How Green Was My Valley
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Movie Reviews of How Green Was My Valley
Movie Review: And that's the way it was.
Summary: 5 Stars
A coal mining town in Wales (England) in the late 1800's. The once green hills have been covered with coal-black water pumped down the hillsides from deep in the mines where it floods seeping from the walls. The hills have been covered with blackened rocks removed from the mine, and with coal-dust from the coal-fire smoke settling on the hillsides. The elderly man remembers his childhood when the hills of his valley were green and beautiful, he remembers his beloved family, and takes us there. An all-star cast.
This movie is worth watching just for the very funny scene of the boxer instructing the classroom of little children.
A sad but heartwarming film of family. Though not a musical; there is some beautiful singing. The excellent opening song is listed as a Welsh battle song, but it is also a church hymn with different words. Those who grew up in church will spend the rest of the movie trying to recall these words:
"And can it be ee that I should _ g a i n
An interest _ i n _ t h e _ S a v i o r ' s _ b l o o d
^ Died He for meee, who caused His pain
For me who Him to death _ p u r s u e d _.
Amazing love! How can it be
^ That Thou my God shouldst _ d i e _ for meeee
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou my _ G o d __ s h o u l d e s t _ die for me"
"And Can It Be That I Should Gain" by Charles Wesley 1738.
There are a couple of times where only a facial expression from the young boy says it all. Well done.
Movie Review: Heartfelt Ford Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
When I was a college student, this film was shown as part of our film classic series. It was the first week of my freshman year. As I had been too young to see it when it was released, I saw it for the first time then. I recall tears in my eyes through many sequences because the film's warm picture of a closeknit loving family. I felt very homesick, being away from home for the first time and it made me miss my own family all the more. As I have grown older, the film's beauty, deep human feeling, artistry, and general excellence have continued to grow on me. It is now many years since I saw it that first time but I never tire of it.
I am delighted that it has become the recognized classic it is. All the wonderful actors are gone now, except for legendary and still beautiful Maureen O'Hara, who speaks movingly of her own experiences making it and staying in touch with the great people she worked with in it at How Green Was My Valley parties John Ford gave every year for the company until he grew old and sick. Of course John Ford's talent is something that one appreciates more as life goes on and one realizes what great art he produced within the studio system and what lovely and moving stories he created in those wonderful years.
By all means, if you have not seen this film, buy it, see it, treasure it and pass it to your children so they can see how great movies once were.
Movie Review: The past; seen through thick, nostalgic glasses
Summary: 5 Stars
"How Green Was My Valley" is a rare, quality entry into that classic genre, the movie that is an unfettered, sentimental love letter to "days gone by." This particular Brigadoon is a small Welsh mining town, where every cause is righteous , where money corrupts and the very poorest have the purest of hearts and where the salt of the Earth earn their keep by digging deep in the coal mines.If you are in the mood for it, if you can check you modern cynicism at the door, "How Green Was My Valley" is an excellent film. John Ford (The Searchers, The Quiet Man) is a master director, and creates an incredible authenticity of feeling and homesickness, especially for a man born in Maine. Young Roddy McDowall is a feisty Huw Morgan, and Maureen O'Hara is the tragic beauty Angharad Morgan. The film presents some interesting lessons on church morality, poverty and fighting back, though not always in the way expected.
There will always be room for this type of movie. "It's a Wonderful Life," "Madadayo" and "How Green was my Valley" are all in my movie collection. Sometimes you just need to sit back and let the nostalgia for "days gone by" wash over you.
Movie Review: "Who Is For Wil Morgan?" ~ A Life In Retrospect
Summary: 5 Stars
Of all the unforgettable classic b/w films made in the 40's during the "Golden Age" of Hollywood, `How Green Was My Valley' released in '41 is my personal favorite. Who could ever tire of watching this timeless tale focusing on a poor Welsh coal mining community at the beginning of the 20th century. Done in narration style you will be transported back to a difficult, but simplier time to relive the life of young Huw Morgan (Roddy McDowall) and his loving memories of family, friends and assorted members of the township. His lifetime unfolds before the viewer, moments of happiness and hardship, triumphs and failures, life and death.
Directed by the legendary John Ford and performed by a cast which includes some of the finest actors and actresses of that generation it's no surprise this film won numerous Academy Award in '41, including the Oscar for "Best Picture".
Starring Roddy McDowall, Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Donald Crisp and a myriad of notables. This is a film that belongs in everyone's DVD collection.
Movie Review: How wet was my hankie
Summary: 5 Stars
It's an impressive line-up that doesn't disappoint. John Ford directs from the Richard Llewelyn book and there's fine acting from Donald Crisp (the father) and Walter Pidgeon (the local minister). Perhaps young Roddy McDowell's performance is a bit too sympathetic, but this is a coming of age film.
The story is set in Cywm Rhonda, the famed Welsh coal mining valley. Despite the gorgeous cinematography and a soundtrack just full of fabulous Welsh men's choral singing, "How Green Was My Valley" is a real tear jerker, almost infinitely sad. No good milestone in young Huw's life is untouched by grief. You'll smile in places, as when Ty Bando gives the ghastly schoolmaster a boxing lesson, but mostly you'll cry, starting about 15 seconds in, and lasting until the last moment. If you can handle a real tear-jerker, you've GOT to see this. A favorite of mine for a third of a century now and still I discover new glories in it. It's stunningly well-edited, I realized in my latest viewing.