How Green Was My Valley (film)

Infobox Film
name = How Green Was My Valley


caption = Theatrical poster
director = John Ford
producer = Darryl F. Zanuck
writer = Story:
Richard Llewellyn
Screenplay:
Philip Dunne
starring = Walter Pidgeon
Maureen O'Hara
Anna Lee
Donald Crisp
Roddy McDowall
music = Alfred Newman
cinematography = Arthur C. Miller
editing = James B. Clark
distributor = Twentieth Century Fox
released = October 28, 1941 (USA)
runtime = 118 minutes
country = United States
language = English
Welsh
budget =
amg_id = 1:23422
imdb_id = 0033729

"How Green Was My Valley" is a 1941 American drama film directed by John Ford. The film was produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, written by Philip Dunne, and based on the Richard Llewellyn novel of the same name. The film stars Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Anna Lee, Donald Crisp, and Roddy McDowall. It was nominated for ten Academy Awards, winning five and beating out such classics as "The Maltese Falcon", "Sergeant York" and "Citizen Kane" for Best Picture.

The film tells the story of the Morgans, a close, hard-working Welsh family at the turn of the twentieth century in the South Wales coalfield at the heart of the South Wales Valleys. It chronicles a socio-economic way of life passing and the family unit disintegrating. In 1990, "How Green Was My Valley" was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot

The story is told through the eyes, and with the voice-over narration of Huw Morgan (Roddy McDowall), now a middle-aged man leaving the mining town of Cwm Rhondda, recalling the events that most impressed his younger self. The boy Huw is played by Roddy, but the voice-over is not Roddy's voice.

His first memories are of the marriage of his brother, Ivor (Patric Knowles), and the burgeoning romance of his sister, Angharad (Maureen O'Hara) with the new preacher, Mr. Gruffydd (Walter Pidgeon). Still too young to work in the local coal mine like his father, Gwilym (Donald Crisp), and his five older brothers, he senses the seriousness of an imminent strike by the rift it creates between his father and the other boys when three of them move out of the family abode.

During the tensions of the strike, Huw saves his mother (Sara Allgood) from drowning and in so doing temporarily loses the use of his legs. As Gruffydd aids in Huw's recovery, insisting on a positive attitude, he suggests that it is only the first of many trials the boy will have to face. The film concludes with the death of the father in a mining accident.

Background

William Wyler, the original director, saw the screen-test of Roddy and chose him for the part. Wyler was replaced later by director John Ford. Ford wanted to shoot the movie in Wales, but events in Europe during World War II made this impossible. Instead, he built a replica of the mining town at the nearly 3,000-acre Fox Ranch in Malibu Canyon. [ [http://www.reelclassics.com/Movies/HGV/hgv.htm "Reel Classics"] ]

Cast

* Walter Pidgeon as Mr. Gruffydd
* Maureen O'Hara as Angharad Morgan
* Anna Lee as Bronwyn, Ivor's wife
* Donald Crisp as Gwilym Morgan
* Roddy McDowall as Huw Morgan
* John Loder as Ianto Morgan
* Sara Allgood as Mrs. Beth Morgan
* Barry Fitzgerald as Cyfartha
* Patric Knowles as Ivor Morgan
* Morton Lowry as Mr. Jonas
* Arthur Shields as Mr. Parry
* Ann E. Todd as Ceinwen
* Frederick Worlock as Dr. Richards
* Richard Fraser (actor) as Davy Morgan
* Evan S. Evans as Gwilym Morgan
* James Monks as Owen Morgan
* Rhys Williams (actor) as Dai Bando
* Lionel Pape as Evans
* Ethel Griffies as Mrs. Nicholas
* Marten Lamont as Iestyn Evans

Awards

Academy Award wins

*Best Picture - Darryl F. Zanuck.
*Best Director - John Ford
*Best Supporting Actor - Donald Crisp
*Best Black-and-White Cinematography - Arthur C. Miller
*Best Black-and-White Art Direction-Interior Decoration - Richard Day, Nathan H. Juran and Thomas Little

Academy Award nominations

*Best Adapted Screenplay - Philip Dunne
*Best Supporting Actress - Sara Allgood
*Best Film Editing - James B. Clark
*Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture - Alfred Newman
*Best Recording Sound - Edmund H. Hansen

Other

* New York Film Critics Circle Awards: NYFCC Award; Best Director, John Ford; 1941.
* Argentine Film Critics Association Awards: Silver Condor; Best Foreign Film, John Ford, USA; 1943.
*1990—National Film Registry.

ee also

*"How Green Was My Valley" (novel)
*"The Stars Look Down"
*"The Proud Valley"

References

External links

*.
*.
*.
* [http://www.reelclassics.com/Movies/HGV/hgv.htm "How Green Was My Valley"] at "Reel Classics".
* [http://www.filmsite.org/howg.html "How Green Was My Valley"] at "Film Site" web site; contains plot detail.

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