Pollyanna (1960)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

David Swift

Writers:

Eleanor H. Porter (novel)
David Swift (writer)

Release Date:

19 May 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Family | Romance

Tagline:

Just wonderful entertainment!

Plot:

A young girl comes to an embittered town and confronts it's attitude with her determination to see the best in life.

Plot Keywords:

Clothes | Male Female Relationship | Doll | Prism | Sentimental

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 win

Cast

Jane Wyman	...	Aunt Polly
Richard Egan	...	Dr. Edmond Chilton
Karl Malden	...	Reverend Paul Ford
Nancy Olson	...	Nancy Furman
Adolphe Menjou	...	Mr. Pendergast
Donald Crisp	...	Mayor Karl Warren
Agnes Moorehead	...	Mrs. Snow
Kevin Corcoran	...	Jimmy Bean
Hayley Mills	...	Pollyanna
James Drury	...	George Dodds
Reta Shaw	...	Tillie Lagerlof
Leora Dana	...	Mrs. Paul Ford
Anne Seymour	...	Mrs. Amelia Tarbell
Edward Platt	...	Ben Tarbell
Mary Grace Canfield	...	Angelica

Runtime:

134 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Iceland:L | West Germany:o.Al. | USA:Approved (certificate #19385) (original rating) | USA:G (re-rating) (1992) | Australia:G | Canada:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Mableton Mansion - 1015 McDonald Avenue, Santa Rosa, California, USA

Company:

Walt Disney Productions

Trivia:

The film opens with a close-up of a naked backside of young blond boy, who swings from a rope swing away from the camera jumping into a river. The boy is played by William Betz, who was 7 at the time of filming, who today (2009) recalls that at the time of filming, people weren't really allowed to swim in that river, White Sulfer Springs. He said his mother also had a very brief background extra role as one of the ladies at the train station where Pollyanna is picked up. Neither of them were actors but just locals where the movie was filmed. He is amused that the small Vermont town depicted in the movie was actually a mix of various locales miles apart in Napa Valley and Sonoma County, California.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: Los Angeles smog visible in the background in the scene in the field with Reverend Ford. The story locale is turn of the century Vermont.

Quotes:

Pollyanna Whittier: I'm sorry about the dress, Aunt Polly. Mother said it was a size too big, but Father said I should be glad it wasn't a pair of boy's trousers.
Aunt Polly Harrington: Well, that's hardly anything to be glad about.
Pollyanna Whittier: Well, my father always used to say...
Aunt Polly Harrington: Yes, well, never mind what your father used to say. Pollyanna, this is going to be your new home now, and I hope you'll be very happy with me. Nancy will show you to your room.
Pollyanna Whittier: I'm very glad you sent for me, Aunt Polly. Your home is very lovely.
Aunt Polly Harrington: Thank you.
Pollyanna Whittier: It must make you awfully glad.
Aunt Polly Harrington: Glad?
Pollyanna Whittier: That you're so very rich!
[Reverend Ford starts to cough. Nancy takes Pollyanna out of the room]
[...]

Movie Connections:

Edited into "Disneyland: Pollyanna: Part 1 (#10.9)" (1963)

Soundtrack:

Whoop Ta Doodle Dey

Wonderful performances make this worth viewing

A vast improvement on the cutesy, blatantly unrealistic and cliched story on which it is based, the Disney film Pollyanna is a truly enjoyable, BELIEVABLE film. It has a very charming, nostalgic feel to it. The period costumes and sets are very good, and the direction is good, too. The best thing about it, however, are the performances. The talented cast really makes you believe in them and forget they're all stereotypes. Jane Wyman is quite good as Aunt Polly, as are Agnes Moorehead, Adolphe Menjou, and espicially Karl Malden. And Hayley Mills more than holds her own, giving a very good, subtle, believable performance. This Pollyanna does not spend all her time chatting her mouth off and misinterpreting every cold act of her aunt's as an expression of love, which made her very annoying in the book, but rather, she really gets to know people and very subtly brings out the best in them. A truly good family film, much better than the book, and one really worth viewing.