steve_jm_kidd How Green Was My Valley is a bit like one of those books you have to read at school, but don't really want to and don't enjoy as much as you should. Altogether too twee, and whereas things like Lassie Come Home and Mrs Miniver tug the heartstrings to breaking point this seems a deal, clumsier? (That's not the right word, perhaps reckless might be a better term) The thing is, it pertains to being right-on, it could have been an incredible ecological pioneer, and begins as if it is going to be, but falters from the get go. It could be a tribute to the working man, but it is unconvincing. It could be an homage to Wales but it is a load of Yanks in a studio with California backgrounds*. It could have been a counterpoint to Goodbye Mr Chips, but it ended up just with a short but total indictment of teachers whilst forgetting the system. Most of all it could be an epic on rational economics but it never actually makes its mind up enough to get started. Its loudest clarion is for that oxymoron 'sensible religion', so all in all, I was happy to watch it from the point of cinema history, but I enjoyed my sweet potato fries with coconut and mushroom sauce a deal more. (The food got a 7.7). The Hayes code has got a lot to answer for. I wonder if William Wyler would have done it better?* Called that before I read it "Fox wanted to shoot the movie in Wales in Technicolor, but events in Europe during World War II made this impossible. Instead, Ford had the studio build an 80 acre authentic replica of a Welsh mining town at Brent's Crags (subsequently Crags Country Club) in the Santa Monica Mountains near Malibu, California. The cast had one Welsh actor, Rhys Williams, in a minor role." (Wikipedia)If you do watch this listen for the cast all conjugating sentences like Yoda! "How green was my Valley that day, too, green and bright in the sun."

Lee Eisenberg John Ford followed up "The Grapes of Wrath" with another socially conscious film: "How Green Was My Valley". This one looks at a community of Welsh coal miners trying to stay together amid all manner of hardships. It gets told from the point of view of the son of one family (played by a young Roddy McDowall). When the narration says that it's a way of life that has long since passed, that reminded me of the numerous instances in which cultures have gotten impacted by outside forces. Indeed, we see the coal slag starting to pollute the landscape around the town. I suspect that the miners' way of life completely ended when Margaret Thatcher shut down the mines after the 1984-85 strike (although the reality is that we should be ditching coal if we want breathable air).I liked getting to hear Welsh sung in the movie. I wouldn't recognize the language if I heard it spoken, but I like hearing a variety of languages in movies. More specifically, I like movies that show us cultures that we don't often get to see. As to this movie's Oscar win over "Citizen Kane", I'd say that "Citizen Kane" was the better movie while "How Green Was My Valley" was the more important one. I don't know if I would call it a perfect movie, but the socially conscious stance combined with outstanding performances makes it one that I recommend. Definitely worth seeing.

atlasmb What can you say about a film that is known less for the fact that it won the Academy Award for Best Motion Picture than the fact that it beat out Citizen Kane? It also beat out The Maltese Falcon and Sergeant York--both of which, I would argue are more revered today than HGWMV.I will not assign a score to this film, because I did not watch all of it. This is not to say that it's a bad film, but I grew tired of the painfully precious tone at the beginning of the film, coupled with the very heavy-handed dramatization.John Ford directed many fine films (for example The Quiet Man),but in this film I felt at times that he thought he was directing a silent film, so overly dramatic was the action and the behavior of the actors.The story is primarily about a family of miners, the Morgans. They live in a valley with a one-industry economy. This is a prescription for economic instability. There may be a great story in the trials of the town and the Morgan family, but the film's slowness and it's reliance on overdramatization stopped me from watching its entirety. Perhaps one day I will watch it again, being prepared for it's style ahead of time.

AaronCapenBanner John Ford directed this Academy Award winning film(Best Picture & Director) that is set in a Welsh mining town, seen through the eyes of young Huw Morgan(played by Roddy McDowall) who works in the mine with his family. Despite his age, Huw is determined to help his family, and have his parents(played by Donald Crisp & Sarah Allgood) be proud of him, though they really want him to better himself by going to school. Film also deals with the trials and tribulations dealing with the unseen mining owners, and the unsafe conditions of the mines, which will one day have tragic consequences...Good film is overpraised, since its beating "Citizen Kane" in the 1941 Academy Awards is legendary. Though I agree it was the wrong choice, this is still an effective little movie, with fine performances by all.