How Green Was My Valley
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Anna Lee, Donald Crisp, Maureen O'Hara, Roddy McDowall, Walter PidgeonBrand: Fox Home Entertainment
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 118 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-01-14
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Movie Reviews of How Green Was My Valley
Movie Review: As time passed this valley came less and less green, but not so for the people, whose spirit and love remained strong as ever.
Summary: 5 Stars
A review of the movie How Green Was My Valley? by Gerald T. Westbrook
1. Introduction. I had not seen this movie when it first came out, but I had heard about it. As such it was the inspiration for the title of my second book: How Green Are the Gorons? Clearly both this movie and my book asks the "How Green" question, and the quick answer in both cases is "not very." More on this shortly.
2. Mythical Concepts. Before completing this comparison one needs to define "the Gorons." In this book a Goron is an alien from the planet Gore, the third planet in the Alpha Centauri system. It is believed they invaded Earth about the time of the flying saucer incident near Roswell New Mexico. The very first American they captured and converted was none other than Albert Gore Jr.
Surely the "Gorons" are a mythical concept. And in a sense "The Valley" in this movie is almost mythical, as the movie is shot in black & white. One never gets to see the grandeur of this valley. One never gets to see it in the many shades of green that undoubtedly existed throughout this area. Further, as the movie progresses, there seems to be more and more haze or smoke or emissions from the coal mine that made this valley even more mythical.
3. Life in the Valley. The movie "How Green Was My Valley?" is a story of a coal miners life and that of his family. The head of this family, Gwilyn Morgan (is played by Donald Crisp, winner of the best supporting actor Oscar). His wife, Beth (is played by Sarah Allgood, a nominee for the best supporting actress Oscar). They had five sons and two daughters (the oldest, Angharad, is played by Maureen Ohara). All sons were coal miners, albeit, the youngest (Huw, played by Roddy McDowall), could have avoided that pathway, but chose not to. As such, this family saw more than its share of coal dust and grime and occupational safety and health issues. And these miners couldn't sit down anywhere after work until completely scrubbed down and clothes changed.
This is a story of great family love, of family strength and integrity, but also includes family stress and trauma and more stress. The family minister, Merddyn Gruffydd, (is played by Walter Pidgeon). He is much more than just the minister. He serves this family well, and is a positive force in the community. As time passes, the chemistry between Angharad and Merddyn grows stronger and stronger. However, this bond is interrupted, at least in part, by her forced marriage to the mine owners son, a marriage that has no chance of success.
This is a story of the family's odyssey through hell and back, loosing one son, and at the end of the movie, the patriarch of the family, both in mine accidents.
4. Life in my valley. I have had my own journey, but with more moving around, more interactions with big businesses, more exposure to more environmental issues, but far less trauma. I also have had a rather amazing couple with coal and coal dust, particularly for a non miner. However, these are no way as major as the Morgan family. My odyssey through life on coal and coal dust is presented here as part of this comparison. I have had many exposures to these substances, particularly in Saskatchewan and in Michigan.
In Saskatchewan, I was born into a coal fired house, which meant a big basement coal bin, and monthly coal deliveries. I also lived ¼ mile from a coal fired power plant, which had much smoke and emissions. And I also lived a half block from railroad tracks that featured a dozen or so coal fired trains a day, with much smoke and ashes. When I was 18 I took a summer job in construction. The contractor was engaged in the renovation of a large building. My first job on this project was tearing down an old coal bin, complete with much plaster and lathing in the walls and ceilings. This meant an incredible amount of coal dust could accumulate, and did. I would come home as black as one could get, and couldn't get into our house until completely hosed down. Of course there were no occupational health regulations back then.
In Michigan my first environmental exposure, in working at a huge chemical plant, was not chemical, but coal based. This plant was fueled by coal fired power plants. These were old and lacked any flue gas clean-up systems. This led to frequently seeing the top of my car turn black. It also meant putting up with coal dust on both the outside of our apartment window sills and also on the inside. I told this company that we would have to leave if this problem was not fixed. It took a year. I am now 77 and going strong, so my health was not greatly affected. However, the teachings in my life, and in "How Green Was My Valley?" is that use of coal, without appropriate environmental control systems can lead to pretty unacceptable conditions.
