How Green Was My Valley

Composite Score: 83.13

Starring: Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O’Hara, Anna Lee, Donald Crisp, Roddy McDowall, John Loder, Sara Allgood, Barry Fitzgerald, Patric Knowles, Arthur Shields, Rhys Williams, and Irving Pichel

Director: John Ford

Writer: Philip Dunne

Genres: Drama, Family

MPAA Rating: Passed

Box Office: $2.40 million worldwide

Why should you Watch This Film?

                How Green Was My Valley is the 1941 film adaptation of Richard Llewellyn’s novel of the same name. It chronicles the lives of a Welsh family living in a mining village in southern Wales around the turn of the century and the ways that they adapt to the changes in the world around them. The ensemble coming-of-age piece won five Oscars, including Best Director for John Ford, Best Supporting Actor for Donald Crisp, and Best Picture, and was nominated for five more. It is a film that hearkens to and mourns for simpler and more “innocent” times that also recognizes the inevitable march of progress and the dangers of allowing our tradition and nostalgia to keep us from adapting to the ever-changing social climate. Its ability to walk that fine line and the solid performances of its central family (the Morgans) have solidified its place as a film worth seeing.

Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?

                As a film that tries to walk the line between nostalgia and progress, How Green Was My Valley inevitably will leave certain viewers less than satisfied with where it ends up on the scale. In a world where everything has to be either black or white – one way or the other – gray areas are becoming harder and harder to come by (which was less so the case in 1945), and so the film’s choice to celebrate the past while celebrating innovation might come across as contradictory or even lazy to modern audiences. I think it works, since it is a film about a family – meaning it takes the idea of family to its natural conclusion, asking the audience to accept the things they agree and disagree with alike from its central characters.

So wait, why should you Watch This Film?

                How Green Was My Valley’s focus on the past and present is supplemented by the actors that play important roles within and surrounding the Morgan family. Leading the family are Donald Crisp as Mr. Morgan and Sara Allgood as Mrs. Morgan, presenting two sides of the coin that is the parenting of the Morgan children – Mr. Morgan as stern and traditional, wanting his children to do whatever they can to succeed, with Mrs. Morgan as the softer but still traditional parent, urging her children to obey when they can, but recognizing their emotional needs as well. Their roles are filled well by the two actors to receive nods from the Academy in this film, each performing off the other, feeling every bit the Welsh parents that they are portraying. The romantic roles (Angharad and Mr. Gruffydd) played by Maureen O’Hara and Walter Pidgeon serve to accentuate the story of the film, drawing the audience deeper into the periphery and encouraging them to question some of the more traditional ideals that might have been in place at the start of the film. The pair help a compelling story of not-quite-forbidden love deliver through on its promises. Finally, the film’s heart and soul is its young protagonist – Huw, the youngest child of the Morgans – played by Roddy McDowall. The young actor’s performance combined with the voiceover work of the narrator (future Huw) make the character and his family into people that the audience wants to root for, even when the members of the family seem to be working at odds with each other.

                How Green Was My Valley’s themes of progress and nostalgia are brought home by quality leading performances that help modern audiences understand why this film won the awards that it did and why it remains worthy of recognition. Though its complicated engagement with seemingly contradictory concepts might frustrate viewers looking for stronger support for one or condemnation of the other, the classic remains a solid watch. If you’d like to check it out, it is currently available to rent on most streaming services.