Pollyanna (1960)

Pollyanna (1960) is a Walt Disney Productions feature film, starring child actress Hayley Mills, Jane Wyman, Karl Malden, and Richard Egan in a story about a cheerful orphan changing the outlook of a small town. Based on the 1913 novel “Pollyanna” by Eleanor Porter, the film was written and directed by David Swift. The film marks Mills’ first of six films for Disney, and it won the actress an Academy Juvenile Award.

Pollyanna (Hayley Mills) is the 12-year-old orphaned daughter of missionaries who arrives in the fictional small town of Harrington to live with her rich aunt, Polly Harrington (Jane Wyman), early in the 1900s. Pollyanna is a cheerful, radically optimistic youngster who focuses on the goodness of life. In doing so, she makes a wide variety of friends in the community, including the hypochondriac, Mrs. Snow (Agnes Moorehead), and the acidic recluse, Mr. Pendergast (Adolphe Menjou).

After Pollyanna finally calls Mrs. Snow out on wasting all her time planning for her death when she should be enjoying life, and then runs out of the room, both Mrs. Snow and the undertaker (with whom she was having a discussion) feel terrible after seeing the look of despair on Pollyanna’s face — so much so that it helps snap Mrs. Snow out of her finality mindset.

Aunt Polly’s wealth controls the town, and when Harrington citizens want a derelict orphanage razed and rebuilt, Aunt Polly opposes the idea. The townspeople defy her by planning a carnival to raise funds for a new structure; however, because of the control Aunt Polly asserts over every facet of the town, many people feel reluctant to show their support. Aunt Polly becomes furious over what she views as their audacity, and she forbids Pollyanna to participate.

A group of citizens, led by Dr. Edmond Chilton (Richard Egan), do their best to persuade the town’s minister, Reverend Ford (Karl Malden), to publicly declare his support for the bazaar; Pollyanna also does so by reminding him that “nobody owns a church.” While conversing with Pollyanna when she delivers a note from Aunt Polly with recommendations about his sermon content, Reverend Ford is reminded of the truth in that statement.

At church the following Sunday, in defiance of Aunt Polly, the preacher declares his support for the bazaar and encourages all to attend. On the evening of the carnival, Pollyanna is coaxed out of the house by her playmate, Jimmy Bean (Kevin Corcoran), who reminds her that she will lead “America the Beautiful” at the high point of the event. With misgivings, she slips away and goes to the carnival, where she has a wonderful time. Also, after remembering Pollyanna telling her a story about how she always wanted a doll for Christmas but never got one, Mrs. Snow decides to grant Pollyanna’s wish by sneaking under the stand when Pollyanna goes to a stall (a fish-pond booth) where everyone gets a surprise toy and ensuring Pollyanna gets the doll she wanted. (This is, quite possibly, the most heartwarming defrosting of an ice queen character if there ever was one.)

After returning home, Pollyanna manages to avoid Aunt Polly by climbing the same tree to her attic bedroom (which she used to sneak out of the house). When she reaches her bedroom window, she slips and falls to the ground; she is severely injured, losing the use of her legs.

Pollyanna’s spirits sink with the calamity, jeopardizing her chances of recovery. Upon hearing that, Aunt Polly admits to Dr. Chilton, “All she wanted was love, and that’s something I never gave her.” 

Aunt Polly also feels a strong sense of sadness and guilt over her niece’s injury (as she believes it was her fault for not allowing Pollyanna to go to the carnival in the first place). When the townspeople learn of Pollyanna’s accident, they gather en masse in Aunt Polly’s house with outpourings of love. Pollyanna’s spirits gradually return to their usual hopefulness and love of life. She leaves Harrington with Aunt Polly and Dr. Chilton (who has fallen in love with Aunt Polly) for an operation in Baltimore that, it is hoped, will correct her injury.

Subplots include the return of Aunt Polly’s girlhood sweetheart, Dr. Edmond Chilton, to the town, Reverend Ford freeing himself from Aunt Polly’s dictates, and the union of Aunt Polly’s maid (Nancy Olson) with her sweetheart (James Drury).

Full House: El Problema Grande de D.J.

D.J. has good grades (six As) throughout her report card, except for in Spanish class, where she was given a ‘D’ (while Kimmy had gotten a ‘C’). Danny decides to talk to her Spanish teacher, Senorita Linda Mosley, about the grade, and D.J. thanks him for that.

When Linda comes over to the house to have a private discussion with Danny about it, it starts as a simple parent-teacher conference (with Linda showing Danny some colored flash cards with Spanish words on them, such as “el sofa” for sofa (and Danny remarks, “The sofa is ‘el sofa’? How could she get a D in this language?” and Linda replies, “Well, they’re not all that easy.”) and “perro” for dog, respectively, in the living room with the blue-and-white checkered couch. It soon ends with an unexpected burst of passion as the smitten Senorita Mosley tries to show him how to roll the double R in Spanish (after telling him the importance of the letter ‘R’ in the Spanish language), only to plant a kiss on him. When she apologizes, Danny tells her it felt nice, and Linda feels better. So they kiss a second time; however, the second kiss is ill-timed because that is when D.J. and some of her friends walk through the kitchen door and into the living room, and they take notice of it. Much to D.J.’s utter mortification, the kiss is an event that the whole school is soon buzzing about.

D.J. soon becomes a target for highly unwelcome teasing, and she is absolutely furious at her dad for making her a target for teasing (and for not getting her Spanish grade changed).

Danny apologizes to D.J. for making her a target for teasing, and then eventually gets her to admit that the more difficult the Spanish class became, the more she just gave up on it, because she thinks she is no good at it. However, Danny manages to encourage his oldest daughter that he will be proud of her for trying as hard as she can, especially in something she finds to be hard to do, and D.J. thanks him.

Meanwhile, Mr. Malatesta gives Michelle a spot in a marshmallow commercial that Joey and Jesse have been assigned to work on. Joey and Jesse groom Michelle to star in the commercial. She is to sit on a cloud, eat a marshmallow, and exclaim, “yummy in the tummy.” However, she overpractices by eating too many marshmallows before the actual filming, and as a result, Michelle is full when the camera starts rolling.

Also, Stephanie has gotten a good report card, but her teacher writes, “Stephanie is a wonderful student, but she needs to control her talking in class.” When Danny makes the mistake of telling her she has to “stop being such a little chatterbox,” she says, “So, my own family thinks I’m a chatterbox? How rude.” When Danny says, “Steph...” she interrupts him, saying, “No, no, it’s fine. From now on, this chatterbox is all locked up” before making a motion of zipping her mouth and throwing away the key. With that, Stephanie stops speaking for about three days — which makes Danny feel a little regretful.