How Green Was My Valley

Starring: Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Anna Lee, Donald Crisp, Roddy McDowall, John Loder, Sara Allgood
Directed by: John Ford
Rating: Not rated
Genre: Drama
1941

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A close Welsh family of coal miners struggle with changes in the world and their own evolving lives as they manage the ups and downs of their lives.

Review:

Tim: How Green Was My Valley is most notorious for being the film that managed to win the Academy Award for Best Picture over the all time classic, Citizen Kane. This is often brought up as proof that the Academy doesn't always make the best choices. Now, I have to say that I do agree that Citizen Kane is a better film than How Green Was My Valley- however, the difference is not as big as many people claim. This film is actually an epic, beautiful movie about a caring family dealing with all those events that occur in our lives. We have marriages, deaths, new jobs, losing jobs, school, illness, rediscovering faith, and so much more. In the endless debate between the best film of 1941 (I actually would go with The Maltese Falcon), this movie holds its own with its more famous contemporaries.

I loved the epic feel of this movie. From the coal mines, to the villages, to the whole feel and look of the valley, this is a beautiful movie to watch. The sets are very impressive. The cinematography here is incredible. I was completely enthralled with this movie, and the epic feel and look went a long way to bringing me into this world. Director John Ford did an outstanding job of visually depicting this story in a believable world.

Ford also had a very good cast in place. I really enjoyed Walter Pidgeon as Mr. Gruffydd. Pidgeon has this charismatic quality to him, and I love that his screen time was not overly large. He plays a smaller role, but every second of his screen time is valuable to the film. Maureen O'Hara is quite good as Angharad. O'Hara and Pidgeon have a good deal of chemistry together, and this impossible love story is a smaller thread, but one of the most emotional and beautiful of this film. Donald Crisp is excellent as the patriarch, Mr. Morgan. Crisp received a well deserved Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. While his performance wasn't flashy, it was critical to the success of this movie. Sara Allgood received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and although she didn't win, she delivers a very good performance as well.

While I loved these and the other cast members, I was in awe of the performance of young Roddy McDowall. As a child actor, you expect certain things, but McDowall blows all of those expectations away. He was the heart and the soul of this movie, and I think it is a crime he didn't receive an Academy Award nomination. His performance is truly beautiful, and amazing in ways I cannot even describe. This movie was great because it was so easy to identify with McDowall, and to root for and care about him. He was truly remarkable, and I feel lucky to have been able to see him act in this film.

I love the epic quality of this movie. It is a story about one family, but about so much more. The themes here are universal. We have the importance of family, the hypocrisy of religious people, union v. nonunion arguments, impossible love, unsafe working conditions, loyalty to family, community, and many other elements and themes. I was blown away by how powerful this movie was, and how much it gave me to think about.

I feel bad that How Green Was My Valley will forever live in the shadow of Citizen Kane. While I agree that that movie is slightly superior, that takes nothing away from one of the best, most epic movies to come out of Hollywood. This movie stands on its own as a great story and an example of excellent filmmaking. This movie was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won 5 for a reason- this is a classic.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 8


If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Citizen Kane, Mrs. Miniver, The Life of Emile Zola, The Grapes of Wrath