Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Movie of the year, 15 April 2007
Who would know now that this film picked up the oscar for movie of the year in 1941 (maybe '42 when the ceremony was held)? It doesn't seem to have stayed in the public conscious like other classics from the era.
The story told in flashback, is one of nostalgia and longing for childhood and the love of family. The narrator misses a simpler, more innocent age. He educated himself out of his humble coal mining background, yet now, that is all he wants. In our time, we can feel the same about our childhoods, long after this film was even made. For me this laces it all with a double irony, and speaks volumes about human nature.
Yes, it is sentimental, and tugs on the heart strings, but it is honest and faithful in it's intentions. The parents, played by Donald Crisp, who picked up a supporting role oscar, and Sara Allgood are wonderful characters. They raise their family with much love and discipline, and an overpowering sense of belonging.
One flaw for me in the movie is the dodgy Welsh accents. As an Englishman they grate on me, so I can imagine it is worse for the Welsh. If you can get past them, then this is the perfect old movie.
Nostalgia aint what it used to be, or maybe it is for a lot of us.
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The genius of Ford, 17 Dec 2006
How Green was my Valley is a tale of the joys and hardships ( mostly hardships ) experienced by a mining community in the Welsh Valleys in the late Victorian era. The story centres on the Morgan family, an archetypal Welsh mining family consisting of a strict but loving ( in his own way ), father, a subserviant but nevertheless strong-willed wife and mother, many strong sons and the ubiquitous semi-servile daughter but still with a mind of her own, and of course, a far younger son, the baby of the family. On first viewing, anyone who does not know the director, will soon know it is John Ford by the classic Fordesque characteristics screaming out at them. In fact, it could be said to be the pre-cursor to his even more lauded The Quiet Man, made some years later. Taking both films together, it is obvious that Ford could and did utilise to maximum effect the characteristics and foibles we all rightly or wrongly associate with the 2 communities featured, both Gaelic, and both alien to, and alienated by their current or former Masters in Whitehall. But Ford does this magnificently across the 2 films as he does have to highlight the differences. With this film, he glories in the work-ethic heavy, dour, chapel influenced life of the Welsh at that time, with what humour there is very sparse in contrast to the rain, grime and coal dust tinged production for the most part. Later, in The Quiet Man, he had to turn this on its head and portray the work undertaken by those featured to be nothing but a vehicle for enjoying life to the full once the hooter went. Whether Ford believed fully in these sterotypes is hard to say, but whether he did or not, let us be thankful how he knew to best maximise both blarney and misery to bring us 2 great films. Before I return to this film alone, I would like to add that although circumstance at the outset, his casting of several of the same people from the 'stable' in both films, cultural differences in the stories notwithstanding, was an act of sheer genius. So, I've digressed enough. The plot of How Green was my Valley is heavily dependent on the fact that the Establishment virtually owned people; I know people would say 'what's the difference now?', well, maybe they are right, but in this era, in this place, it was more evident than most other places of any era. Despite this, the film is not overtly party political as many people mistakenly believe, but it does in part act as social comment, with the Establishment manifesting itself in the all powerful mine and mine owners; and in this region in this era shows them as only too willing to take advantage of the strong work ethic of the family Patriarch, who will not sanction action despite suffering greatly at the hands of his employers. Now, I have to disagree with another reviewer ( although maybe not for this edition ) who said that Ford cleverly kept the film devoid of Pathos and over-emotion. Well, there are some scenes that I think lessen the film, and these are when the whole village gather at the family's gate with a song in store, for anything from someone from the Morgan's breaking wind, to getting wed, this lacks logic and will scream out at you the first time you see this. One other thing of note, the mining scenes are brilliant, and capture the conditions, frequently dangerous ones. You feel as if you are there, getting blackened, soaked and at times chilled to the bone. And, gate-gathering not withstanding, the miners' choir will have you wanting to sing Bread of Heaven as loud as you can on the mearest hill side you can find. All in all, a great, great film, if you haven't seen this, then do so.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A feast of sentimental bliss., 4 Dec 2006
Fords classic, this is just what you want to watch when your curled up on the sofa feeling low,if you dont feel better after watching these classic actors and the great director you had better give up!!
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