Review of History of Mr Polly, The

Introduction

H.G. Wells, a man predominantly known for his contribution to science fiction literature, also penned this light drama about the ups and downs in the adult life of Alfred Polly. Mr. Polly, a somewhat naïve and idealistic shop assistant, is sacked from his job and remains jobless for nearky two years. However, help arrives in the unlikely form of a sizeable inheritance following the death of his father. He is advised to invest his money in a shop but instead decides to buy a bicycle and travel the byways of the local area to meet people. Even this brings him no luck in love and so eventually agrees to marry his cousin, an arrangement that turns out badly for both of them. After fifteen years in a loveless and childless marriage, he decides that suicide is the best answer for all concerned but he can`t even do that successfully so takes to the road on his two-wheeled friend.

Video

The fullscreen transfer is far from pristine with plenty of grain, blurring and softness that makes it obvious that you`re watching an old film, from old stock, which may as well have been recorded from TV.

Audio

The DD 2.0 mono track is fairly clear and largely blemish free with little to detract from the clear dialogue or William Alwyn`s fine score.

Features

The 1980 `Tales of the Unexpected` episode of `Galloping Foxley` featuring John Mills is on the disc for the sole reason that John Mills is in it. It isn`t a great episode but I imagine that some head scratching went on at Granada as to what extra features could be included on the disc and they came up with this.

Granada also obviously had rights to the LWT shows `Sunday Sunday` and `Aspel and Company` so you get to see John Mills interviewed by an enormously coiffured Gloria Honeyford in 1986 and Michael Aspel in 1987. Both fall into the `puff piece` category as they aren`t particularly probing or revealing.

There is also an image gallery with stills from the film and publicity material.

Conclusion

The words `lighthearted` and `drama` shouldn`t sit together with any ease but they describe this film perfectly and I don`t think it would have worked at all with an actor who wasn`t in the class of John Mills and it`s to his credit that the film is an easy and enjoyable watch.

The first we see of Mr. Polly is when he is reclining in the basement of the shop in which he works, surrounded by books and reading aloud about Sir Lancelot. Polly has a tendency to speak his thoughts out loud, negating the need for narration; with most films this would seem ridiculous and annoying but Polly is the sort of man to articulate his own thoughts, is generally uncomfortable around people and has a tendency to lapse into fantasy.

This is arguably one of Mills` forgotten films as he is principally known for his roles in `Great Expectations`, `Goodbye Mr. Chips` and `Ryan`s Daughter`: this film is not even mentioned in either of the interviews in the extra features. Like `The Man in Grey`, this is a curious release as it`s not one of Mills` better known films and it`s difficult to see what market the DVD is aimed at. The only possible reason I can think of for this release is to cash in on the forthcoming remake with Lee Evans (I kid you not!) in the lead.

`The History of Mr. Polly` is the sort of film that you would see on ITV on a weekday sometime between 11am and 2pm and should really have been left for a John Mills box set.