The Man Who Could Work Miracles

An unassuming Englishman named Fotheringay (Roland Young) is given miraculous powers by celestial beings (perhaps gods, the film never says). He doesn't know where he got the powers from or why and, at first, he doesn't use them for anything more than simple tricks. Gradually he starts to realize the gift he's been given and decides to use his power for the greater good. But he isn't sure how to do this so he consults several respected men in the community and gets wildly different suggestions.

A delightful fantasy comedy with a script co-written by H.G. Wells, adapted from one of his short stories. It's leisurely-paced and well-directed. Amazing special effects for the time, particularly when you consider this wasn't a Hollywood production. Roland Young (wearing a toupee) is perfectly cast. I can't imagine another actor from this time playing this part so well. The rest of the cast is terrific with a few recognizable faces in the mix, including Ernest Thesiger and, in a small role, George Zucco. Ralph Richardson steals the show as a blowhard colonel quite put out by Fotheringay's miracles. A shirtless George Sanders plays one of the 'gods.' One of my favorite scenes is when Fotheringay tells a policeman to "go to blazes" and winds up sending the man to Hell! The policeman's reaction while there and Fotheringay's subsequent attempt to fix the situation are hilarious.

Reportedly Wells intended the film to be more preachy, like his script for Things to Come the year before. But thankfully director Lothar Mendes and co-screenwriter Lajos Biró chose to focus more on the comedy and getting the points across that way. The result is a funny movie but with some big ideas that gives you a lot to think about.

This is undoubtedly the best film adaptation by H.G. Wells of his own work, a wry fable free of the leaden polemics that so marred "Things To Come".

Roland Young -- who played the title character to mischievous ghosts Cary Grant and Constance Bennett in the 1937 comedy "Topper" -- is outstanding as George Fotheringay, a mousy store clerk who must come to grips with the sudden gift of almost unlimited power. He can literally do anything -- except change the human heart, as he finds when he commands his beautiful coworker Ada to fall madly in love with him, and she merely laughs in his face. (Incidentally, "George" is Wells' middle name, and Roland Young bears more than a little resemblance to a younger H.G.)

Mischa Spoliansky's score is by turns droll and light-hearted, complementing the story perfectly, as George struggles to make sense of his new-found abilities.

He learns the danger of an unguarded word, when he tells an officious constable who wants to run him in for disturbing the peace to "go to blazes", leading to a hilarious bit in which the constable, finding himself instantaneously transported to the nether regions of brimstone and hellfire, tries to keep calm and take notes about the incident while his notepad smolders. Fortunately, George isn't the vindictive type. As soon as he realizes what he's done, he rescues Constable Plod from the Inferno. (Although, just to be on the safe side and give him some time to cool off, George also teleports him to San Francisco.)

Since he makes no secret of his miracle-working, George is bombarded with advice from his coworkers and various worthies on how he should use his powers. His boss wants to sign him to an exclusive contract, establishing a chain of "miracle" stores featuring instantaneous delivery, with free healing clinics offered on Tuesdays and Fridays to allay George's discomfort with exploiting his talent solely for monetary gain.

Mr. Maydig -- a Baptist minister and amateur philosopher played to prim perfection by gaunt character actor Ernest Thesiger -- advises George to bring the Millennium, to end war and disease and poverty. George cooperates with Maydig to the extent of fulfilling a Biblical prophecy, converting the prized antique cutlery collection belonging to a local representative of the gentry (Sir Ralph Richardson) into what his butler describes with a visible shudder as "agricultural implements".

Even worse, at Maydig's insistence George adds injury to insult by turning all of Colonel Winstanley's fine whiskey into non-alcoholic "temperance water". The butler (George Zucco) gets another of the best lines in the movie. Accused of having done something to the Colonel's tipple, he's the picture of wounded innocence as he responds: "Sir! I'd as soon poison a baby as tamper with good whiskey!"

Next morning, after meeting George and seeing further proof of his unlimited power, the Colonel naturally concludes this mild-seeming clerk is a dire threat to the established order. Taking matters into his own hands, Winstanley almost succeeds in assassinating George, triggering the climactic sequence in which George declares himself invulnerable and immortal and decides he will remake the world to his own plan, starting now.

What happens next is too weird and wonderful for me to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen the film, except to observe that it's not the typical "absolute power corrupts absolutely" denouement that modern viewers have come to expect. "The Man Who Could Work Miracles" is a wise, funny and humane comment on the human psyche, a film which can be enjoyed many times and still seem fresh with each viewing.

