X
- 1941
- Approved
- Twentieth Century Fox
- 1 h 58 m
- 1941
- Approved
- Twentieth Century Fox
- 1 h 58 m
Summary At the turn of the century in a Welsh mining village, the Morgans, he stern, she gentle, raise coal-mining sons and hope their youngest will find a better life.
Directed By: John Ford
Written By: Philip Dunne, Richard Llewellyn
- 1941
- Approved
- Twentieth Century Fox
- 1 h 58 m
- 1941
- Approved
- Twentieth Century Fox
- 1 h 58 m
How Green Was My Valley
6.6
Where to Watch
Summary At the turn of the century in a Welsh mining village, the Morgans, he stern, she gentle, raise coal-mining sons and hope their youngest will find a better life.
Directed By: John Ford
Written By: Philip Dunne, Richard Llewellyn
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 17 Critic Reviews
88
100% Positive
17 Reviews
17 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 17 Critic Reviews
88
100% Positive
17 Reviews
17 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Based on Richard Llewellyn's stirring memoir of his Welsh boyhood, this is one of the great John Ford films, a multiple Oscar winner (it beat out Citizen Kane) and a strong, lyrical, deeply moving family saga set during a time of labor turbulence and social change. [11 Sep 1998, p.K]
How Green Was My Valley thrums with an indomitable confidence in a better day, one that’s rooted in the memory that life in this valley – before the mine hollowed things out – was once very good.
As in all the best Fordian cinema, though everything changes and most things die or disappear, what remains in memory and in spirit triumphs—and what on the surface is a tender and sad film becomes instead joyous and robust.
The dialogue follows the quaint Welsh dialect of the book and the picture is as faithful a transcription of novel to screen as it is possible for a scenarist and director to achieve. The screen play, by Philip Dunne, retains all the honest vigor and tender charm of the book.
Ford depicts a working-class solidarity based on morality, tradition, and community; he conveys his nuanced and tender sociology with surprising sound effects and expressionistic tableaux that feature the sort of angles that made Welles famous (and which the younger man borrowed, in turn, from Ford’s Stagecoach).
Maybe because How Green Was My Valley doesn’t delve as deeply into the heart of darkness as Ford did in his earlier The Grapes of Wrath, it remains one of his most curiously underrated films.
Its sentimentality is ragged at times, but the overall quilt of the film is well constructed. [09 Apr 1992, p.15]
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 9 User Ratings
6.6
67% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
11% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
22% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 9 User Ratings
6.6
67% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
11% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
22% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 5 Wins & 10 Nominations
National Board of Review, USA
• 4 Wins & 4 Nominations
New York Film Critics Circle Awards
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
