Eleanor H. Porter

A young girl comes to an embittered town and confronts it's attitude with her determination to see the best in life. (imdb)

When Pollyanna is orphaned, she is sent to live with her crotchety Aunt Polly. Pollyanna discovers that many of the people in her aunt's New England home town are as ill-tempered as her aunt. But Pollyanna's incurable optimism - exemplified by her "glad game," in which she looks for the bright side of every situation - bring a change to the staid old community. (imdb)

Wealthy, impossible to please lady Polly, whom only gardener Tom's irresistibly charming, indomitably cheerful son Tim, the chauffeur-handyman, can handle, grudgingly lets her late sister's orphaned daughter Pollyanna (11) move into her grand home. The staff takes to the playful brat, who finds the grimly stern dignified house regime stifling, but often gets round it. The happy game Pollyanna's father taught her soon spreads friendship and joy in the village. (imdb)

An aging heir-less millionaire wants to leave his fortune to the unsuspecting family of his first love but not before testing his prospective heirs by living with them under the guise of a poor boarder.