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Rating:  -
The Amazon review is wonderful and I don't have anything to add; just to nod in agreement that this is a film not to be missed! The story is lovely, deeply sentimental. One wonders if the idyllic village life was truly that beautiful or if that was the way the author wanted to remember it. Anyway, realistic or not, it is refreshing to see a tight knit community, in this day of alienation. I found the singing of the coal miners as they marched to work to be very touching. Can you imagine marching to work with your friends, singing, in three part harmony?!
Of course bad things happened to mar the happiness and that is part of the human experience. The story doesn't gloss over the hardships but they are all met with such heroism that one is heartened to see them. Truly these folks were not trivialized by watching too much Seinfeld.
The cast is perfect. I had never seen Roddy McDowell as a child and was amazed at his flawless performance. Obviously John Ford had a way with actors. He loved them, (the Special Features says) and it shows. There is a natural innocence to all of them. Maureen O'Hara was fresh over from Ireland and in full beauty. Walter Pidgeon is the embodiment of strength, charm and integrity as the parson. (No wonder the O'Hara character fell for him!) Donald Crisp certainly deserved the Oscar he won for his performance as the father! Anna Lee as the big bosomed mother who has her own strength and humor is impressive, too. She makes
you realize what it is to be a mother--to bring babies into the world, only to lose them.
There is a political theme, of the exploitation of the workers by the mine owners and the necessity for the formation of unions. But the human drama is the main focus of the film and one isn't oppressed by dreary polemics. There is a bit of preaching by the preacher when an unwed mother is castigated by the church folks, but it is certainly deserved and, again, it isn't too much.
The film was made at the time when America was about to enter WWII and the audience was ready for such a hearty and comforting tale about human strength in the face of adversity. But it is, like all fine works of art, a film that has something for all of us at any time. Basic human values and virtues never go out of style.
Rating:  -
Purchased DVD "How Green Was My Valley" for our 8 year old grandson to go in his Wales Folder. Hope he will learn about the Welsh people and their histosry of over 2000 years. Maybe he will hum some of the great songs and hymns of these Celtic people. - DFS
Rating: -
John Ford was the greatest born and raised American director. HGWMV is just one of several masterpieces he helmed in 60 years of directing. Working with a beautiful script by Philip Dunne, Ford crafts a slow careful character driven evocation of a time gone by. Donald Crisp, Walter Pidgeon and Maureen O'Hara give pitch perfect performances.
Watching HGWMV does take a little suspension of disbelief. Little Huw looks exactly the same age over several years. Purhaps in a more extravagent enterprise, Huw would have been played by different actors at different ages but this is a two hour black and white movie. An epic full color filmed in Wales Gone With the Windesque extravaganza was planned but the Nazis decided to interfere. The filming was moved to Southern California and black and white filming was used as an attempt to make up the difference between the lush green Welsh countryside and the dry brown California hills. Also, all the principle actors are English, Irish, Canadien and American. Pretty much every accent but Welsh. At least they got the singing right.
Still, it is a wonderful movie. The characters and pacing make the film. This is a family film. Through all of their differences, the Morgans persevere. The sons break with their father over unionizing & finally move away to get work but they are not forgotten or rejected. Huw grows up poor but loved and guided. As he recovers from a terrible illness, goes to school, and joins his father in the mine, he is unfailingly supported & loved by family and neighbors.
This was Ford's last fictional film until 1945. During the war, he made several documentaries for the war effort. He was even wounded during the Midway battle. Made as Britain was being pounded by the Germans and the Americans were gearing up to enter the war, HGWWMV was a heartfelt shot in the arm and can easily be seen as a celebration of the British way of life and freedom in dark times.
Rating:  -
How Green Was My Valley has rightly become a modern classic, much too good for merely studying at school. So it was with some considerable anticipation that I sat down to enjoy this DVD. Yet I had to wonder which valley they are talking about. Having some familiarity with the South Wales coalpits area, I could not believe how unlike Wales the setting is. Just shoving a feeble impression of a coal mine on a hill gives no indications of what Wales is like. Nor does a group of guys bursting into song every five minutes.
If the setting is hopeless, the attempts at Welsh accents are worse. We have an intriguing mixture of mainly Irish, sometimes American dialects. The adaptation is hopeless; just picking odd scenes from the book with no continuity results in a disjointed and hesitant screenplay with no flow at all. I love old films but this one is as bad as it gets. Did it really beat Citizen Kane to those Oscars? I give it 2 stars to compensate for Roddy McDowall's excellent performance. The rest of the cast, including the very American looking and sounding Miss O'Hara, you could give away with a lucky bag.
Rating: -
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...
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