: Russell Harlan

Edited by : Frank Gross

Music by : Paul SMith

Production Compnay: Walt Disney Productions 

Distributed by: Buena Vista Distribution 

Story by: Eleanor H. Porter 

Release date: 19 May 1960 (USA)

 

 

Award: Academy Juvenile Award (for Hayley Mills)

 

Pollyanna (1960 feature film)  stars child actress Hayley Mills, Jane Wyman, Karl Malden, Richard Egan, Adolf Menjou, Kevin Corcoran and Agnes Moorehead. in a story about a cheerful orphan changing the outlook of a small town. The film was written and directed by David Swift, based on the 1913 novel Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter. The film won Hayley Mills an Academy Juvenile Award and also received a BAFTA nomination for Best Actress. It was the last film of actor Adolphe Menjou.

Pollyanna was Hayley Mills' first film in the series of six for Disney and the directorial debut of David Swift.

Walt Disney said that the cast was the most important in the studio's history, including names such as Wyman, Malden, and Richard Egan. 
Pollyanna (The Book)

Pollyanna is a 1913 novel by American author Eleanor H. Porter, considered a classic of children's literature. The book's success led to Porter's soon writing a sequel, Pollyanna Grows Up (1915). Eleven more Pollyanna sequels, known as "Glad Books", were later published, most of them written by Elizabeth Borton or Harriet Lummis Smith. Further sequels followed, including Pollyanna Plays the Game by Colleen L. Reece, published in 1997. Due to the book's fame, "Pollyanna" has become a byword for someone who – like the title character – has an unfailingly optimistic outlook; a subconscious bias towards the positive is often described as the Pollyanna principle. Despite the current common use of the term to mean 'excessively cheerful', Pollyanna and her father played the glad game as a method of coping with the real difficulties and sorrows that, along with luck and joy, shape every life.

Pollyanna has been adapted for film several times. Some of the best known are the 1920 version starring Mary Pickford, and Disney's 1960 version starring child actress Hayley Mills, who won a special Oscar for the role.

The Cast

• Hayley Mills as Pollyanna Whittier
• Jane Wyman as Polly Harrington, Pollyanna's aunt
• Kevin Corcoran as Jimmy Bean, an orphan who is eventually adopted by Mr. Pendergast
• Richard Egan as Dr. Edmond Chilton, Polly Harrington's ex-boyfriend
• Karl Malden as Reverend Ford, the church minister
• Agnes Moorehead as Mrs. Snow, a hypochondriac
• Jenny Egan as Mildred Snow, Mrs. Snow's daughter
• Adolphe Menjou as Mr. Pendergast, a recluse who eventually opens his heart and adopts Jimmy
• Reta Shaw as Tillie Lagerlof, the cook
• Mary Grace Canfield as Angelica, the upstairs maid
• Nancy Olson as Nancy Furman, the downstairs maid and Pollyanna's new best friend
• James Drury as George Dodds, Nancy's boyfriend
• Leora Dana as Mrs. Ford, Reverend Ford's wife
• Gage Clarke as Mr. Cory Murg, the town mortician
• Donald Crisp as Mayor Karl Warren, Dr. Chilton's uncle
• Edward Platt as Ben Tarbell, Amelia Tarbell's husband
• Anne Seymour as Amelia Tarbell
• Ian Wolfe as Mr. Neely
• Nolan Leary as Mr. Thomas
• Edgar Dearing as Mr. Gorman

The Blurb

Young orphan Pollyanna Whittier  (Hayley Mills) believes life's most difficult problems can always be surmounted by a positive attitude and pragmatism. But when she moves in with her dour aunt (Jane Wyman), she is introduced to a range of disheartened folks who challenge her upbeat outlook. Not to be discouraged, she sets to work spreading hope and good cheer. However, when an inspired doctor (Richard Egan) leads the community in a campaign in opposition to her aunt, Pollyanna's goodwill is strained.

 

The Plot

Pollyanna Whittier (Hayley Mills), a 12-year-old orphan has led a simple life as part of a church family, her parents being former missionaries, with her father a minister. Following the deaths of her parents, Pollyanna is sent to live with her wealthy maternal spinster aunt, Polly Harrington (Jane Wyman), in Harrington town, founded by the Harrington family. Pollyanna had never met her aunt before. Polly feels an obligation to the family name, and practically controls almost every aspect of what happens in town, which she is able to do as a Harrington company has dealings with almost every other company and person in town, especially Mayor Karl Warren (Donald Crisp). In that control, she does not allow her personal assistant, Nancy Furman (Nancy Olson), to be seen in public with her beau, George Dodds (James Drury), as Polly believes such behavior is disrespectful to her as Nancy's employer. Polly even controls the church as Reverend Paul Ford (Karl Malden) prepares his sermons through her, that is, on Polly's directive. She took in Pollyanna solely out of obligation rather than out of kindness or love. 

