Film Review
Immediately after their first collaboration on
Things
to Come (1936) producer Alexander Korda and visionary writer
H.G. Wells teamed up so that Wells could subject cinema audiences to
another spirited bout of well-intentioned sermonising. If Wells
had had his way
The Man Who Could
Work Miracles would have been little more than a dry political
tract, with the writer using cinema as just another platform from which
to vent his increasing frustration with the way the world was
going. Korda may have been a fervent admirer of Wells but he also
had sufficient business sense to prevent him from making a film that no
one would want to see. Under Lothar Mendes' direction, and after
several substantial re-writes of Wells's original screenplay, the film
ended up as a quaint little comedy - it's far less memorable than
Things to Come, but more fun to
watch.
Given its premise, it's surprising that
The Man Who Could Work Miracles
isn't a great deal funnier than it is. (Just imagine how
hilarious it might have been if the Marx Brothers had been
involved.) There are some delightfully funny moments along the
way, such as the stand-out sequence where a belligerent army man (Ralph
Richardson, looking scarily like Graham Chapman's colonel in
Monty Python's Flying Circus)
suffers the indignity of having his prized weapons turned into
ploughshares, but opportunities for rip-roaring comedy are carelessly
missed as the plot wends its course towards a totally predictable
outcome.
Wells's concerns about the future of mankind are succinctly expressed
but for anyone familiar with the writer's endless tirades against
militarism and power getting in the wrong hands the film offers nothing
new.
The Man Who Could Work
Miracles was not a success when it was first released and it has
languished in comparative obscurity since. On the plus side, the
special effects are impressive for a film of this era and there are
some enjoyably batty performances (from the likes of Ernest Thesiger
and Ralph Richardson). However, endowed with Wells's pessimistic
assessment of human nature, which basically asserts that we are a race
of congenitally selfish, morally vacuous heathens who are bound to wipe
ourselves out at some point, it's a pretty grim kind of comedy, the
kind that is only grudgingly funny. As a quirky morality play on
the dangers of absolute power it is, however, surprisingly effective.
© James Travers 2014
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Three gods looking down on planet Earth mock the inability of its puny
inhabitants to improve their lot. Believing that mankind is
capable of better, one of the gods endows one randomly selected
individual with the ability to perform miracles. The individual
in question is George McWhirter Fotheringay, a modest draper's
assistant. At first, Fotheringay does not know what to do with
his newfound power. His employer, Major Grigsby, offers to make
him a partner in the firm if he will perform miracles to the company's
advantage. A preacher, Silas Maydig, insists that Fotheringay
must only perform miracles that will improve the lot of mankind, such
as abolishing war and disease. Colonel Winstanley is outraged
when, at Maydig's prompting, Fotheringay transforms his exhibition of
swords into agricultural instruments, so outraged that he sets out to
kill the miracle worker. Realising that everyone is trying to use
his powers for their own advantage, Fotheringay makes up his mind to
change the world to how he would like it to be - with disastrous
consequences...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.