Okay, much has already been discussed about the philosophical merits of this film and the deep, profound underlying morals within and the gentle yet omni-present humour laced throughout The Man Who Could Work Miracles. I agree it is there but to varying degrees of success. Who knew H. G. Wells did the script himself(I didn't know he was even still alive then). Because he did, you knew it would have some kind of social message - and it does. What would we do if given complete, absolute power? Can mankind given this power effectively change? Will mankind come to some communal consent as to the betterment of the species as a whole? Well, being the true Machiavellian at heart philosophically that I am - I knew the answers to these questions as posed by Wells who by this time in his life seeing Europe yet again on the fringe of war in 1936 must have come to the same conclusions. But Wells to his credit leaves the viewer the opportunity to decide what he/she thinks with little prodding from the script. While the movie has a lot of hokey dialog and contrived plot sequences, I enjoyed it overall and its message of - whatever it is to you goes here. The acting is charming at the very least. Roland Young is always good and he portrays Mr. Farthingay with great affability and anonymity. Young is one of the best things about the movie as he stumbles in his fashion through the dialog and the scenes with calculating indifference as only he can do. The supporting cast is ably aided with the likes of Ralph Richardson, Joan Gardner, Joan Hickson, George Zucco, and as two godlike spirits watching earth - George Sanders looking incredibly young and Torin Thatcher(from The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad fame). The best outside of Young is Earnest Thesiger from The Bride of Frankenstein and The Old, Dark House fame playing a minister named Mr. Maydig who wants Young to do only good, beneficial things for mankind - at least it appears so ostensibly. No one and I mean no one can deliver a line like Thesiger! Words from his mouth are music to my ears. There are some problems with the film. Much of it comes off as forced and not very amusing. The script ends really in a muddle of a mess. How about the ridiculous music and the title sequence at the beginning of the film. What was up with that huh? But despite these shortcomings, see The Man Who Could Work Miracles for what it is - a thought picture that has a message presented in a light-hearted fashion.

What would a world without want be like? The answer has been the subject of countless stories, not a few movies, & every sensitive soul's nighttime sighing for ages. H. G. Wells poses the question by having godlike beings give a department store clerk, George McWhirter Fotheringay, that ability, & watching it evolve, as he bounces from adviser to adviser, from the sexy girl he desires to a retired British Army man.

The film is a treat, especially for those of us accustomed to (& maybe a little bored by) the Star Trek treatment of absolute power conferred on lowly mortals. I don't know much about the history of science fiction in the movies, but Wells goes about everything (he wrote the script, based on his novel) with the fabulous in mind, while adding purely sci-fi touches, which I won't give away.

Fotheringay is no bleeding-heart aching to turn the world into a painless utopia, nor is he a selfish, power-hungry perve, but a nondescript man who takes his time to figure out just what has happened to him before bringing everything to a head. In the meantime, we're given what amounts to a funny English comedy of manners, as well as a peek into a time (& place) where science fiction took a different direction. (For example: if you found out you had miraculous powers, would you tell anyone? I don't think I would. & if you told anyone, wouldn't you imagine the authorities pouncing on you at the first opportunity? Not so in 1930's Essex!)

The ending seems Gene Roddenberry-esque, & perhaps the Star Trek creator admired & shared Wells' humanism; but the film shines with neat-o special effects (some cool stuff, for the time) & a wonderful performance by Roland Young. A must-see for those who like their sci-fi earthbound & thought-provoking.

(My subject line, by the way, refers to anarchy as a form of government in which there are no governments, just self-government; I don't mean it in the common usage of disorder or chaos. The movie touches on the idea that, without their lives being controlled by those in power, who have a vested interest in people needing money & goods, people might find other ways to spend their time - like, for example, in creation.)

This picture had a story by H.G. Wells, good cast members and outstanding special effects for the 1930's. What happened? something got lost between the book and the screen. I didn't read the book but it's hard to believe H.G. Wells could write a book so uneven in it's treatment of a man suddenly endowed with a gift for miracles. At first he is timid and reluctant to do anything noteworthy, then by the end he goes completely overboard in the opposite direction - and that is an understatement.

But then there are the special effects, which are eye-popping for this time period. Did you think the effects were remarkable in "King Kong"? This picture makes those look simple by comparison, and that's the real reason for my rating. The cast was fine and it's hard to quarrel with Roland Young in any movie he's in, but overall the story was a disappointment. You can 'suspend your disbelief' to a point - to approximately a half-hour from the end.