This was another great TV made film drama (for ITV), if you liked Goodnight Mister Tom or Heartless, then you'll like this story based on the H.G. Wells classic novel. Set in Victorian England, it starts with the defining middle part, where the leading man, Alfred Polly (a well cast Lee Evans) plans suicide, and then we see the past that led him there. He started out as an innocent boy with ambitions, then as he got older he fancied a girl on a brick wall, but he gives this up to marry a girl he is not really in love with, Miriam Larkins (Anne-Marie Duff). When he knows the marriage is failing, and he is seen as a bit of a joke, he decides to set fire to his new shop and cut his neck, but the twist is that he fails to go with the slash and escapes the fire. Also, saving his neighbour shop owner's wife, he is seen as a hero. After this, he decides to run away from his marriage to find real happiness. Far from home, he stumbles upon an idyllic waterside inn, run by delightful landlady Nancy (Julie Graham) and is given work. His new life seems perfect, until local thug Jim (Richard Coyle) shows up and tells him to shove off, but will he stand up to him? There is a happy ending though, where are ridding of Jim, and saying a goodbye to widow Miriam (when she thought he was dead), he finds a good life. Also starring Roger Lloyd Pack as Johnson and Trevor Cooper as Rumbold. Very good!
4 Reviews
Good but the book is better
anniejr6 October 2008
I have just finished watching HOMP and I was rather disappointed. I have read the book several times. The movie is faithful to the book in some respects (some of the dialog is verbatim) but I think if you haven't read the book you miss much of the meaning of the dialog in the movie. It's almost like getting a summary of the book rather than a dramatization. One of the things that was a major change was the romantic relationship between Polly and the owner of the Potwell Inn. Maybe I expected too much from an hour and a half movie. I did enjoy it though and thought the acting was well done. I am looking forward to seeing the John Mills version.
A Good Remake of a Classic
TheJiveMaster18 January 2008
By 2007, the film version of the History of Mr Polly was dated. The black and white film had not aged well and the occasional television performances were not of a high visual quality.
Therefore praise goes to ITV for remaking this classic HG Wells story for the small screen. Often remakes for the big screen fail to impress. By producing this version which remained faithful to the book and the original film and by screening it on a Sunday evening, ITV scored a huge success.
The cast is of a very high quality with Lee Evans adding to his repertoire of vexed characters. All the performances were strong and the pace of acting and story telling was more appealing to a 21st century audience.
Therefore praise goes to ITV for remaking this classic HG Wells story for the small screen. Often remakes for the big screen fail to impress. By producing this version which remained faithful to the book and the original film and by screening it on a Sunday evening, ITV scored a huge success.
The cast is of a very high quality with Lee Evans adding to his repertoire of vexed characters. All the performances were strong and the pace of acting and story telling was more appealing to a 21st century audience.
More pure Folly than Polly!
briand-198-15403226 October 2018
This latest version of The History of Mr Polly by HG Wells is total dross! It lacks real atmosphere and any sort of enthusiasm from the actors - who, for me, were totally miscast. A complete waste of time and money. Enjoy reading the book, and watch the John Mills movie version which Does still stands the test of time.
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