Pollyanna (1960)

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:

Orphanage | Tree | Clothes | Dysfunctional Family | Accident

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
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
Jenny Egan	...	Mildred Snow

Runtime:

134 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (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:

Patty Duke auditioned for the plum part of Pollyanna.

Goofs:

Plot holes: Aunt Polly's entire staff knows that Pollyanna can't come to the bazaar, motivating the cook to bake dozens of cakes to sell, yet when she sneaks out the window and shows up, they all tell her to hurry up and put on her costume so she can be part of the flag, as if they were expecting her to show up despite being forbidden by her Aunt.

Quotes:

Mrs. Paul Ford: [finding Reverend Ford, head bowed, on his knees in prayer] Paul? Are you alright?
Reverend Ford: Nobody owns a church, no one.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Age of Believing: The Disney Live Action Classics (2008) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Pollyanna's Song

My First Movie

My parents told me this was the very first movie they took me to see, at a drive-in yet! And what a flick to start with! This super-hit for Disney is kind of like MAME for kids, and surprisingly enough it works, due to the all-around charisma of the cast, and the wonderful small town setting. Uncle Walt sure knew what he was doing when he snatched little Hayley Mills from father John and propped her up in the title role: walking around with her shiny pigtails and her drippy milk mustache, she simply shouts fertility, and the promise of the future. Disney favorite Kevin Corcoran is fine as Polly's mischievous pal. Preacher Karl Malden gives a creepy hellfire sermon, sure to scare the kids in the audience, as well as the kids in the film. Then there's a creepy old neighbor (Menjou) who supposedly keeps kids as slaves in his rat-filled basement! Polly sets the guy straight, though; in fact, precocious Polly has meaningful encounters with all the adult male authority figures in town, and subsequently becomes fixated on the machinations of prisms and politics. Then there's the evocative night carnival, at which Polly sings "America, the Beautiful", wrapped up in the flag! There is of course, the obligatory traumatic near-death experience, but all ends well. This fun omnibus of a film fully expresses Disney's interest with small-town America as cultural and sociological experiment, a venture which began with Disneyland and hasn't ended yet!