5. Environmental Controls. Surely there was need for some environmental protection of the natural surroundings in the Gilfach Goch area of southern Wales, a beautiful, but very poor area. I cover a similar area in the Goron book, specifically the "pristine village of Springdale, PA, north of Pittsburgh" the home of Rachel Carson. She was born in 1907, and she was reported to have wandered her valley, the banks of the Allegany, with her mother. As she grew up she watched as Springdale was slowly transformed into a grimy wasteland, its air fouled by chemical emissions, its water by industrial wastes."
There was much about Rachel Carson with which I can salute. She was surely a lover of nature and could see that society was not doing right by nature. I would have little trouble saluting the aspects of her career that demonstrated insight, courage and tenacity. She was also something of a maverick, with no official scientific laboratory or governmental agency to support her views. I would also have little trouble supporting her original macro environmental views:
* as she watched her hometown of Springdale being destroyed;
* as she saw the near destruction of Chesapeake Bay by industrial drainage;
* as she learned about ocean pollution in Japan, specifically on Mercury and Cadmium, and
* as she found out the pesticide industry did not do adequate testing nor provide appropriate application instructions.
Initially her interests concentrated on the sea. Her first three books were on that subject. However, as time passed, her interests shifted to her concerns on pesticides in general, and on DDT in particular. As she moved further down that pathway, she went beyond the point of diminishing returns. As a result her legacy will not be her book: Silent Spring, but the millions that died in Africa and elsewhere, due to an inability to obtain DDT.
6. Conservation. Surely there was also a need for natural resource conservation in the Gilfach Goch area of southern Wales. I cover similar areas, in the Goron book, in the early west of the United States. Perhaps this can best be described by the story of Theodore Roosevelt (TR). TR knew first hand about the need for conservation. He knew about the insanity of buffalo hunting, with the bison being slaughtered and nearly eliminated. He knew about game, in general, being severely over hunted and pastures being badly over grazed. Clearly conservation efforts were needed.
A bit of the history of TR is of utility here. TR, while a mainstream easterner, lived for parts of three years, in western North Dakota. This was triggered from the loss of his wife, (who died of undiagnosed Bright's disease), and mother, (from typhoid fever), both on February 14th, 1884. These deaths occurred two days after the birth of his first child, Alice.
I was struck by his courage, and his wisdom to get away from everything of his past life, at least for awhile. In June he headed to the wild lands of North Dakota, on the far western side of that state. He was all of 25 years old. Here he learned how to be a cowboy, a rancher and a rough rider. He grew to love the beauty, vigor and challenges of the Dakota badlands and the frontier life. Clearly his life on the North Dakota frontier, and surrounding areas, is where he learned of the magnificent beauty and fragility of the west.
His major accomplishments, as President, were in the area of conservation. Included in his many contributions were the creation of 150 national forests, 3 national parks, 20 national monuments, and 55 national wildlife refuges. The three national parks were Crater Lake in Oregon, Wind Cave in South Dakota, and Mesa Verde in Colorado. He also made major contributions to the founding of Yellowstone National Park National Park and the Grand Canyon National Park.
His original environmentalism and original conservation included:
* Conservation of natural wonders: parks, monuments and wildlife refuges.
* Conservation is for the people as a whole. Results are not to be reserved for the elite.
* Conservation includes development as much as it does protection, including water power, flood control and land reclamation. "Water flowing unused to the sea was `wasted'."
* Corruption must be fought on many fronts including corrupt and unprincipled editors.
TR surely did much good in all of these efforts. Yet some have accused him and his government of going beyond the point of diminishing returns. Over 250 national items, parks, reserves etc, is a huge number. Some of these might have been better left for state or local government, or for free enterprise. However, TR, the father of conservation, clearly loved big government
7. Conclusion. I have noted many areas in this review where more conservation and more environmental protection have been needed. I have also noted that two very well known and highly competent individuals have gone beyond the point of diminishing returns in these fields. However, a balance is needed, and in the "Valley", it was not in balance. However, only a tiny bit more could have been tolerated, or the mine would have closed down, which would not be of help to anyone. My thesis in my book is that environmentalists in general tend to go beyond the point of diminishing returns. When they go far beyond this point, where there is no sense of balance in their position, they become "Gorons."
At the start of this review I had noted that the "Valley" wasn't very green, and got less green as time passed. I would argue that the Gorons also have got less green as time passed. At one time they argued they deserved the whole green spectrum, that is 100 percent. However, I have argued that that is far too broad, that out of a million or so shades of green, perhaps they can only have one shade, or 0.0001 percent.
Summary of How Green Was My Valley
Features include:
?MPAA Rating: NR
?Format: DVD
?Runtime: 118 minutes
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