Line #32 Film/TheManWhoCouldWorkMiracles


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_man_who_could_work_miracles.jpg]]
2
3	''The Man Who Could Work Miracles'' is a black-and-white 1936 British fantasy-comedy film directed by the German-born American director Lothar Mendes. It is a greatly expanded version of Creator/HGWells’s short story of the same name (with Wells also getting a script credit) and stars Roland Young with a cast of supporting players including Creator/RalphRichardson.
4
5	As a result of a discussion between a trio of gods over the true worthiness of Earth, a retiring British shop assistant is randomly chosen and granted miraculous powers. George [=McWhirter=] Fotheringay's new powers are virtually limitless. Choosing to use them for good, Fotheringay sets out to create a utopian society.
6
7	!!Contains examples of:
8	* [[spoiler:AllForNothing: The trio of gods give Fotheringay their powers as he's entering a pub at the start of the film. After he accidentally destroys all of humanity at the climax, he wishes he was never given these powers and is transported back to outside the pub a couple days prior, undoing almost the entire story]].
9	* AdaptationExpansion: Expands on the adventures of the eponymous George [=McWhirter=] Fotheringay (and gives an explicit source to his sudden powers).
10	* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: Colonel Winstanley, an ex-military man, looks down the barrel of his rifle after Fotheringay turns the barrel solid. A dangerous thing to do, even if he did believe Fotheringay had the power to do what he said.
11	* ContrivedCoincidence: What are the odds that that Fotheringay would walk into a discussion in the pub about the nature of miracles mere moments after being granted his RealityWarper powers?
12	* DrunkWithPower: Even after gaining the ability to work miracles, Fotherigay remains rather restrained in the use of his powers as he tries to figure out the best way to use them. However, after working out that everyone is trying to use him, he snaps and starts using his powers without restraint. He demolishes Colonel Winstanley's home; constructs an elaborate palace for himself in its place; summons Maggie to serve as his queen, and Ada to serve as eye candy (and perhaps mistress); brings the world's leaders to him to bow down; etc.
13	* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: At the climax of the film, Fotheringay buys some time by making the Earth stop rotating. Alas, he fails to consider the basic physics of the rotation of the planet and so sends his palace, all living creatures and objects whirling off the world's surface. Civilization and all life (save Fotheringay) is obliterated as everything in the world flies through the air and is dashed to pieces.
14	* ExtremelyShortTimespan: The film encompasses about 48 hours. At the end Fotheringay presses the ResetButton, and everything rewinds to the start, meaning that--in one sense--only a few minutes pass.
15	* FireAndBrimstoneHell: Constable Winch finds himself in Hades after Fotheringay tells him to "go to blazes!". There are flames everywhere and it is hot enough to scorch his notebook and melt his boots.
16	* GoGoEnslavement: When Fotheringay summons Ada to appear before him in his newly created palace, he dresses her in the sexy Cleopatra outfit he had created for her earlier.
17	* GrapesOfLuxury: On the first night of his powers, Fotheringay is testing his abilities to work miracles. The scene cuts to him reclining on his bed eating a massive bunch of grapes. The camera then pulls back to show the entire bed is covered in exotic fruit.
18	* HatDamage: Colonel Winstanley attempts to shoot Fotheringay and succeeds in shooting the hat off his head. The bullet also creases his scalp, as his next miracle (after making himself invulnerable) is to heal his scalp wound.
19	* HighClassGlass: The pompous magistrate Colonel Winstanley sports a monocle.
20	* InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt: The full title is ''H.G. Wells' The Man Who Could Work Miracles''.
21	* LiteralGenie: Fotheringay has no understanding of his powers work, and learns that he must be careful when issuing commands or they may come true in a very literal fashion. For example, his telling Constable Winch to "go to blazes!" results in the unfortunate policeman beings sent to a FireAndBrimstoneHell.
22	* MonochromeCasting: Understandable for a film set among middle class England in the 1930s. However, towards the end of the film, Fotheringay uses his powers to summon all of the world's leaders--temporal and spiritual--to his palace. Logically this should have included a diverse range of races, but only white faces are visible, even in the group shots.
23	* RealityWarper: George [=McWhirter=] Fotheringay, the title character, discovers that he possesses virtually unlimited magic power, but has no understanding of how it works.
