The Man Who Could Work Miracles Review- By Michael Carlisle

 Title: The Man Who Could Work Miracles
Year: 1936
Director: Lothar Mendes
Country: UK
Language: English

About two months ago I cancelled my Netflix subscription because I was bored and wanted to watch a variety of truly GREAT films that the streaming site just couldn't offer. This led me to Hulu+ and while I was there I found hundreds of hidden gems just waiting for me to discover them. Ingmar Bergman's  Summer With Monika,  Orson Welles' The Immortal Story and Luchino Visconti's Senso were just a few of these gems. Among them was an intriguing film called The Man Who Could Work Miracles. Since it was based on a book by the brilliant H.G Wells, I decided to check it out.

The film starts the heavens where some Greek God like creatures are roaming among the stars. They discuss the happenings on planet earth where a group of puny humans dominate, but who might start getting into their realm in the heavens in a few generations. The Gods are curious to what would happen if one of these humans were given great powers, so with the point of a celestial finger one common man is granted supernatural abilities to do anything at anytime.

Suddenly a mousy store clerk named George Fotheringay (Roland Young) is given unlimited power to do anything he wants; except change the human heart, as he is humiliated when he commands his beautiful co-worker to fall in love with him and nothing happens. The Man Who Works Miracles is a wonderful mix of fantasy and science fiction; a neat "what if" film that explores the light and dark side of human nature. Can even the nicest of men turn inexplicably corrupt when given ultimate power?

H.G Welles' fascinating work shows how power without wisdom or control is never a safe commodity Fotheringay is a harmless man, but he really doesn't know what he wishes to do with the power. He wants to please everybody, but ultimately ends up pleasing nobody and making himself an enemy of sorts. Out of carelessness he almost completely destroys the Earth. Though The Man Who Could Work Miracles feels very much like an old Twilight Zone episode, keeping mind that The Twilight Zone aired more than a decade after this film's theatrical release, it is certainly much more thought provoking.

In conclusion, author H.G Welles and director Lothar Mendes have given us an inciting look into the heart of human nature. Every human dreams of having unlimited power, but how many of us would actually be able to control it and not make the world go topsy turvey? This is a very spiritual film in a sense, certainly it is a film that can be experienced again and again. Praise it! 4.5/5