Alle lieben Pollyanna (1960)

Alle lieben Pollyanna: Directed by David Swift. With Hayley Mills, Jane Wyman, Richard Egan, Karl Malden. A young girl comes to an embittered town and confronts its attitude with her determination to see the best in life.

“Itu0026#39;s not to be confused with the Olga Kurylenko / Gary Oldman 2019 movie of the same title. But with a fresh Berlin current-day Russian spy scandal in the news this week, seeing the cold war spy drama u0026quot;The Courieru0026quot; is a timely thing to do.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003ePositives:nu003culu003eu003cliu003eBenedict Cumberbatch is outstandingly good in this. He could have been born to play the slightly bemused English gentlemen of the time. All golf, tweed suits and gentlemenu0026#39;s clubs. No spoilers, but there is a physical transformation as well thatu0026#39;s impressive to observe. The film would have been decidedly so-so I think without that core central performance.u003c/liu003eu003c/ulu003eu003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu003culu003eu003cliu003eThe film is based on a true story. As someone who was born in 1961, itu0026#39;s a good reminder to count our blessings that you, me and everyone else are still around to live our lives at all. The world was on the brink of a precipice and learning the story of Wynneu0026#39;s part in this was insightful history.u003c/liu003eu003c/ulu003eu003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu003culu003eu003cliu003eThereu0026#39;s a nice catchy Russian-themed score by Abel Korzeniowski.u003c/liu003eu003c/ulu003eu003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNegatives:nu003culu003eu003cliu003eIu0026#39;m a big fan of Jessie Buckley. Really, I am. And to be fair to her, her performance is really good. I particularly liked a scene where she dismissed on the doorstep a local busybody. But I just didnu0026#39;t see her as Wynneu0026#39;s pearl-neckless-wearing wife in this part. Perhaps the problem is that although thereu0026#39;s a 13 year age gap between the leads, I always imagine Buckley as being much younger that her 31 years. For whatever reason, the casting didnu0026#39;t work for me.u003c/liu003eu003c/ulu003eu003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSummary Thoughts on u0026quot;The Courieru0026quot;: As a true-life spy story, the movie is interesting and Cumberbatchu0026#39;s performance is brilliant. But I canu0026#39;t say that I was 100% grabbed by it. While having a few moments of high drama and tension – particularly one on a plane – I never felt that to be maintained for enough of the movie. Director Dominic Cooke has a limited filmography (with the Saoirse Ronan movie u0026quot;On Chesil Beachu0026quot; being his only other feature) and writer Tom Ou0026#39;Connor is the guy behind the more flippant u0026quot;Hitmanu0026#39;s Bodyguardu0026quot; films. Perhaps a more experienced writer/director team would have elevated this to a higher level.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo itu0026#39;s eminently watchable but not memorable. And so a marginal hit in my book.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e(For the full graphical review, please check out onemannsmovies on the web, Facebook and Tiktok. Thanks.)”