How Green Was My Valley
Added 11/16/2009
Have always loved this movie and am so glad to now have it in my DVD collection. It is a movie you can watch over and over.
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Wonderful old classic
Added 10/10/2009
This film was one of the greatest achievements of Hollywood's Golden Age, winning many awards (it beat out Citizen Kane at the 1941 Academy Awards) and is still worth watching today, as I discovered after watching it all the way through for the first time recently.
It follows the trials and tribulations of a close-knit family in a Welsh mining town, through the eyes of young Huw (Roddy MacDowell) the youngest of 7 brothers, who is still a school boy. The patriarch of the family (played flawlessly by Donald Crisp, who won Best Actor), and his older brothers all work in the mine. When the workers try to unionize, the sons want to join, but the father, representing the older generation's values, opposes it. This sets the stage for the inevitable and tragic disintegration of the formerly close-knit family, whose misfortunes parallel the misfortunes of the whole Welsh village as it comes to be dominated by the one over-riding economic force in the town--the dangerous and even deadly coal mine.
At first pleased to have regular wages, discontent sets in when wages remain low, some workers are mistreated, and older, more experienced workers are laid off to make way for cheaper, younger workers who will accept less pay. As the machinery and technology progresses, more and more workers are laid off as the need for manual workers continually decreases. I'm reminded of the situation chronicled by Dickens in one of his novels (unfortunately my failing memory doesn't recall the title), in which the early generation of manual loom operators were replaced by more skilled automated loom operators. Until then their skills had protected them from being fired.
In the end we see how the advent of the new technology was truly a two-edged sword for many of these small towns. Eventually the town goes into a social and psychological decline and its formerly peaceful and traditional way of life is destroyed. Cheap coal from the Welsh mines fuels England's greater Industrial Revolution, enabling the growth of great cities like London, but at the expense of what was in many ways a simpler, more peaceful, harmonious, and better small-town life.
Despite its overall downer theme, this is still one of the great movies and well worth your time.
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VERY GOOD FILM, BUT DOESN'T QUITE LIVE UP TO THE PRAISE!
Added 9/10/2009
It's hard to believe I never saw this film before now as I watch so many older films. 'How Green Was My Valley' is a well told story, but I found some characters didn't have enough detail and the film leaves some loose ends. I know some huge fans will be throwing me negative votes, but I don't write reviews to be popular, only to hopefully inspire movie lovers to see great films and avoid the clunkers.
This is an excellent film with a great cast, but for a film that isn't a musical, there is a lot of singing in this one and it becomes a little annoying! This is well worth your time, unfortunately I have seen better films from the era. I caught this on cable and I'm not sure if the DVD is top quality.
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Green; your valley was very, very green...
Added 8/31/2009
With the strength of a four-hour epic yet the packaging of a two-hour family drama, `How Green Was My Valley' may very well be...perfect. There are few films that have captured the ability to create something so epic in stroke yet small in frame; so grand in its embrace yet intimate in its structure. The Academy Award Best Picture winner of 1941 is just that kind of film, and I laud it and will continue to laud it for all times for accomplishing something so masterful and so rare. Without ever ONCE overstaying its welcome, `How Green Was My Valley' manages to say so much in less time than most epic films. This is due to John Ford's brilliant direction and his smart construction, always using the most of the elements at his disposal to create something fluid, engaging and memorable.
The film tells of a very close-knit mining family in a small Welsh village. As economic times weigh heavy on the town this family finds themselves being torn in two by their surroundings. When the miners go on strike it poses problems for this family, as the patriarch wants no part of it. The film basically tells nothing more or less than this one family's story of survival in a world very real.
As their story is painted across the rich black and white backdrop (whoever says that black and white film is secondary to color has just seen the WRONG black and white films) we meet every nook and cranny of their extended family, from drinking buddies to employers to village preachers and grade school teachers. The family suffers from disagreements within their own household (especially with regard to their working situation), from death and sorrow as well as a fair share of scandal (involving a handsome young preacher at that), but it is how this family stays together and actually grows stronger that makes for the most compelling and richly developed story.
Told through the eyes of young (well, old now) Huw, `How Green Was My Valley' is a beautiful tale of youth and family and the wonderful way that memories can create in us a nostalgic look at times past. Despite all the `hard times' this family (their surname is Morgan by the way) remained together and never lost the love they had in the beginning.
