TV Movie Review: The Little Match Girl 1987 Best Quality- Full Movie

This is a made for TV version of the Little Match Girl.  It strays pretty far from the original Hans Christian Anderson story.  In this version Keshia Knight Pullman portrays the Little match girl, who is not only down on her luck, but also portrayed as an angel type character.  She comes to intervene with a family where the father and son are long split as the son married a Catholic girl and they clash politically.  William Daniels portrays the father, who is a realtor magnate and has decided to sell some of his property, resulting in evictions of many tenants.  The police chief (John Rhys-Davis) takes this further, giving people only a week to move out, during the Christmas season.  The people are upset.  The son (Jim Metzler), a reporter,  is arrested on Christmas eve.  When his wife goes to get him from jail, our little match girl is left with their toddler to babysit.  She decides to take him to grandfather's house.  And so starts a series of events, which very likely will backfire.  The angry tenants march on the home of the father, and the situation is tense.  Father refuses to admit anyone.  This includes his son, but when his daughter-in-law is having a baby, maybe finally his heart with soften.

Movie Review: **^Polly

Polly:  this is an musical version of the movie “Pollyanna.”  This movie has an African American twist, and the town where they live is pretty much all African American because “they” burned the bridge down between their town and the town of mostly whites across the river.  This is a made for T.V. version and presents two actors from "The Cosby Show" Keshia Knight Pulliam and Phylicia Rashad as Polly and Polly's aunt.  Much of the movie is similar in concept to “Pollyanna.”  The rich aunt is taking in her niece whose parent, missionaries were killed in an accident.  She is put way upstairs, and often made to feel less than.  The community is as well, as the aunt insists on being the person who contributes to causes etc.  However the people want to have a bizarre and raise money for an orphanage.  As part of this, it is discovered there was no “they” who burned the bridge, but it was the result of an accident, a cigar that slipped.  Everyone begins to overcome prejudice.  Polly’s aunt will not let her join the festivities.  She sneaks out the window, and falls from a tree.  This movie ends about the same place as the original “Pollyanna.”  No guarantee that she will get better, but a town grateful to her for the change that has come to them.  For the most part the musical type music misses the mark, but the sing Jazz is is very entertaining and gets you juice moving.