Customer Reviews

The Man Who Could Work Miracles

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"The Man Who Could Work Miracles" is a marvelous humorous fantasy the screenplay of which was both written by and based on a short story by the great early science fiction writer H. G. Wells of "Time Machine" and "The War of the Worlds" fame.

"Miracles" tells of a Mr. Fotheringay, a simple dry goods clerk in early 20th England who is given the power to work miracles by a god who wants to see what use he will make of it. Starring Roland Young (best known in this country as the original "Cosmo Topper" in the film "Topper." The film is highly entertaining as it depicts Mr. Fotheringay's adventures and also raises some genuine moral and philosophical issues about how power should be used and its limits. The FILM is highly recommended.

On the other hand, this is a lousy transfer of the film to DVD, blurry and with a constant annoying flicker. True, the film is nearly 70 years old, but I have a transfer that I made from a laserdisc copy I owned to a DVD-R which is still far superior in quality to this one. In this case, the name of the publisher "Cheezy Flicks" is, I'm afraid, merely a case of truth in advertising!

As an atheist, I don't believe in miracles. But that did not stop me from enjoying this movie immensely. For one thing, his power is granted by one of three gods who talk it over in space before he is given his power. For another, he was chosen at random, had not requested ("prayed for") the power, and only learns he has it by accident.

One of the things I liked about it is that his miracles have consequences. They change things he does not intend as well as things he does. It's funny, really funny, but it is also thought-provoking.

Don't be deterred by Cheezy Flicks' name or checkered reputation-- the picture and audio quality of this charming little British fable are fine; in fact, considering it's an inexpensive public-domain print, I would rate this release of 'The Man Who Could Work Miracles' good to very good. As for the film, Wells' message (as you might expect) does get heavy-handed at times, but thanks to Roland Young's expert performance as the meek everyman endowed with temporary omnipotence, a brisk script and a slate of top-notch supporting players (the most memorable being Ralph Richardson as pie-eyed Colonel Winstanley), the proceedings are kept mainly buoyant. 3 1/2 stars each for presentation and content.

The Man Who Could Work Miracles was a spectacular fantasy hit in the 1930's .I have looked forward to its release on DVD but the name of this production company is very off-putting and I find it difficult to believe any adult would purchase anything from a company with that name.