Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
John Mills | ... | Alfred Polly | |
Betty Ann Davies | ... | Miriam Larkins Polly | |
Megs Jenkins | ... | The Innkeeper | |
Finlay Currie | ... | Uncle Jim | |
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Gladys Henson | ... | Aunt Larkins |
Diana Churchill | ... | Annie Larkins | |
Shelagh Fraser | ... | Minnie Larkins | |
Edward Chapman | ... | Mr. Johnson | |
Dandy Nichols | ... | Mrs. Johnson | |
Sally Ann Howes | ... | Christabel | |
Juliet Mills | ... | Little Polly | |
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Laurence Baskcomb | ... | Mr. Rumbold |
Edie Martin | ... | Lady on roof | |
Moore Marriott | ... | Uncle Pentstemon | |
David Horne | ... | Mr. Garvace |
Quiet and somewhat direction-less, Alfred Polly uses the money he inherits from his father to marry and to set up shop in a small town. His heart is in neither of these enterprises and he eventually resorts to desperate measures to break free. His random wanderings in the countryside lead him to a new opportunity that just might be what he's been looking for all along. Written by J-26
I have to say I was a bit disappointed in The History Of Mr. Polly, I have always thought that H.G.Wells was better at writing science fiction than at social commentary. Many have said he's an early 20th century Charles Dickens, I think he falls short of the mark, especially here.
There's a lot of Walter Mitty in the interpretation that John Mills gives Alfred Polly. He's a dreamer who can't quite find himself, but gets the opportunity to do so when he inherits a large sum of money.
For a man in Edwardian Great Britain that usually meant acquiring a business and becoming a man of property. This Mills does, but it hardly brings him fulfillment. The film is his search to find some kind of place and some kind of fulfillment.
Mills and the rest of the cast do a creditable job in the roles, but I never really got the message of what Wells was trying to say or what his solution to Polly's problem was. Was it settling for peanuts or maybe even crackers?