short story of the same name. Wells worked on the adaptation, revising the plot to reflect his
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
frustrations with the British upper class and the growing threats of
communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
and
fascism
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
in Europe.
Plot
The film begins in the celestial realms, with three superhuman entities — gods, or perhaps angels — regarding the planet Earth. Despairing of these "animals" that one of them continues to care about, the other two dare him to conduct an experiment to see if such lesser creatures can handle the kind of power over reality that might let them deserve to reach the stars. As the experiment's only limit, the Celestials will allow no control over a person's free will, as decreed by their master (possibly God). Choosing a human subject at random, they bestow miraculous powers just short of their own upon George Fotheringay, an English middle-class haberdasher's assistant.
In a pub, Fotheringay argues with his friends about miracles and their impossibility. He calls upon his "will" to force a change and inadvertently causes a miracle; he makes an oil lamp turn upside down without anyone touching it and with the flame burning steadily downward. At home, he performs the same trick with a candle and moves on to feats such as lifting his table, lifting his bed, enlarging a candle extinguisher to a brightly painted cone and making a kitten appear under it and turning his bed into a cornucopia of fruits and bunnies.
Fotheringay performs his miracles at the clothing store where he works, such as making someone's
freckle
Freckles are clusters of concentrated melaninized cells which are most easily visible on people with a fair complexion. Freckles do not have an increased number of the melanin-producing cells, or melanocytes, but instead have melanocytes that ...
s vanish. When he curses a policeman to hell, the man finds himself surrounded by flames and smoke. Fotheringay, horrified at his unintended action, has the cop relocated to
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
.
Because Fotheringay cannot decide how to use his newfound powers, he contacts local
vicar
A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...
Mr. Maydig, who concocts a plan to have Fotheringay abolish famine, plague, war, poverty and the ruling class. Fotheringay plays a miraculous trick on Colonel Winstanley, but when Winstanley hears about Fotheringay, he is baffled and threatened by the vicar's plans. Winstanley and his mates try to shoot Fotheringay, but Fotheringay makes himself magically invulnerable.
Realizing that others, including the vicar, wish to exploit him for their own ends, Fotheringay decides not to carry out the vicar's plan. Instead, he creates an old-fashioned kingdom in which he is the centre of the universe. In a fit of reckless pomposity, he changes the Colonel's house into a spectacular palace of gold and marble. He summons many people to his palace, where he dresses like a king and appoints the girl whom he loves as queen. He commands the leaders of the world to create a
utopia
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...
, free of greed, war, plague, famine, jealousy and toil. Maydig begs Fotheringay to wait until the following day, so Fotheringay buys some time by stopping the Earth's rotation. However, this causes all living creatures and objects to whirl off the Earth's surface. Civilisation and all life other than Fotheringay are obliterated as everything in the world flies through the air and is dashed to pieces.
The desperate and contrite Fotheringay calls on his powers one last time to return the world to its state before he had entered the pub the day before, willing away his power to work miracles. He appears again in the pub, but when he tries the lamp trick, he fails.
One of the Celestials remarks that all that came of the experiment was "negativism, lust and vindictive indignation," which is all that humans have. The giver of power defends that humans were only apes yesterday and need time to grow up, and that there is a spark of indignation against wrongness in the human heart. The giver of power decides to give humanity power slowly and gradually, allowing wisdom and maturity to keep pace. The others think that the end result will be the same but are dared to return years later to see for themselves.
Cast
*
Roland Young
Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...
as George Worthington Fotheringay
*
Ralph Richardson
Sir Ralph David Richardson (19 December 1902 – 10 October 1983) was an English actor who, with John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier, was one of the trinity of male actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. He wo ...
as Colonel Winstanley
*
Edward Chapman as Major Grigsby
*
Ernest Thesiger
Ernest Frederic Graham Thesiger, CBE (15 January 1879 – 14 January 1961) was an English stage and film actor. He is noted for his performance as Doctor Septimus Pretorius in James Whale's film ''Bride of Frankenstein'' (1935).
Biography
E ...
as Mr. Maydig
*
Joan Gardner as Ada Price
*
Sophie Stewart
Sophie Stewart (5 March 1908 – 6 June 1977) was a British actress of stage and screen.
