‘The History of Mr Polly’ is a book I well remember us reading at school all those years ago and it was one I liked but it was quite a lot of years before I actually saw this 1949 films adaptation which was superb.

It was made at Denham – in fact the idyllic Pub by the water was constructed in the grounds of Denham Film Studios down towards the River Colne and lakes and it looked just perfect and eventually gave Mr Polly the life that he wanted.

However before he gets there, there is one episode in his life that I just love and that is when on a cycle ride he meets and befriends Christabel – a teenage girl at a College that he passes. It is really rather sweet and innocent but in his mind he sees this girl as the personification of all that he has dreamed about

These lovely summer time shots from scenes when Mr Polly is just meandering around the countryside and loving it

He takes this country lane

BELOW he stops here – a beautiful Studio set at Denham, and meets the young girl of his dreams

This little area is wonderfully re-created in the studio

ABOVE Mr Polly realises that he has found somewhere magical

ABOVE – He just sits and takes in the tranquillity

This teenage girl sees him from her vantage point sitting on the College wall. Mr Polly chats with her and quite quickly he becomes hooked on her beauty

He rises to his feet to talk more

History of Mr Polly

H sees her as a damsel and he sees himself as a Knight in Shining Armour – and he describes this to her

Christabel herself ( the lovely Sally Anne Howes ) seems to enjoy the chat and plays along with his dream

Their conversation just flows so easily

They finish the chat when she has to go and he pleads to see her again

Sally Anne Howes BELOW who would be 19 when she played this part – she played it beautifully

Sally Anne Howes

John Mills as Mr Polly

She looks so excited and his is transfixed

History of Mr Polly

Christabel has to leave and Mr Polly is loving every minute

History of Mr Polly

On his next visit a few days later, he carves her name on a tree

and she re-appears on the wall

History of Mr Polly

She holds out her hand so that he can kiss it which he does

He the hears schoolgirl giggling over the wall and gets up to see two more girls who had been listening in

ABOVE and BELOW – The dis-heartened and shattered Mr Polly thinks that he has made a fool of himself and trudges back to his bicycle – a forlorn character

You just couldn’t help yourself feeling so sorry for him. He then on a whim sets off to see his cousins and eventually goes for a walk in the park with Miriam. They sit on a park bench together and he turns round and sees Christabel and her friends there and immediately he turns and proposes to Miriam – I can’t think why but it is another one of his wrong turns in life. We can all see in his face that marriage to Miriam is not what he wants. So begins an unhappy chapter for him

Back to later scenes and the Studio set for the Inn on the banks of the river – built in the grounds of Denham Film Studios – where Mr Polly eventually after some adventures find the happiness and tranquillity that he has searched for all his life

It looks so pretty

It leaves me wondering though – What happened to Christabel – that would make another good story

When Sally Anne Howes played this role, although only a teenager she had been in some classic films including the great ‘Dead of Night’ and also ‘Halfway House’, ‘Pink String and Ceiling Wax’ ‘Nicholas Nickleby’ and ‘Anna Karenina’ with Vivien Leigh