Storyline
Pollyanna Whittier goes to live with her wealthy but bitter aunt after the tragic death of her father. Pollyanna shares a game her father taught her -- the 'Glad Game' -- in which everyone can find a silver lining in even the darkest cloud, and her sunny nature, good humor and determination to look on the bright side of life prove to have an astonishing effect on those around her. With the help of her orphaned friend, Jimmy Bean, she casts her spell on the grumpiest townsfolk of Beldingsville -- including the cynical shut-in Mrs. Snow, the morose millionaire Mr. Pendleton and the enigmatic Dr. Chilton. And Pollyanna masterminds the romance between her Aunt's maid, Nancy, and the handyman, Tim. It is only Aunt Polly, who cannot bring herself to embrace Pollyanna's innocence and joy. But all is not straightforward in Pollyanna's war against pessimism, since she must overcome a personal tragedy that threatens to banish "glad" from her vocabulary forever.
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Peter McGinn
September 12, 2020
8 / 10
It seems every forty years or so, someone makes a new film version of this children’s classic novel. Mary Pickford did it silently in 1920, Walt Disney applied star power in 1960, and now here we have this PBS Masterpiece Theater version.
Both Disney and this adaptation made changes to the story from the novel, though in different ways from each other and nothing distressing. This version seems less dramatic, which allows newcomer actress Georgina Terry to shine as much as standout child actress Hayley Mills did in the earlier version.
Although this version changes the time period and moves the location away from New England, in other ways it remains closer to the book than the Disney version. It reflects the intention of the book, to show how the optimism and joy for living by a child can infect an entire town and improve its collective mood. Any Rand would not have approved of the selfless attitude many of the characters. The ending is slightly more conclusive and also uses most of the cast, but in a wedding scene not specifically described in the book. And not the wedding I expected to see. All in all it is a satisfying film, sentimental without being overdone.
