The History of Mr. Polly

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?

John Mills prefers to read and dream rather than learn the haberdasher's trade, so he's fired. His father up and dies, and leaves him a nice sum of money. He enjoys bicycling around, saying he is "looking for a busienss to invest in", but marriage with his cousin, Betty Ann Davies, forces him to be a shop. It soon turns into a dull routine and marginal business. He burns it down for the insurance, then takes off. Soon he has settled down at a waterside inn run by Meg Jenks, punting the ferry and doing odd jobs.

Anthony Pelissier did not have a tremendously productive career as a writer-director, but he turned out fine screen transitions of literary works. In his first movie, he tackles H. G. Wells novel about a man who just wants to get by and not meddle in affairs that are none of his business.... and as it turns out, he does meddle and demonstrates that, as ridiculous as he appears fighting off Miss Jenks' drunk and vindictive uncle Finlay Currie, time and chance are on his side. What we are to make of this, except that people are ridiculous, I don't really know. But it does demonstrate that. With Diana Churchill, Sally Ann Howe, Juliet Mills, Moore Marriott, and Irene Handl.

HG Wells was one of the most successful novelists of the early 20th century, particularly famous for his science fiction. But earlier his tales of life among the ordinary people won him great success and eventually a wide reputation as a thinker and commentator as well as a writer. He wrote from personal experience - his mother was a domestic servant in a great house called Uppark, now one of the showplace of the National Trust. Mr Polly was a typical Wells characters - easy-going, unambitious, an innocent in a wicked world. John MIlls, one of the best-loved of British actors, captures perfectly the character of this harmless, well-meaning man, destined to be pushed hither and thither by a variety of females. But the film lack a strong story line and is often aimless and boring. THere are some hilarious scenes - the funeral of his father, which was more like a wedding party than a wake, with young women circling the newly rich innocent like sharks round a seal. Best of all was the scene where Mr Polly tries his hand at punting, struggling with his passenger and throwing them both in to the water. The music here was brilliantly written for the wind of the orchestra and played by a team of virtuosos with an outstanding clarinettist - who were they? The composer William Alwyn was probably the most prolific film composer of his or any generation. His work here saved the film from well-meant but earnest tedium. There should be a celebration of Alwyn's contribution to the art of film.

I echo all the good things said about this brilliant film. As for the contributor who claimed Mills did not receive enough credit in his career. . . the man was given a knighthood - how much credit does one need? As I write this comment, the film is being shown (yet again) on the Film 4 TV channel. It's one of those films (and there are many of them) which one can watch year after year and still find it entertaining, despite knowing each scene by heart. Since I discovered that a version of the film was planned and then abandoned in Hollywood with Charles Laughton in the title role, I can't help imagining Laughton speaking the lines as I watch the excellent John Mills.

I was underwhelmed by the tale of a simple and weak character, Alfred Polly, played by the stalwart of the British cinema, John Mills, who has had enough of being henpecked, so leaves her and his shop to seek fresh pastures. It has several amusing scenes where Mills encounters the drunken, oafish Uncle Jim, played by the wonderful Finlay Curry, but overall the film is disappointing, for it seems to drift aimlessly from one scene to another without a clear and cohesive thread. I loved the music which gives the film a carefree and whimsical dimension but the real problem with the film is it's central character. It's very difficult to sustain interest in Mr Polly, a meek and mild character, who's simply wishing to see a quiet life.