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, it helps snap Mrs. Snow out of her finalist 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, the freeing of Reverend Ford of himself from Aunt Polly’s dictates, and the union of Aunt Polly’s maid (Nancy Olson) with her sweetheart (James Drury).

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

On the morning before his twelfth birthday, Alexander wakes up to find gum in his hair, and cuts it out with a pair of scissors. Then, he gets an email about Phillip Parker’s expensive birthday being on the same day as his. He tells his family that he couldn’t compete, but they don’t listen. On his way to school, a boy is seen photo-shopping Alexander’s face onto the bodies of women in photos, and then posting them online.

By the time he got to school, not only is he humiliated, but he learns that his best friend Paul is going to Phillip’s party. He tries to ask his school crush Becky Gibson, but she refuses as well. Afterwards, Alexander accidentally burns down the periodic table with her notebook and gets blamed for it. While waiting for a long time outside of school, Alexander is put in charge of Melvin, the class guinea pig.

Later that night, Alexander tries to talk to Anthony about his bad luck. While Alexander thinks that Anthony loved him as a brother, Anthony is actually talking to Celia on the phone. While Anthony is talking to Alexander, Celia, thinking that Anthony is trash-talking to her, then abruptly hangs up, and Alexander hears Anthony calling him an “idiot brother.” 

At midnight, Alexander makes himself a birthday sundae and tells Melvin he wishes that his family would see what it was like to have a “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.”

The next day, Alexander is the first one to wake up. While heading down the hallway, he sees Emily having a cold, and then wakes up his parents, who were oversleeping. As Alexander leaves the bathroom, Anthony comes in, and reacts in horror when he looks in the mirror and sees a zit on his forehead.

At school, Alexander hears from Paul that Phillip’s birthday party is cancelled, as Phillip has caught the chicken pox (which is shown in a picture that Paul got in a text from Phillip, which he shows Alexander on his phone). This implies that Alexander’s party was back on. (As Paul puts it: “His pox is your gain.”) Becky even mentions showing up. Alexander even hears that Becky’s brother Elliot Gibson, the boy who made the mean photoshops about him, had gotten suspended.

Throughout the day, while attempting to convince his family that their bad luck was his fault, Alexander learns that Trevor got green ink all over his face. Alexander and his family later see Anthony accidentally trashing their van, which resulted in failing his driving test. Emily gets drunk because of drinking too much cough medicine, and ruins the Peter Pan play as a result.

By the time the Coopers picked Celia up for the prom, Alexander and most of his family play music by using their fists and their mouths. At a Japanese restaurant, he sees his father catching food into his mouth eight times in a row, and then accidentally set his sleeves on fire (which he put out using water from a lobster tank). While Ben walked out, feeling disappointed (and trying to hide it), Alexander follows, along with the rest of the family. After realizing that they got to spend the worst day together, they begin kicking trash cans around.

After going home, they discover a vicious lizard in the living room. In the backyard, Alexander sees his parents had rented an Australian petting zoo for his birthday party. During the party, he learns that Paul and Becky have shown up. 

During the credits, they are seen pretending to surf.

Tom and Huck: My Thoughts

In my mind, the 1995 Disney film Tom and Huck is very awesome, as well as very inspiring, especially for a fanfiction writer like myself, of course.

If there was one scene I wish had been in Tom and Huck, it would be this one:

Becky (Rachael Leigh Cook) gets separated from Tom (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) in the caves. Unfortunately for her, she runs into Injun Joe (Eric Schweig), who abducts her. As a result, Tom faces a dilemma: save Becky or keep looking for Murrell’s lost treasure.

Tom rescuing Becky was an important plot in the Nintendo video game “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” where Tom dreams that he has to rescue Becky from Injun Joe’s clutches, as well as in “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: The Musical”, where Injun Joe grabs Becky after Tom leaves her alone for a moment in McDougal’s Cave, where they have gotten lost.

I also wish they had made a sequel to Tom and Huck; in the sequel, Becky is haunted by visions of Injun Joe, which causes her to fear for her life. So, she enlists the help of Tom and Huck in order to get rid of the visions.

Anyway, I also like this speech given by Judge Thatcher (Charles Rocket) to the group of men around him:

“Gentlemen, my daughter Rebecca and Tom Sawyer are both lost in the caves, and Injun Joe has come back to take his revenge on Tom. Now be on your guard. Injun Joe has already killed twice. The sheriff and I believe that he will not hesitate to kill again.”

From my perspective, that speech is very awesome, as well as very brilliant and creative, too.