How Green Was My Valley

Plot synopsis:
The movie begins with a monologue by an older Huw Morgan (voice by Irving Pichel): "I am packing my belongings in the shawl my mother used to wear when she went to the market. And I'm going from my valley. And this time, I shall never return." The valley and its villages are now blackened by the coal mines that fill the area.
A young Huw (Roddy McDowall), the youngest child of Gwilym Morgan (Donald Crisp), walks home with his father to meet his mother, Beth (Sara Allgood). His older brothers, Ianto (John Loder), Ivor (Patric Knowles), Davy (Richard Fraser), Gwilym Jr., and Owen all work in the coal mines with their father, while sister Angharad (Maureen O'Hara) keeps house with their mother. Huw's childhood is idyllic, the town, not yet overrun with mining spoil, is beautiful, and the household is warm and loving. Huw is smitten on meeting Bronwyn (Anna Lee), a girl engaged to be married to his oldest brother, Ivor (Patric Knowles). At the boisterous wedding party Angharad meets the new preacher, Mr. Gruffydd (Walter Pidgeon), and there is an obvious mutual attraction.
Trouble begins when the mine owner decreases wages, and the miners strike in protest. Gwilym's attempt to mediate by not endorsing a strike estranges him from the other miners as well as his older sons, who quit the house. Beth interrupts a late night meeting of the strikers, threatening to kill anyone who harms her husband. While returning home, crossing the fields in a snowstorm in the dark, Beth falls into the river. Huw dives in to save her with the help of the townspeople, and temporarily loses the use of his legs. He recovers with the help of Mr. Gruffydd, which further endears him to Angharad.
The strike is eventually settled, and Gwilym and his sons reconcile, yet many miners have lost their jobs. Angharad is courted by the mine owner's son, Iestyn Evans (Marten Lamont), though she loves Mr. Gruffydd. Mr. Gruffydd loves her too, to the malicious delight of the gossipy townswomen, but cannot bear to subject her to an impoverished churchman's life. Angharad submits to a loveless marriage to Evans, and they relocate out of the country.
Huw begins school at a nearby village. Abused by other boys, he is taught to fight by boxer Dai Bando (Rhys Williams) and his crony, Cyfartha (Barry Fitzgerald). After a beating by the cruel teacher Mr. Jonas (Morton Lowry), Dai Bando avenges Huw with an impromptu boxing display on Mr. Jonas to the delight of his pupils.
On the day that Bronwyn gives birth to their child, Ivor is killed in a mine accident. Later, two of Morgan's sons are dismissed in favour of less experienced, cheaper labourers. With no job prospects, they leave to seek their fortunes abroad. Huw is awarded a scholarship to university, but to his father's dismay he refuses it to work in the mines. He relocates in with Bronwyn to help provide for her and her child.
When Angharad returns without her husband, vicious gossip spreads through the town of an impending divorce. Mr. Gruffydd is denounced by the church deacons, and after condemning the town's small-mindedness, he decides to leave.
Just then, the alarm whistle sounds, signalling another mine disaster. Several men are injured, and Gwilym and others are trapped in a cave-in. Young Huw, Mr. Gruffydd, and Dai Bando descend with others for a rescue attempt. Gwilym and his son are briefly re-united before he succumbs to his injuries. Huw rides the lift to the surface cradling his father's body, his coal-blackened face devoid of youthful innocence.
Narration by an older Huw recalls, "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." The movie ends with a montage of family vignettes showing Huw with his father and mother, his brothers and sister.

Tags: melodrama

Review:
John Ford's film of social and familial change details the chilling effects hard economic times have on a large, but tight-knit Welsh coal mining family around the turn of the last century.
Yet on its own merits it's a fine film and can be seen again and again without any boredom.It's like Ford's Liberty Valance in that it shows the progress that the world's first industrial society, 19th century Great Britain as reflected in that Welsh valley, just like the settling of the American West in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
At times, what we are witnessing before our eyes, remind us of the work of great photographers such as Margaret Bourke-White, whose pictures for the old Life magazine parallel Mr. Miller's stark photography in the film.Mr. Ford uses songs in most of his films.
One of John Ford's finest hours, it is magnificently staged and shot, with a lovely score (by Alfred Newman) and rich performances, headed by Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara and Roddy McDowall.