Biography
She was born as Sophia Lyal Drummond Stewart in Crieff, Perthshire, Scotland in March 1908 and died in June 1977 at the age of 69, in Cup ...
as Maggie Hooper
*Robert Cochran as Bill Stoker
*
Lady Tree
Helen Maud Holt (5 October 1863 – 7 August 1937), professionally known as Mrs Beerbohm Tree and later Lady Tree, was an English actress. She was the wife of the actor Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and the mother of Viola Tree, Felicity Tree and Ir ...
as Mr. Grigsby's Housekeeper
*
Laurence Hanray
Laurence Hanray ( Lawrence Henry Jacobs; 16 May 1874 – 28 November 1947), sometimes credited as Lawrence Hanray, was a British film and theatre actor born in London, England. He is also credited as the author of several plays and music hall s ...
as Mr. Bamfylde, London & Essex Bank
*
George Zucco
George Zucco (11 January 1886 – 27 May 1960) was a British character actor who appeared in plays and 96 films, mostly American-made, during a career spanning over two decades, from the 1920s to 1951. In his films, he often played a suave ...
as Moody, Colonel Winstanley's Butler
*
Wallace Lupino
Wallace Lupino (23 January 1898 – 11 October 1961) was a British-born stage and film actor who was a member of the Lupino family. He appeared in 63 films between 1918 and 1945, most often with his older brother, Lupino Lane. He was born i ...
as Police Constable Winch (billed as Wally Lupino)
*
Joan Hickson
Joan Bogle Hickson, OBE (5 August 1906 – 17 October 1998) was an English actress of theatre, film and television. She was known for her role as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the television series ''Miss Marple''. She also narrated a number ...
as Effie Brickman
*
Wally Patch
Walter Sydney Vinnicombe (26 September 1888 – 27 October 1970) was an English actor and comedian. He worked in film, television and theatre.
Biography
Vinnicombe was born in Willesden, Middlesex and began working on the music hall stages in ...
as Police Superintendent Smithelle
*
Mark Daly as Toddy Beamish
*
Ivan Brandt
Ivan Brandt (1903–1972) was a British stage and film actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as ...
as Player (a god)
*
George Sanders
George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British actor and singer whose career spanned over 40 years. His heavy, upper-class English accent and smooth, bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous chara ...
as Indifference (a god)
*
Torin Thatcher
Torin Herbert Erskine Thatcher (15 January 1905 – 4 March 1981) was a British actor who was noted for his flashy portrayals of screen villains.
Personal life
Thatcher was born in Bombay, British India, to British parents, Torin James Blair T ...
as Observer (a god)
Reception
In ''
The Spectator
''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world.
It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...
'' in 1936,
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...
summarized the film as "a muddle" and commented that "the whole entertainment, sometimes fake poetry, sometimes unsuccessful comedy, sometimes farce, sometimes sociological discussion,
swithout a spark of creative talent or a trace of film ability." Greene criticized the direction and production as "shocking
ith
The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometres, is the longest line of crags in North Germany.
Geography
Location
The Ith is immediatel ...
slowness, vulgarity,
ndover-emphasis," the casting and characterization as "quite the wrong type," the special effects as "grimly repetitive,
..dull and unconvincing and
pt todestroy illusion" and Wells' original story as "pretentious."
Writing in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'',
Frank Nugent
Frank Stanley Nugent (May 27, 1908 – December 29, 1965) was an American screenwriter, journalist, and film reviewer, who wrote 21 film scripts, 11 for director John Ford. He wrote almost a thousand reviews for ''The New York Times'' before lea ...
noted "a delightfully humorous fantasy with an undertone of sober Wellsian philosophy," praising Roland Young's performance as having "described the character perfectly, drawing him as a fumbling little man with a rabbity soul, a limited imagination and other characteristic human frailties and virtues" and concluding that "Lothar Mendes's direction has achieved a sound balance between the jocund and the profound. Mr. Wells, in brief, is doing well in his new medium."
See also
* ''
Things to Come''
References
External links
*
*
*
*
''The Man Who Could Work Miracles'':short story by H. G. Wells
Streaming audio
''The Man Who Could Work Miracles''on
Escape
Escape or Escaping may refer to:
Computing
* Escape character, in computing and telecommunication, a character which signifies that what follows takes an alternative interpretation
** Escape sequence, a series of characters used to trigger some so ...
: 31 December 1950
''The Man Who Could Work Miracles''on Theatre Royal: 16 June 1954
''The Man Who Could Work Miracles''on
CBS Radio Mystery Theater
''CBS Radio Mystery Theater'' (a.k.a. ''Radio Mystery Theater'' and ''Mystery Theater'', sometimes abbreviated as ''CBSRMT'') is a radio drama series created by Himan Brown that was broadcast on CBS Radio Network affiliates from 1974 to 1982, a ...
: 26 August 1976
{{DEFAULTSORT:Man Who Could Work Miracles, The
1937 films
1930s fantasy comedy films
British fantasy comedy films
British black-and-white films
Films about wish fulfillment
Films based on science fiction short stories
Films based on works by H. G. Wells
London Films films
Films directed by Lothar Mendes
Films produced by Alexander Korda
Films with screenplays by H. G. Wells
1937 comedy films
1930s English-language films
1930s British films