Pollyanna

Short and Sweet. Way shorter and sweeter than any of the remakes - UK ITV did it again a couple of years ago at nearly 2 hours long with only 1 saccharine tab. It's far too short in fact, as Aunt Polly doesn't really get enough time for her character to develop properly in reaction to events caused by Pollyanna. Otoh I think Disney's was a bit too long and flat, but hey I'm hardly ever satisfied!

Pollyanna always tries to find ways of being Glad, no matter what happens. And why not, imho it's far better to be happy in this short life - if it isn't keep it to yourself! By now Mary Pickford was 27 playing 12 and was still getting away with it on screen. I know she was later properly praised for saving a lot of her classic pictures from being lost, but she really can't be thanked enough for it not only from the entertainment point of view but the historical one as well. This version of Pollyanna reflects back to us a world long dead, where you can watch and wonder what the actors and actresses would have thought of the cynical deadbeat filth that Hollywood churns out today, and whether or not they in their turn yearned too for the even simpler world of Pollyanna.

Maybe, and perhaps, this film simple and uncluttered as it is will still be available in the distant future and watched by people when every film made now is long forgotten, unknown and unwatched.

"Pollyanna" (United Artists, 1920), directed by Paul Powell, stars Mary Pickford, then age 27, playing a 12-year-old orphaned daughter of a missionary whose inextinguishable optimism brings joy and hope into the life of her new guardian, Aunt Polly (Katherine Griffith). Also featured in the cast are Wharton James and Helen Jerome-Eddy.

Enjoyable silent comedy-drama, compliments of Blackhawk Video, with organ score by Gaylord Carter, which for me is a BIG plus. This version runs 60 minutes, only 70 minutes shorter than the latter 1960 Walt Disney remake that starred Hayley Mills. I've seen both versions and enjoy them equally. As written in the opening titles, "Pollyanna" became Mary Pickford's first feature for United Artists. (For the record, American Movie Classics premiered this rarely seen gem on May 30, 2000, at 1 a.m.).

There's a difference between knowing a story will be a sure hit and the laborious hatred in composing that story into a screenplay. This was writer Frances Marion's dilemma when sitting down to pen the script for Mary Pickford's "Pollyanna." First off, calling someone a 'pollyanna' is not the most complementary term, which means a person who is wildly over-optimistic and incapable of facing the reality of a bad situation.

"We (Pickford and Frances) proceeded with the dull routine of making a picture we both thought nauseating," recalled Marion. "I hated writing it, Mary hated playing it."

But when the movie version of the 1913 Eleanor Porter book and the play it was based upon was released in January 1920, "Pollyanna" became a huge hit. This was Pickford's first United Artists-produced movie, and it made well over $1 million at the box office, an astronomical amount in those days. The national censor board and the clergy loved its wholesome message. In one memorable showing in Hartford, CT, the promotional tour of the 'glad' film garnered over one thousand children and six crippled dogs in the audience during a special matinee.

The downside for the actress, however, was because of its enormous financial success, Pickford was exiled to playing 12-year-old orphaned children for the next six years, despite being in her late 20s and aging every day. The motion picture proved to be the actress's defining picture, one that even today's movie buffs, if they had to name one film of hers, automatically recite "Pollyanna."

The story was reprised in 1960 as a Hayley Mills/Walt Disney vehicle as well as a 2003 made-for-TV version. The 1920 movies was nominated by the American Film Institute as in its 100 Most Cheerful Movies Ever Made.

"Pollyanna" was a film directed by Herr Paul Powell which starred Dame Mary Pickford. This was a faithful first adaptation for the screen of the famous and best-seller novel written by Eleanor H. Porter. It was very difficult to understand for this German Count due to the strange concepts and feelings with which this silent film deals. They include such strange subjects for the aristocracy like kindness, merriment and solidarity (thanks Gott there is also in the film evil aunties, bad weather and illness, German earthly matters that this aristocrat knows well).

Obviously such film story with human sentiments (another orphan in trouble) was perfect for Dame Pickford. This film was her first work for United Artists, that Amerikan company founded by Herr Chaplin, Herr Griffith and Herr Fairbanks together with America's sweetheart. She's a glad girl who displays her charm and good intentions to anyone at hand. The film, as the book of which was based on, was a big success in those early silent times and many film critics considered this film as one of the best in Dame Pickford's film career, a statement with which this German Count doesn't agree.

Keeping in mind those kind-hearted and innocent characters ( Dame Pickford speciality ) and the context or even the taste of the popular audience in those early times, the film it is many ways, simplistic and predictable. That's not to the mention Herr Powell's direction which is monotonous and without risks. He seems to think that with Dame Pickford's talent on the screen, that is enough for succeed. Although Dame Pickford gives her best effort, the Amerika's sweethart has better performances, more elaborated, and the most incredible thing … credible.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count is glad to be again in Teutonic humour.

Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/

If your skin will break out from too much sweetness, light and Hollywood "reality", you should skip this picture.

Mary Pickford is mostly believable as a preteen girl since the adult cast towers over her. Nice sets and costumes (though no Hollywood glamour) and a pleasant look at small town life.

This is Mary Pickford's first film for United Artists (of which she was a part owner), so it was supposed to be a safe moneymaker and Mary is cast to and plays to what sold in the past.