The story is told by an adult who remembers his childhood:Roddy McDowall gives a very sensitive performance in this part,he's simply the best actor of a topflight cast (to think that nowadays McDowall is remembered by the young generations mainly for his part of Cornelius the ape)All the scenes which involve the boy are simply wonderful,particularly the one with the daffodils (it 'd have been shot in color!),and the one with his father in his arms at the end.John Ford ,as usual , is a master when it comes to depict a small community who's got to stand together to survive.And he does not spare us the tragedies ,the bigotry ,the slander,but he adds humor,joie de vivre (the men,turning their nose on tea and wanting beer).But sometimes it seems too good to be true:the boss's offspring marrying a miner's daughter,even when she's a beauty like Maureen O'Hara?The boss asking the poor father's permission?We are far from Emile Zola's "Germinal" :both stories happen about during the same era ,both with the miners' life both are radically different.Zola's world is a bleak,desperate world ,his depiction of the families' houses and meals (when there is food) and the pictures of Ford's movie are worlds apart.But the biggest difference is the omnipresence of the Lord's will:in "how green" the minister is a cool young handsome man (Pidgeon),in "Germinal" ,the priest's only a silhouette,but a selfish cruel one,unconcerned to man's plight:Zola's miners do not put their trust in a God anymore .Wales and the east of France ,were they that much different?You can only say they were novels and movies,and reality is probably somewhere between them..
This movie is a little long at times, but this is still a powerful story about the many stories that came out of the coal mining families in Wales, Great Britain.
Nonetheless, there is a lot of "religion" pictured positively in this film, a lot of spiritual scenes and most were done well.Roddy McDowell plays the most memorable character, I thought: "Huw," a young boy who went through some really tough times, as did most of the townsfolk.
Huw (played by a 13-year-old Roddy McDowall) is the youngest in a family composed by parents (Donald Crisp , Sara Allgood) and 6 brothers (John Loder, Patrick Knowles, among others) and one sister (Maureen O'Hara) who falls in love with the new preacher, Mr. Gruffydd (Walter Pidgeon) , who had a slightly different view of his relationship with her, and which would end up destroying his life in the valley.
Thought-provoking , enjoyable screenplay portraying in depth characters and brooding events with interesting issues running beneath script surface .In the forties , Ford won-back-to-back Best Director Oscars for two more classics he made at Fox, the screen adaptations of future Nobel laureate John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning classic Grapes of the wrath (1940) in 1941, and of Richard Llewellyn's memoir of his youth in the coal-mining region of Wales, this How Green was my valley (1941) .
In the 1940s, Ford won-back-to-back Best Director Oscars for two more classics he made at Fox, the screen adaptations of future Nobel laureate John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning classic The grapes of the wrath (1940) in 1941, and of Richard Llewellyn's memoir of his youth in the coal-mining region of Wales, ¡Qué verde era mi valle!
Wales is NOT Ireland and Welsh people do NOT speak with an Irish accent, as well as their own language they have their own accent, its called Welsh!Ford makes a lot of effort trying to make the movie NOT look like a western, yet while watching I kept getting the impression that the whole Sioux nation was about to chase John Wayne over the hills in the background before they all promptly fall into the mine!I am sorry if my review has offended any of the Americans who love this movie, I know you have probably grown up with it and every time its on TV it takes you to your happy place, which I am sure is very nice and comfy, but for people who have read the book and know Wales inside out it gives us the same feeling that I can imagine Americans would have if they were to watch remakes of 'The Waltons' filmed in South Africa with a Canadian cast all speaking with Australian accents!Its strange to think that Fox lied, even back then!I have scored this film with 3 stars because of its awful transition from book to film, but if I had never read the book or even heard of a place called Wales I would have given it 7 stars for its blind entertainment value.Put that remote down and go to the library.
Interesting look at life in Welsh coal-mining town in the early- 1900s.The story of a family, the Morgans, who live in a Welsh coal-mining town, told through the eyes of the youngest son, Huw (played by a 12-year old Roddy MacDowall).
The landing is a bit soft.Great performances all round.How Green Was My Valley went on to win the 1942 Best Picture Oscar, beating out Citizen Kane (amongst others) to the award.
It received five Oscars beating "Citizen Kane" for best movie Oscar (1941), it also receive Oscars for Best Director (John Ford),Best supporting Actor(Donald Crisp),Best Art Direction/Interior decoration, and best cinematography.
But what really makes the film memorable are the wonderful character roles played by DONALD CRISP and SARA ALLGOOD, two of Hollywood's most renowned veteran performers.And what a pleasure it was to see DONALD CRISP get his Oscar award for Best Supporting Actor.
