How Green Was My Valley
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Movie Reviews of How Green Was My Valley
Movie Review: Green; your valley was very, very green...
Summary: 5 Stars
With the strength of a four-hour epic yet the packaging of a two-hour family drama, `How Green Was My Valley' may very well be...perfect. There are few films that have captured the ability to create something so epic in stroke yet small in frame; so grand in its embrace yet intimate in its structure. The Academy Award Best Picture winner of 1941 is just that kind of film, and I laud it and will continue to laud it for all times for accomplishing something so masterful and so rare. Without ever ONCE overstaying its welcome, `How Green Was My Valley' manages to say so much in less time than most epic films. This is due to John Ford's brilliant direction and his smart construction, always using the most of the elements at his disposal to create something fluid, engaging and memorable.
The film tells of a very close-knit mining family in a small Welsh village. As economic times weigh heavy on the town this family finds themselves being torn in two by their surroundings. When the miners go on strike it poses problems for this family, as the patriarch wants no part of it. The film basically tells nothing more or less than this one family's story of survival in a world very real.
As their story is painted across the rich black and white backdrop (whoever says that black and white film is secondary to color has just seen the WRONG black and white films) we meet every nook and cranny of their extended family, from drinking buddies to employers to village preachers and grade school teachers. The family suffers from disagreements within their own household (especially with regard to their working situation), from death and sorrow as well as a fair share of scandal (involving a handsome young preacher at that), but it is how this family stays together and actually grows stronger that makes for the most compelling and richly developed story.
Told through the eyes of young (well, old now) Huw, `How Green Was My Valley' is a beautiful tale of youth and family and the wonderful way that memories can create in us a nostalgic look at times past. Despite all the `hard times' this family (their surname is Morgan by the way) remained together and never lost the love they had in the beginning.
`How Green Was My Valley' is a very reflective piece, exposing the beauty of childhood and the sheer importance of a loving household.
The performances by the ENTIRE cast are spot on, but the Oscar's got it right nominating Donald Crisp and Sara Allgood. They are the true standouts here, mastering their take on the paternal graces of the Morgan family. Crisp well deserved the Oscar he received and I applaud the Academy for making such a beautiful choice. Maureen O'Hara, Walter Pidgeon and young Roddy McDowall are all standouts as well, delivering stunning examples of control and charisma. O'Hara is stunning in every scene, even when she's merely there in the background, and McDowall has a very strong presence for such a young boy. Each actor compliments the others around him and they all contribute such delicate strength to the overall effect of Ford's masterpiece.
Some have baulked at this film winning the Best Picture Oscar over the likes of `Citizen Kane', a film that is considered by MANY to be the best American film of all time. The two films are hardly comparable when you think about it since they are both drastically different in design, scope and subject; but there is no doubt that BOTH films are classics. I adore them both and consider them to be brilliant portrayals of the `craft' of filmmaking. Orson Welles was a genius, as was John Ford, and while they each had their own unique and very different style of approaching filmmaking, they both nailed their craft. I cannot say which film I prefer at the moment, since both are so unique and so marvelously done. They both also carry a very weighty message (this one being the importance of family and `Kane' being the importance of individuality) and so as wonderful and pristine as each film is, they are also very important films.
See them both; that is all.
Movie Review: The Valley
Summary: 5 Stars
"There is no fence nor hedge round Time that is gone. You can go back and have what you like of it, if you can remember. So I can close my eyes on my Valley as it is today - and it is gone - and I see it as it was when I was a boy. Green it was, and possessed of the plenty of the earth. In all Wales, there was none so beautiful." ~from "How Green Was My Valley" (1941)
One of my favorite films of all is the John Ford masterpiece "How Green Was My Valley." Based upon the novel by Richard Llewellyn, the film follows the travails of a Welsh coal mining family in the late Victorian era, as seen through the eyes of the boy Huw Morgan, played by Roddy McDowall. John Ford had the gift of making every shot into a work of art, using the contrasts of light and shadow, snow and coal dust, sunshine and smoke from the colliery, to tell the tale. As the wages are decreased, and the quality of life declines, the film grows darker.
In the beginning of the film the Morgan family live in thriving simplicity in one of the row houses provided for the miners. The table is laden with food, their basic material needs appear to be met as the father and brothers are able to provide adequately for the family by their labors in the "colliery." The Morgans enjoy the support of the close knit community, led by a rather utopian-minded young minister Mr. Gruffydd (Walter Pidgeon.) Welsh songs punctuate the film, especially at weddings and other festivities. Life was plain and toilsome but there was magic to be found in the very ordinariness. However, as the industrial revolution churns along, and the greed of the mine owners grow, the wages decrease, there are strikes, the work becomes more laborious and dangerous than ever. The villagers become distrustful of each other; the Morgan family begins to break apart as the sons must leave the Valley to seek employment elsewhere.
