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?