This fine actor is in so many of my favorite films that I can only say--it's about time.But the story of a coal mining village where the industrialization is about to take place and miner's lives are about to change, has never been one that intrigued me enough to want to sit through two hours of sentimentality about the strength of a family during hard times.
You can see the effect best in the opening sequence, when the mottled greys and swathes of black of the village in modern times changes to startling white with crisp black silhouettes for the "green" of Huw's childhood.What makes this picture especially typical of Ford is its use of space.
Hew Morgan, as an old man, remembers the Welsh mining village (and valley) of his youth, particularly the strike which divided his family, the girl who he fell in love with and married his older brother, and his beautiful sister (Maureen O'Hara) and her thwarted love for the decent preacher Mr Gruffydd (Walter Pigeon).Another work of nostalgia and sentiment from John Ford.
I have seen it many times - on television and on DVD - never on the movie screen though, where I can only imagine the overwhelming experience it must have been.The story of a Welsh coal mining family at the end of the 1890's going through a time of great change was adapted from Richard Llewellyn's novel.
But whatever its departure from reality, the movie probably influenced the way people thought of the Welsh for decades to come; showing what a powerful work this film was and is.Director John Ford was always sensitive to the breakdown of family.
Even the interference of Darryl Zanuck, especially with the editing, made a significant contribution.And the cast: Roddy McDowall, Walter Pidgeon, Sara Allgood, Donald Crisp and others - all of them gone now, yet all united forever in this haunting movie, in much the way that the cast comes back at the end.But the driving force was Ford.
Lovingly put together by John Ford, "How Green Was My Valley" was released in 1941 and remains a classic today, despite its today frowned-upon win as Best Picture over "Citizen Kane." That year, Ford's film swept the Oscars.
And both Kane and How Green Was My Valley have survived to be remembered as classics.The story of a Welsh coal mining town based on the novel by Richard Llewellyn was intended to be as big and as long as Gone with the Wind, but Darryl Zanuck modified these ideas.
He did very few takes and gave the studio pretty much what we see on the screen; he was going off to war and didn't want a hatchet job in editing.The film focuses on one family, the Morgans, and narrated by the adult Huw Morgan, an adult now and about to leave the valley, who is never seen but as a child is played brilliantly by Roddy McDowall.
Directed by John Ford, "How Green Was My Valley" is one of the best movies ever made.
Winner of five academy awards including a best director award for Ford, and best picture beating out movies "Citizen Kane" and "The Maltese Falcon".This story is about a Welsh family in a coal mining town in the late 19th century.
Donald Crisp, who won an academy award in this film for best supporting actor, does a superb job playing the head of the Morgan family, his wife played by Sara Allgood (nominated for best supporting actress) is in a strong role as well.
That image captures the emotional spirit of John Ford's Best Picture winner (yes, the one that beat "Citizen Kane" and "The Maltese Falcon") : the universal paradox of life is that it takes climbing the valley to admire how beautiful the view was, especially with children's eyes of wonder.
It is an idealistic dream from the start, the valley of Wales (which strangely resemble the industrialist setting of Zola's masterpiece "Germinal") looks like the pastoral heaven where coal miners work hard, ruled by entrusted owners, women keeping the house, and priests herding their sheep.The story is told from a narrator who's living after fifty years, assembling his belongings in the shawl that belonged to his mother.
And like a romantic painter, Ford addresses a magnificent portrait of the Morgan family as a monument of stability at a time where the Old Europe became the arena of bloody battles.It was the war indeed that prevented the shooting to be set in Wales and turned the Malibu valley into a Welsh village.
The film opens with the family reunion, the patriarch Mr. Morgan (Donald Crisp) cuts the bread to his sons, makes the prayer while the mother (Sara Allgood) is the last to start the meal and the first to finish, she's the pillar of the little community and while the film strikes a man's movie, it leaves no doubt about who's the real boss in the house.
A perfect example of the fine storytelling ability of the studio system in Hollywood's Golden Age, How Green Was My Valley is certainly one of John Ford's fine achievements; beautifully set in black and white as well as superbly acted by each actor amongst the large crowd of characters.There is a narrator, but we really don't need him to tell the story so much as simply set it up for us.
Anyone who has seen classic Hollywood films before understands how this type of story will play out, but it still is more than worth it to go along for the ride as we witness the Morgan family go through many trials and troubles including problems with unions and wages, disagreements among relatives, marriages, forbidden love and of course death.There are times when I felt that this film dragged on a bit, especially the scenes showing the young Huw's introduction to public schooling, and some of the characters like the drunk boxers are there for nothing more than mere comedic relief.
