How Green Was My Valley

How Green Was My Valley is a 1941 drama directed by John Ford. The film, based on the best-selling 1939 novel of the same name by Richard Llewellyn, was produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and scripted by Philip Dunne. The film stars Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Anna Lee, Donald Crisp, and a very young Roddy McDowall. It was nominated for ten Academy Awards, famously beating Citizen Kane, Sergeant York and The Maltese Falcon for Best Picture. It also won Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Supporting Actor.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) As per usual, John Ford does amazing work as the film's director.
 * 2) Perfectly maintains the spirit of the book its based on and is very faithful to the book it's based on, despite various changes.
 * 3) *A noteworthy aspect of the film adaptation is that most of the plot narrated by Huw as he ages from 10 to 60 was discarded for the big screen. The time frame was limited to Huw as a 10-year-old. which not only eliminates potentially sticky scenes of Huw losing his virginity, it allowed the story to unfold from the plot of view of a young child not fully aware of the large political and social structures affecting his family. Llewellyn's basic story remained intact as the film still documents how social changes bring about the dissolution of the Morgan family, coal miners in a Welsh village.
 * 4) *Details about labor unrest were pushed into the background, focusing on an affair between Gruffydd and Angharad Morgan, which was described as the "only halfway happy love story" in the film.
 * 5) There's are brief scene which criticizes religion and supports an unmarried-single mother which was unusual and risky for a film made in 1941.
 * 6) Ford's own childhood echoed many of the incidents in How Green Was My Valley, one of the reasons why the film's emotions seem so heartfelt. Like the Joads in The Grapes of Wrath, the close-knit Morgans enjoy living and working surrounded by beauty, only to have it all taken away from them by forces out of their control. Ford doesn't offer any solutions to the problems, showcasing just how unfair and tough life was in those days. The downward arc of the film is as hopeless as in any other American film. Even the addition of a happy ending did little to blunt Ford's message.
 * 7) Similar to the source material, there are well told episodic stories between the hard-working Welsh coal-mining Morgan family which involve:
 * 8) Domestic life, romance, harsh treatment at school, the departure of two Morgan sons (Owen and Young Gwilym) to find their fortune in America, unrequited love between Mr. Gruffydd and Angharad - the only Morgan daughter, etc.
 * 9) The Morgan family is extremely well-written and relatable
 * 10) Gwilym Morgan, the patriarch of the family may be strict to his kids, but he cares about them and genuinely wants them to succeed. Plus he's not portrayed as a reactionary fool for opposing to unionization.
 * 11) Beth Morgan is the mother of the family and aside from being caring and loving, she's also very strong and defensive as she's willing to defend her husband and kids at whatever cost.
 * 12) Huw was the narrator and youngest member of the family. He had to deal with getting bullied at school and losing every he had ever loved from the mines.
 * 13) Incredible acting from the cast overall, especially from Gwilym and Beth Morgan's actors and Roddy McDowall as Huw in particular.
 * 14) Amazing cinematography from Arthur Miller.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) A couple characters from the book didn't make it into the film. In the book, Huw had three sisters named, Angharad, Ceridwen, and Olwen; but in the film adaptation, Angharad was the only daughter in the family. Though to be fair, they had to cut some content due to the shorter runtime than planned.
 * 2) Huw's older brothers could have been more developed.
 * 3) Can be a bit melodramatic or slow-paced at times.
 * 4) Despite being set in Wales, it wasn't shot there instead being shot in California.
 * 5) With the exception of Rhys Williams (who played Dai Bando), none of the cast members were Welsh.