How Green Was My Valley

Well, I have the night off, and what do I do? I watch some instant Netflix, that's what. As far as the Best Picture winners I have yet to see, two have been sitting in my instant queue forever, so it was about time I watched one of them, and tonight, How Green Was My Valley won out.

A brief bio before I dive straight in. How Green Was My Valley was directed by John Ford (director of The Grapes of Wrath) and stars Roddy McDowall as the young Huw (pronounced Hugh - I know, it's about Welsh people, what can you do) Morgan. The movie is based on the book by Richard Llewellyn and tells the story of a Welsh village, specifically the town leaders, the Morgans, adapting to the changes of the coal mine. The movie won Academy Awards for not only Best Picture, but Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for Donald Crisp (a fantastic performance in the role of Mr. Morgan), best cinematography (black and white), and best art-direction interior decoration (black and white). Not too shabby for any film.

As the awards suggest, the movie was gorgeous. Its depiction of a rural village nestled in the heart of a valley led to some stunning wide shots. The coal mine, which constantly belches smoke and ash is right next to many of the houses, and the juxtaposition of these idyllic, stone homes next to this enormous coal mine was visually striking to say the least.

How Green Was My Valley obviously hooks onto the nostalgia everyone seems to have for a simpler time, when men were real men and women were real women. However, this story takes this nostalgia in an interesting direction. Although the movie is narrated by an older Huw looking back on his simpler childhood, he seems to recognize that things were changing even then, the world was and is modernizing and the simplicity of a country lifestyle cannot live on in the face of increasing industrialization. Ok, so he doesn't say that explicitly, but even the guy's idyllic childhood sees some absolutely heart-wrenching tragedies (he's nearly paralyzed, his family splits up because of unemployment, his sister's reputation is falsely destroyed, his father dies in a coal shaft, etc.).

All those tragedies being said, it was hard to really latch on to one of them as the pivotal moment in the plot. Actually, it is kind of difficult to even lay a finger on what the plot really was - the movie does such a good job of following this village through the passage of time that it tends to forget that the story suffers because of it.

Overall, I was impressed with this movie. How Green Was My Valley was a gorgeous movie experience complete with great acting, directing, and an intriguing commentary on industrialization. It even had a woman (Anghard played by Maureen O'Hara) take some action - granted it didn't turn out so great in the end, but at least she got to try! Ok, enough of my internal feminist critic coming out to play. This movie gets a 4 out of 5 for me. Definitely worth watching, but the large and wobbly plot can make it hard to connect with.

Right now I've got Cavalcade sitting on my desk (still) and my lovely, lovely library found me a VHS copy of Cimarron! That should give me something to do during Thanksgiving break. Well, that's 75 down and only six to go. Happy watching!