`How Green Was My Valley' is a very reflective piece, exposing the beauty of childhood and the sheer importance of a loving household.
The performances by the ENTIRE cast are spot on, but the Oscar's got it right nominating Donald Crisp and Sara Allgood. They are the true standouts here, mastering their take on the paternal graces of the Morgan family. Crisp well deserved the Oscar he received and I applaud the Academy for making such a beautiful choice. Maureen O'Hara, Walter Pidgeon and young Roddy McDowall are all standouts as well, delivering stunning examples of control and charisma. O'Hara is stunning in every scene, even when she's merely there in the background, and McDowall has a very strong presence for such a young boy. Each actor compliments the others around him and they all contribute such delicate strength to the overall effect of Ford's masterpiece.
Some have baulked at this film winning the Best Picture Oscar over the likes of `Citizen Kane', a film that is considered by MANY to be the best American film of all time. The two films are hardly comparable when you think about it since they are both drastically different in design, scope and subject; but there is no doubt that BOTH films are classics. I adore them both and consider them to be brilliant portrayals of the `craft' of filmmaking. Orson Welles was a genius, as was John Ford, and while they each had their own unique and very different style of approaching filmmaking, they both nailed their craft. I cannot say which film I prefer at the moment, since both are so unique and so marvelously done. They both also carry a very weighty message (this one being the importance of family and `Kane' being the importance of individuality) and so as wonderful and pristine as each film is, they are also very important films.
See them both; that is all.
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Hose timer
Added 8/11/2009
First one didn't work but seller sent a replacement immediately and it works just lik e advertised.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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How Green Was My Valley
Added 11/16/2009
Have always loved this movie and am so glad to now have it in my DVD collection. It is a movie you can watch over and over.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Wonderful old classic
Added 10/10/2009
This film was one of the greatest achievements of Hollywood's Golden Age, winning many awards (it beat out Citizen Kane at the 1941 Academy Awards) and is still worth watching today, as I discovered after watching it all the way through for the first time recently.
It follows the trials and tribulations of a close-knit family in a Welsh mining town, through the eyes of young Huw (Roddy MacDowell) the youngest of 7 brothers, who is still a school boy. The patriarch of the family (played flawlessly by Donald Crisp, who won Best Actor), and his older brothers all work in the mine. When the workers try to unionize, the sons want to join, but the father, representing the older generation's values, opposes it. This sets the stage for the inevitable and tragic disintegration of the formerly close-knit family, whose misfortunes parallel the misfortunes of the whole Welsh village as it comes to be dominated by the one over-riding economic force in the town--the dangerous and even deadly coal mine.
At first pleased to have regular wages, discontent sets in when wages remain low, some workers are mistreated, and older, more experienced workers are laid off to make way for cheaper, younger workers who will accept less pay. As the machinery and technology progresses, more and more workers are laid off as the need for manual workers continually decreases. I'm reminded of the situation chronicled by Dickens in one of his novels (unfortunately my failing memory doesn't recall the title), in which the early generation of manual loom operators were replaced by more skilled automated loom operators. Until then their skills had protected them from being fired.
In the end we see how the advent of the new technology was truly a two-edged sword for many of these small towns. Eventually the town goes into a social and psychological decline and its formerly peaceful and traditional way of life is destroyed. Cheap coal from the Welsh mines fuels England's greater Industrial Revolution, enabling the growth of great cities like London, but at the expense of what was in many ways a simpler, more peaceful, harmonious, and better small-town life.
Despite its overall downer theme, this is still one of the great movies and well worth your time.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
VERY GOOD FILM, BUT DOESN'T QUITE LIVE UP TO THE PRAISE!
Added 9/10/2009
It's hard to believe I never saw this film before now as I watch so many older films. 'How Green Was My Valley' is a well told story, but I found some characters didn't have enough detail and the film leaves some loose ends. I know some huge fans will be throwing me negative votes, but I don't write reviews to be popular, only to hopefully inspire movie lovers to see great films and avoid the clunkers.
This is an excellent film with a great cast, but for a film that isn't a musical, there is a lot of singing in this one and it becomes a little annoying! This is well worth your time, unfortunately I have seen better films from the era. I caught this on cable and I'm not sure if the DVD is top quality.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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