The poignant romance between Angharad Morgan, Huw's sister, and Mr. Gruffydd the minister swirls at the center of the drama. Mr. Gruffydd rebuffs Angharad, heartrendingly portrayed by Maureen O'Hara, because he does not want her to have to share his impoverished lifestyle. She marries the mine owner's wealthy stuffed-shirt of a son; the stony expression on Angharad's face at her wedding bodes no good. When she returns to the Valley after being away for some years, the women of the village begin to circulate calumnies about her and Mr. Gruffydd. The fact that Angharad and her lost love have had absolutely no contact with each other does not keep the gossip from besmirching the good name of her entire family. Mr Gruffydd confronts his congregation, rebuking them for their hypocrisy in one of the most scathing film sermons of all time:
"Why do you come here? Why do you dress your hypocrisy in black and parade before your God on Sunday? From love? No. For you have shown that your hearts are too withered to receive the love of your Divine Father. I know why you have come - I have seen it in your faces Sunday after Sunday as I've stood here before you. Fear has brought you here. Horrible, superstitious fear. Fear of divine retribution - a bolt of fire from the skies. The vengeance of the Lord and the justice of God. But you have forgotten the love of Jesus. You disregard His sacrifice. Death, fear, flames, horror and black clothes. Hold your meeting then, but know if you do this in the name of God and in the house of God, you blaspheme against Him and His Word."
After the mine explosion, when Mr. Gruffydd descends into the depths to search for the injured Mr. Morgan, his eyes meet Angharad's; their hands clasp for an instant before he disappears into the pit. Light pierces the clouds, as Mrs. Morgan sees her husband, killed in the accident, in the place of glory. It is then that young Huw, the narrator, says of his father: "Men like my father cannot die. They are with me still, real in memory as they were in flesh, loving and beloved forever. How green was my valley then."
Movie Review: Excellent
Summary: 5 Stars
How Green was my Valley is a tale of the joys and hardships (mostly hardships) experienced by a mining community in the Welsh Valleys in the late Victorian era.
The story centres on the Morgan family, an archetypal Welsh mining family consisting of a strict but loving (in his own way), father, a subserviant but nevertheless strong-willed wife and mother, many strong sons and the ubiquitous semi-servile daughter but still with a mind of her own, and of course, a far younger son, the baby of the family.
On first viewing, anyone who does not know the director, will soon know it is John Ford by the classic Fordesque characteristics screaming out at them. In fact, it could be said to be the pre-cursor to his even more lauded The Quiet Man, made some years later.
Taking both films together, it is obvious that Ford could and did utilise to maximum effect the characteristics and foibles we all rightly or wrongly associate with the two communities featured, both Gaelic, and both alien to, and alienated by their current or former Masters in Whitehall. But Ford does this magnificently across the two films as he does have to highlight the differences. With this film, he glories in the work-ethic heavy, dour, chapel influenced life of the Welsh at that time, with what humour there is very sparse in contrast to the rain, grime and coal dust tinged production for the most part. Later, in The Quiet Man, he had to turn this on its head and portray the work undertaken by those featured to be nothing but a vehicle for enjoying life to the full once the hooter went. Whether Ford believed fully in these sterotypes is hard to say, but whether he did or not, let us be thankful how he knew to best maximise both blarney and misery to bring us two great films.
Before I return to this film alone, I would like to add that although circumstance at the outset, his casting of several of the same people from the 'stable' in both films, cultural differences in the stories notwithstanding, was an act of sheer genius.
So, I've digressed enough. The plot of How Green was my Valley is heavily dependent on the fact that the Establishment virtually owned people; I know people would say 'what's the difference now?', well, maybe they are right, but in this era, in this place, it was more evident than most other places of any era. Despite this, the film is not overtly party political as many people mistakenly believe, but it does in part act as social comment, with the Establishment manifesting itself in the all powerful mine and mine owners; and in this region in this era shows them as only too willing to take advantage of the strong work ethic of the family Patriarch, who will not sanction action despite suffering greatly at the hands of his employers.
Now, I have to disagree with another reviewer who said that Ford cleverly kept the film devoid of Pathos and over-emotion. Well, there are some scenes that I think lessen the film, and these are when the whole village gather at the family's gate with a song in store, for anything from someone from the Morgan's breaking wind, to getting wed, this lacks logic and will scream out at you the first time you see this.
One other thing of note, the mining scenes are brilliant, and capture the conditions, frequently dangerous ones. You feel as if you are there, getting blackened, soaked and at times chilled to the bone. And, gate-gathering not withstanding, the miners' choir will have you wanting to sing Bread of Heaven as loud as you can on the mearest hill side you can find. All in all, a great, great film, if you haven't seen this, then do so.