 

The orphanage, for which Polly's father donated to the town, need a major repair. Polly would rather pay money out of her own pocket to make whatever band-aid repairs to the building than to embark on a community project to raise funds for a new orphanage. As opposed to Polly's stern outlook, Pollyanna, based on the teachings of her father, tries to find the good in everything and everyone. Among the town main characters include perhaps the two most disliked people, the recluse Mr. Pendergast (Adolphe Menjou), feared by children as he made them believe that other children who have trespassed on his property he has imprisoned in his basement (which is untrue), and the disagreeable Mrs. Snow (Agnes Moorehead), who thinks more about dying than living. 

 

The toughest challenge for young Pollyanna is actually her Aunt Polly, with the latter's singular focus on control over the town to her standards and morals. Pollyanna gets some help regarding her aunt through Mayor Warren's nephew, Dr. Edmond Chilton (Richard Egan), a former resident who now lives in Baltimore, who is back in town for the first time in five years on a vacation, and who was once Polly's beau.

First, Rev. Ford reads one of the so-called "Glad Passages" of the Bible at church the following Sunday, stating that a young member of the congregation pointed out how many such passages there are, having gained the gumption to defy Aunt Polly. He intends to read one a week from this time on and then declares his support for the bazaar and encourages all to attend. Aunt Polly becomes furious about their audacity, forbidding Pollyanna to participate. On the evening of the carnival, Pollyanna is locked in her attic bedroom by her Aunt Polly but is "rescued" by playmate and fellow orphan Jimmy Bean, who reminds her that she will lead "America the Beautiful" at the high point of the event. She slips away with Jimmy's help and has a wonderful time at the carnival, winning a doll.

When she got home, Pollyanna avoids Aunt Polly by climbing a tree to her attic bedroom. Whilsy trying to reach her bedroom window, she drops her new doll, falls off the window ledge screaming and is knocked unconscious before being discovered by her aunt and her maids. After realizing her legs are paralyzed and that she may not walk again, Pollyanna develops severe depression, jeopardizing her chance of recovery. 

Aunt Polly feels extreme guilt when she realizes how her behavior has isolated her from the town and Pollyanna. While talking to Dr. Chilton, she admits that her niece needed love and it was something she never gave her. Dr. Chilton tells Aunt Polly that they can give Pollyanna the love together and help mend the isolation she put on the townsfolk. When the townspeople learn of Pollyanna's accident, they arrive at Aunt Polly's house with outpourings of love fromthecommunity. Dr. Chilton carries the reluctant pollyanna downstairs where the neighbors wish her health one by one. Pollyanna's spirit gradually returns to its usual hopefulness and love of life. She learns that Jimmy has been adopted by Mr. Pendergast. Pollyanna is embraced by her aunt before they leave Harrington town with Dr. Chilton for Pollyanna's operation in Baltimore. 

Photo Credit:

Pollyanna Film Poster (1960 film).  en.wikipedia.org. Accessed June 12, 2022. Fair use. This poster art of Pollyanna copyright is believed to belong to the distributor of the film, Buena Vista Distribution, the publisher of the film or the graphic artist. The poster art can or could be obtained from Buena Vista Distribution. 

 

Video Credit:

Hayley Mills - Pollyanna. YouTube, uploaded by LastSafePlace. Accessed April 18, 2014. 

Pollyanna (1960) Leonard Maltin introduction (Hayley Mills Month #8). Youtube, Uploaded by Ryan's Treasures. Accessed April 18, 2020.

Pollyanna (Preview). YouTube, uploaded by YouTube Moview & Shows. Accessed April 18, 2014.  

Restoration ofPollyanna (1960) Documentary. YouTube, uploaded by TimeSpectator. Accessed June 3, 2022.

Why We Love Pollyanna. YouTube, uploaded by Better with Bob?. Accessed June 12, 2022.

Resources:

 

A Delightful Chat with Hayley Mills. YouTube uploaded by DisneyD23. Accessed June 12, 2022. 

 

Hayley Mills. en.wikipedia.org. Accessed April 18, 2010. 

Pollyanna. en.wikipedia.org. Accessed April 18, 2010.

Pollyanna (1960) Film. en.wikipedia.org. Accessed April 18, 2010.   

 

Pollyanna (1960) Plot Summary. IMDB. Accessed April 18, 2010.

(c) April 2010. Updated June 12, 2022. Tel.  Inspired Pen Web.  All rights reserved.