This movie tells the story of the Morgans, a coal-mining family that lives a harsh life in South Wales valleys.Huw Morgan tells this story as an older man.He looks back to the time he was a kid, wanting to be a miner just like his father and older brothers.John Ford was one of the greatest directors of western movies.But western wasn't the only genre he was good at.How Green Was My Valley (1941) is a beautiful film that won 5 Oscars.It's a nostalgic trip into one's memories.Master Roddy McDowall is the young Huw and what an excellent job he does.Donald Crisp is terrific as Gwilym Morgan.And so is Sara Allgood as Mrs. Beth Morgan.Maureen O'Hara gives a brilliant performance as Angharad.Walter Pidgeon is very good as the new preacher, Mr. Gruffydd who's loved by Angharad.John Loder plays Ianto Morgan and Patrick Knowles is Ivor.They're both great.Anna Lee is magnificent as Bronwyn, Ivor's wife.This movie has some dramatic moments set in the mine.But it shows us that even though the life may be tough and money hard to get, you can always find some beauty in life..
One of John Ford's finest movies is the story of life in a Welsh mining town seen through the eyes of Huw (Roddy McDowall), the youngest son in the Morgan family.
The characters are interesting and human,the effect of the mine on the morgan family is total,it feeds them  tho they are badly treated by the owner.The family is sometimes split down the midddle but comes together as a strong unit in times of crisis,the scene where two brothers leave for the USA is poignant as the mother knows they will never meet again.The camera shows them leaving the valley climbing upwards as if the only way they can progress in life is to leave their past behind them.The acting ,writing and directing are first class,modern movies have grea effects but very few have the heart and humanity of this film.Grab some coffee,sweets and a   box of tissues make that two boxes of tissues watch and enjoy 8.5/10.
Yet, patience won't quite cut it with How Green Was My Valley, his 1940 Oscar winner that tells the story of a Welsh coal-mining family struggling through the ups and downs of pre-welfare state industrialism in the late 1800s.HGWMV is a beautiful movie, inasmuch as you can find black and white beautiful.
It's time to forgive the film starring Maureen O'Hara, Roddy McDowall, and Walter Pidgeon for taking the Academy Award for Best Picture that many believe to be owed to Citizen Kane.
Following Huw as he ages and learns from the mistakes and turmoil his family endures, How Green Was My Valley is a beautiful story capturing the heart of everything that American cinema is capable of being.John Ford is the ultimate master of the melodrama.
Thanks to John Ford's deft and efficient direction, the final product "made do" just fine.Starring a young Maureen O'Hara and an even younger Roddy McDowall, "How Green Was My Valley" successfully conveys the perspective of youth, especially in how McDowall's character, Huw Morgan, spends months in recovery after falling into a frozen stream, and how he looked up to Mr. Gruffydd (Donald Crisp), the town minister.
And, though Donald Crisp did win Best Supporting Actor, I believe that Sara Allgood's performance is the best one in the film, especially during the scene in which she walks for the first time after she and Huw fell into the aforementioned frozen stream.Okay, so "How Green Was My Valley" is in black-and-white and not in color, but don't hold that against it.
Ford has proved himself as an excellent director with this film, as he tells the story (which is also done well) of a family of coal miner's in a small town.
'How Green Was My Valley' is an offbeat movie among the works of a great - maybe the greatest - American director, John Ford.
As a picture forever been cursed by critics as "the one undeservedly trumped CITIZEN KANE (1941) for BEST PICTURE in the Oscar game", John Ford's traditional family chronicle about the Morgans in the South Wales Valleys based on Richard Llewellyn's 1939 eponymous novel, is truly born in the wrong year, for all we can see, it has a solemn rigour with first-rate camera compositions and Black-and-White cinematography, but tellingly it is also dated for its musty Protestant sense of worth in certain ways, say, the grating small- town parochiality is too overtly in-your-face, the socialism slamming is rather political and the puritan doctrine that a love-struck romance can be a man's undoing of his belief in God, thus he cannot marry the woman he loves simply because he chooses a lifestyle of austerity as a preacher, and doesn't reckon that she can tag along, only results in misery of both, it's all the same old story detached from our times.
Of course, the cast had only one Welsh actor: Rhys Williams, and he was only in a minor role.At the Academy Awards, the film won Best Picture, Best Director (John Ford), Best Actor (Donald Crisp) and Best Cinematography.
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.