As my first foray into the work of the ever-renown Mary Pickford (labeled as “the most popular star in screen history” by film historian Ethan Katz), and considering it was in tune with my 1920 streak, I decided to check out Paul Powell’s Pollyanna. While it’s probably better known by its 1960 remake by Walt Disney Studios, the one aspect I’m sure that film was missing was the glee and charm of Mary Pickford. While she’s not as well-known to me as she is to most, she certainly kept my attention throughout the entire film thanks to her vibrantly sweet performance.
Even though she was in her late twenties during the making of this film, Pickford plays the young recently-orphaned titular Pollyanna who goes to live with her cheerless Aunt Polly after her father passes away and she has no other relatives.
As expected, their personalities clash to create much conflict though Pollyanna becomes a shining symbol for all those in the town to live up to as she makes many friends during her stay. As the title cards state far too many times over during the film, Pollyanna likes to play the “Glad Game” and is “glad” about this, “glad” about that, and it brightens everyone’s day.
I would say it’s the cynic in me that finds that level of consistent optimism to be incredibly aggravating – probably akin to her miserable Aunt Polly – but it really just isn’t realistic to me for someone to audibly talk about the optimism they could find in each and every situation. That being said, Mary Pickford certainly helps to sell such a cheesy, corny performance that actually manages to work to make even the mean, ol’ Grinch grow a heart three sizes bigger. From the opening scene alone, as Pollyanna talks with her father on his deathbed, she perfectly blends the optimism of her character with the real emotion associated with losing a loved one.
Seeing as how I’m a pretty sentimental individual, I certainly hoped the rest of the film would offer the same amount of tear-jerker scenes. Instead, what I received was far too many unrealistic scenarios of this Christ-like child spreading love far and wide and affecting all the grumpy people of the town, turning them into lively, loving beings. Most of the time, I wouldn’t mind, but maybe it was just a film made for the audience of its time (as is common knowledge, the Great Depression was fast approaching during the decade of the 1920s) that attempted to make people smile even during the roughest of times. Watching today in 2016, however, offers very little impact but a feeling that the film was unrealistic and overly corny (not to mention convenient, with her next-door neighbor knowing her mother quite intimately).
The one shining light, though, definitely has to be Mary Pickford’s delightful performance that must have certainly been an inspiration for Amy Adam’s equally charming turn in Disney’s 2007 princess/live-action hybrid film Enchanted. Though Pickford’s height and ageless beauty certainly made her able to play child roles long past her transition into adulthood (almost like Ellen Page in the 2000s), it worked for this film in particular and certainly helped establish her as a profitable and often-revered name in the film industry. Hopefully the rest of her filmography demonstrated a bit more inspired filmmaking than this one. For what it’s worth, though, she nailed the performance here so it wasn’t all that bad.
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