Most of the time, this manages to be as charmingly cheery as its eponymous hero. The extended battles around the inn with Uncle Jim that form the kind-of climax of a film that otherwise meanders pleasantly do drag a bit, but their mock-heroic point is well-taken, and John Mills is a perfect fit for the character of Polly, this Edwardian lower middle class hero who simply refuses to try hard and get on. This was Anthony Pelissier’s first film — he wrote the screenplay, too — but you wonder what happened to his career: a string of films to the mid-fifties, and then nothing (he died in 1988).
by Ian Johnston | Source: VHS
27 May 2008 12:18 PM | Submit Comment