Pollyanna is a 1960 American comedy-drama film starring child actress Hayley Mills, Jane Wyman, Karl Malden, and Richard Egan in a story about a cheerful orphan changing the outlook of a small town.

Pollyanna is a very cheerful, talkative, and radically optimistic youngster who focuses on the goodness of life and always finds something to be glad about, no matter what the situation is.

In doing so, Pollyanna's positive outlook on everything results in her making a wide variety of friends in the community, including the hypochondriac and grouchy Mrs.

When the citizens want a derelict orphanage razed and rebuilt, Aunt Polly opposes the idea, arguing that her father donated the building to the town, and it is an important landmark as such.

A group of citizens led by Aunt Polly's ex-boyfriend Dr. Edmond Chilton tries to persuade the town's minister Rev.

Ford is reminded of the truth of that statement when Pollyanna delivers a note from Aunt Polly with recommendations to his sermon content.

This lesson is reinforced when Pollyanna shows Ford a locket from her late father, inscribed with a quote from Abraham Lincoln reading, "If you go around looking for the bad in people, you will surely find it."

On the evening of the carnival, Pollyanna is locked in her attic bedroom by Aunt Polly but is "rescued" by playmate and fellow orphan Jimmy Bean, who reminds her that she will lead "America the Beautiful" at the high point of the event.

Pollyanna's spirit gradually returns to its usual hopefulness and love of life, and she also learns that Jimmy has been adopted by Mr. Pendergast.

Disney announced in June 1959 that he would make the film with Hayley Mills, Jane Wyman, and Karl Malden, and David Swift as screenwriter and director.

He watched the film to see the most recent performance by her father, John Mills, who was to star in the studio's Swiss Family Robinson.

"[6] Swift also decided to remove a key plot point of the book, where Pollyanna was hit by a car and had to learn how to walk.

[8] Jerry Griswold wrote in The New York Times on October 25, 1987: "An attempt was made to resuscitate Pollyanna in 1960 when Walt Disney released a movie based on the book.

Time, Newsweek, and other major reviewers agreed that such an enterprise promised to be a disaster – a tearjerker of a story presented by the master of schmaltz; what surprised the critics (their opinions were unanimous) was that it was his best live-action film ever.

Disney was selling photo lockets as part of a merchandise promotion, with the quote claiming to be from Abraham Lincoln on them: "If you look for the bad in mankind expecting to find it, you surely will".

Director and screenwriter David Swift discovered the necklace in a gift shop while on vacation with his family and called the studio to have the item recalled immediately, as it was not a quote from Lincoln, but actually a paraphrasing of a line from Eleanor Porter's original 1913 novel written for the film.