Movie Review: One of the Great Films of the 40's
Summary: 5 Stars
Released in 1941, based on the popular novel by Richard Llewellyn, the legendary director, John Ford, known more for his innovative Western films, brought a little 19th century Welsh town to life during a time of harsh transition from an idyllic rural setting to the callous reality of the sudden onslaught of the Industrial Revolution. This may be the historic backdrop to this story, but it more concerns the memory of a man sentimentally harking back to his family of hard working coal miners and those basic values of love, family loyalty and the at times cruelty of life in general. The tale is told by the protagonist, Huw Morgan (Roddy McDowall), though is narrated by an adult voice, which unfortunately, the credits of the film have left anonymous. That said, there is something extraordinary about this story and I believe it is the notion of a close-knit family, sticking together, no matter what may be thrown their way.
Roddy McDowall was an exceptional child actor. The utter sensitivity and innocence in his expressions reveal a boy of truly great talent.
One of the most memorable scenes is Huw's first day at school. The teacher played with authentic sadism, Mr. Jonas (Morton Lowry) brought back images of my early school days: bully students and bully teachers. Little Huw is humiliated in front of the class because of his lowly status in the community. During recess, the boy's bully him further leading to a fight on the playground. Huw is of course blamed and given a sadistic whipping with a yard stick with relish from Mr. Jonas. The boy staggers home and father and his brother's discover the truth and pay a visit to the school. After this encounter, it is possible that Mr. Jonas will think twice about cruelly hurting a "Morgan" boy or any other child for that matter.
The dialogue in this 40's film is also superb, for example, Walter Pidgeon as Mr.Gruffydd, when poor Hue is laid up sick:
"You've been lucky, Huw. Lucky to suffer and lucky to spend these weary months in bed. For so God has given you a chance to make the spirit within yourself. And as your father cleans his lamp to have good light, so keep clean your spirit... By prayer, Huw. And by prayer, I don't mean shouting, mumbling, and wallowing like a hog in religious sentiment. Prayer is only another name for good, clean, direct thinking. When you pray, think. Think well what you're saying. Make your thoughts into things that are solid. In that way, your prayer will have strength, and that strength will become a part of you, body, mind, and spirit."
One of the most memorable passages of the film.
How Green Was My Valley gave us a glimpse into this Welsh community and the trials and basic day to day hardships of the period with realism, pathos and a pinch of lament... and that so-called simplicity in our modern era could well be lost.
This is one of my all time favourite films and a film to be watched when the time feels appropriate to look back to the past and imagine its simplicity; an illusion perhaps, but a grand one at that...
Movie Review: John Ford's masterpiece about life in a small Welsh mining town.
Summary: 5 Stars
When plans were being made to turn Richard Llewellyn's 1939 novel "How Green Was My Valley into a motion picture director John Ford had big ideas. "How Green Was My Valley" was to be a two-reel epic drama shot entirely on location in South Wales in glorious Techincolor. But the outbreak of World War II intervened and Ford's plans had to be scaled back dramatically. Instead, "How Green Was My Valley" was filmed in California in the hills of Malibu and because the vegetation was markedly different from what one would expect to find in Wales Ford chose to make his film in black and white. No matter. "How Green Was My Valley" is widely recognized as one of the finest motion pictures ever made. This is a spellbinding film that grabs your attention from the outset and just never lets go.
"How Green Was My Valley" features an all-star cast and was nominated for an impressive ten Academy Awards. The film stars Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Anna Lee, Donald Crisp, Barry Fitzgerald and an inspiring young actor introduced in the opening credits as "Master" Roddy McDowell. The film essentially depicts life in this poor South Wales mining town through the eyes of ten year old Huw Morgan (McDowell). When Huw was a young boy the mine had just recently opened and as such the landscape around the town was still largely unspoiled. Over time we begin to see the devastating ecological impact that mining has on a community. We also gain insight into the extremely difficult, dangerous and dirty work that coal miners are asked to do each and every day. You will come to understand why the mortality rate is so high among those in this occupation. In spite of it all these miners are proud of the work that they do. "How Green Was My Valley" also explores the area of labor-management relations, It would appear that the mine owners are holding all the cards. When management decides to cut wages it has a devastating impact on families. In fact, three of young Huw's older brothers make the difficult decision to leave town and seek employment elsewhere. Huw's parents are heartbroken. Walter Pidgeon stars as preacher Mr. Guffydd who is the spiritual leader of the community. Huw's sister Angharad (Maureen O'Hara) falls for the handsome fellow but much to her dismay Guffydd resists her romantic overtures. Much like the epic motion picture "Gone With The Wind" this film offer viewers a little bit of everything.
For me, one of the most impressive things about "How Green Was My Valley" was the innovative set that was created for this film. John Ford certainly succeeded in making me feel like I was a part of all that was going on in this film. I felt a tremendous amount of empathy for what a great many of these charactors were going through. Tremendous writing and fine acting all the way around combine to make "How Green Was My Valley" a film you do not want to miss. My wife and I have a stash of favorite films we watch again and again. You can rest assured that "How Green Was My Valley" will be added to that collection. Very highly recommended!