24	* RealityWarpingIsNotAToy: When Fotheringay initially becomes a RealityWarper, his first experiments with his power are modest, such as summoning exotic fruit. However, after being persuaded to use his power for the greater good, [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity he quickly slips into megalomania]]. He starts using his power with out concern for the consequences. He changes the Colonel's house into a spectacular palace of real gold and marble. He then summons up all the pretty girls, not to mention the Colonel's entire regiment, dressed as Beefeaters, after which he summons all the butlers in Essex, the leaders of the world, the teachers, musicians, priests, etc. He dresses up like a king and appoints the girl he loves as queen, then commands the leaders of the world to create a utopia, free of greed, war, plague, famine, jealousy, and toil. Eventually, he commands to the Earth to stop rotating. He fails to consider the basic physics of the rotation of the planet and so sends his palace, all living creatures and objects whirling off the world's surface.
25	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Realizing that others, even TheVicar, wish to exploit him for their own ends, Fotheringay decides not to trigger a Golden Age after all, but instead to create an old-fashioned kingdom in which he is the centre of the universe. He summons all of the world's political, religious, business, military, etc. leaders and gives them a speech about everything that is wrong with the world and how he, an average man, is going to fix it all.
26	* ResetButton: At the end of the film, the desperate and contrite Fotheringay calls on his powers one last time to put things back as they were before he ever entered the pub the day before, willing away his power to work miracles. Fotheringay appears again in the pub as in the early scenes of the film, again tries the trick with the lamp, and fails.
27	* StoryBreakerPower: George [=McWhirter=] Fotheringay suddenly discovers that he can do anything simply by declaring it to be so. Some of his miracles have [[LiteralGenie unintended consequences]] and he ends up breaking, not the story, but the ''planet''. Only [[spoiler:hitting the ResetButton]] saves everyone.
28	* SuperEmpowering: A trio of angels (or gods) bestow RealityWarper powers on George [=McWhirter=] Forthingay--an ordinary middleclass Englishman--to see if humanity can handle the kind of power over reality that might allow such beings to deserve to reach the stars.
29	* SwordsToPlowshares: A very literal example occurs here, when Mr. Maydig tests Fotheringay by asking him to use his RealityWarper powers to transform his militaristic neighbour Colonel Winstanley's collection of antique weapons. Investigating strange noises, Colonel Winstanley discovers that all of his weapons have been transformed into a vast array of agricultural equipment.
30	* ToHellAndBack: Happens entirely unintentionally to Constable Winch. Fotheringay tells him to "go to blazes!" and his RealityWarper powers cause Winch to vanish and reappear in a FireAndBrimstoneHell. When Fotheringay realises what has happened, he panics. Not wanting to bring Winch back to Essex and face his wrath, he instead sends Winch to San Francisco: figuring that will be far enough away to spare him any immediate consequences.
31	* TheVicar: Because Fotheringay cannot decide on how to use his newfound powers, he contacts Mr. Maydig, the local vicar. The vicar thinks up a plan to bring about a Golden Age and have Fotheringay abolish famine, plague, war and poverty--and, while they're at it, the British ruling class.
32	* WalkingShirtlessScene: The three angels/gods do not wear shirts.
33	* WallOfWeapons: Colonel Winstanley has an entire room decked out in weaponry from around the world: souvenirs of his career as a soldier. At TheVicar's urging, Fotheringay transforms them all into agricultural equipment.
34	* WhenTreesAttack: A poorly worded command from Fotheringay causes a rose bush to attack Constable Winch.
35	* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Realizing that others, even TheVicar, wish to exploit him for their own ends, Fotheringay decides not to trigger a Golden Age after all, but instead to create an old-fashioned kingdom in which he is the centre of the universe. In a fit of reckless pompousness, he changes the Colonel's house into a spectacular palace of real gold and marble. He then summons up all the pretty girls, not to mention the Colonel's entire regiment, dressed as Beefeaters, after which he summons all the butlers in Essex, the leaders of the world, the teachers, musicians, priests, etc. He dresses up like a king and appoints the girl he loves as queen, then commands the leaders of the world to create a utopia, free of greed, war, plague, famine, jealousy, and toil.
36	* YouHaveGotToBelieveMe: Constable Winch ends up in this predicament after Fotheringay accidentally teleports him to Hell and, not wanting to face the angry bobby nor condemn an innocent man to Hell , instead teleports him to California. He ends up in a psych ward as doctors and law enforcement officals take him for a loony dressed in a costume instead of a genuine English policeman.
37

Context Film / TheManWhoCouldWorkMiracles