How Green Was My Valley
HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY (U)
D: John Ford
20th Century Fox (Darryl F. Zanuck)
US 1941
118 mins
Drama
W: Philip Dunne [based on the novel by
Richard Llewellyn]
DP: Arthur Miller
Ed: James B. Clark
Mus: Alfred Newman
PD: Richard Day & Nathan Juran
Cos: Gwen Wakeling
Walter Pidgeon (Mr. Gruffydd), Maureen O'Hara (Angharad
Morgan), Donald Crisp (Mr. Morgan), Anna Lee (Bronwyn), Roddy McDowall (Huw Morgan), John Loder (Ianto Morgan), Sara Allgood (Mrs. Morgan)
The film which famously won the 1941 Best Picture Oscar over
Orson Welles' Citizen Kane. Whether it deserved the accolade or not is subjective. Personally, I find Orson Welles' work to be far more superior, but considering the scandal that it caused, it
may have been sensible for the Academy Awards to go for the safer option.
Set in a small Welsh coal mining village at the turn of the
20th Century, the story follows the lives of the Morgan family and their relationships with each other when staff are laid off and strikes ensue.
The story vignettes are shown through the eyes of various
family members, particularly young Huw Morgan (a very young Roddy McDowall).
John Ford does a splendid job bringing the work to the screen,
with incredible detail involved in the scale of the village (kudos to the production designers).
It's a fantastic piece of work for 1941, but it's not quite my
personal favourite of the year.
8/10
