Google Ads
Login | Sign Up

How Green Was My Valley Overview:

How Green Was My Valley (1941) was a Drama - Family Film directed by John Ford and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck.

The film was based on the novel of the same name written by Richard Llewellyn published in 1939.

SYNOPSIS

Ford's vivid recounting of a childhood spent in the lush hills of Wales. A Welsh coal-mining family experiences labor unrest and personal tragedy as their traditional way of life collides with the 20th century. Beautifully realized and deeply felt portrayal of the sustaining power of home and family. And O'Hara was never lovelier. The Oscars have solidified its place in history as one of the top tearjerkers of all time. Adapted from Richard Llewellyn's best-selling novel.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

How Green Was My Valley was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1990.

Academy Awards 1941 --- Ceremony Number 14 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best Supporting ActorDonald CrispWon
Best Supporting ActressSara AllgoodNominated
Best Art DirectionArt Direction: Richard Day, Nathan Juran; Interior Decoration: Thomas LittleWon
Best CinematographyArthur MillerWon
Best DirectorJohn FordWon
Best Film EditingJames B. ClarkNominated
Best Picture20th Century-FoxWon
Best WritingPhilip DunneNominated
See More Oscar Winners

How Green Was My Valley BlogHub Articles:

Walter Pidgeon and Maureen O’Hara head the cast in “How Green Was My Valley”

By Stephen Reginald on Jun 10, 2021 From Classic Movie Man

Walter Pidgeon and Maureen O’Hara head the cast in “How Green Was My Valley” How Green Was My Valley (1941) was an American drama film directed by John Ford and starring Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O’Hara, Donald Crisp, Anna Lee, and Roddy McDowall. It is based on the best-s... Read full article

How Green Was My Valley

By Michael on Sep 14, 2016 From Le Mot du Cinephiliaque

Editor’s note : this review is a translation of one of the first reviews to ever appear on this blog back in 2009. Those were less than a 150 words long and were written immediately after the viewing of each film. This is as aforementioned a translation and a longer edit of this original film ... Read full article

Friday Fail: How Green Was My Valley (1941)

By Vanessa Buttino on Jun 13, 2014 From Stardust

Friday Fail: How Green Was My Valley (1941) It took me three days to watch John Ford's epic drama HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY (1941). Three days! I had heard so much about this film from all of the classic movie bloggers that attended the TCM Film Fest this past April and I was really looking fo... Read full article

How Green Was My Valley (1941)

By Beatrice on Jun 4, 2014 From Flickers in Time

How Green Was My Valley Directed by John Ford Written by Philip Dunne based on the novel by Richard Llewellyn 1941/USA Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation Repeat viewing/Netflix rental #155 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die This is the film that famously trounced Citizen Kane at the 1942... Read full article

How Green Was My Valley (1941) screening and Maureen O'Hara at the 2014 TCM Classic Film Festival

By Raquel Stecher on Apr 30, 2014 From Out of the Past - A Classic Film Blog

The screening of How Green Was My Valley (1941) at the TCM Classic Film Festival was such a spectacular event. It was worth waiting in line for almost two hours to make sure that I not only got in but that I got a good seat as well. I waited in line with K.C. of A Classic Movie Blog, Jessica of Com... Read full article

See More How Green Was My Valley Articles

How Green Was My Valley Quotes:

Huw Morgan: [Narrating] Everything I ever learnt as a small boy came from my father, and I never found anything he ever told me to be wrong or worthless. The simple lessons he taught me are as sharp and clear in my mind as if I had heard them only yesterday.
Huw Morgan: There is no fence nor hedge around time that is gone. You can go back and have what you like of it, if you can remember. So I can close my eyes on my valley as it is today, and it is gone, and I see it as it was when I was a boy. Green it was, and possessed of the plenty of the Earth. In all Wales, there was none so beautiful. Everything I ever learned as a small boy came from my father and I never found anything he ever told me to be wrong or worthless. The simple lessons he taught me are as sharp and clear in my mind as if I had heard them only yesterday. In those days, the black slag, the waste of the coal pits, had only begun to cover the sides of our hill. Not yet enough to mar the countryside, nor blacken the beauty of our village, for the colliery had only begun to poke its skinny black fingers through the green.
Huw Morgan: [narrating] Men like my father cannot die. They are with me still, real in memory as they were in flesh, loving and beloved forever. How green was my valley then.
Mr. Gruffydd: I know why you have come - I have seen it in your faces Sunday after Sunday as I've stood here before you. Fear has brought you here. Horrible, superstitious fear. Fear of divine retribution a bolt of fire from the skies. The vengeance of the Lord and the justice of God. But you have forgotten the love of Jesus. You disregard His sacrifice. Death, fear, flames, horror and black clothes. Hold your meeting then, but know if you do this in the name of God and in the house of God, you blaspheme against Him and His Word.
Mr. Gruffydd: You've been lucky, Huw. Lucky to suffer and lucky to spend these weary months in bed. For so God has given you a chance to make the spirit within yourself. And as your father cleans his lamp to have good light, so keep clean your spirit... By prayer, Huw. And by prayer, I don't mean shouting, mumbling, and wallowing like a hog in religious sentiment. Prayer is only another name for good, clean, direct thinking. When you pray, think. Think well what you're saying. Make your thoughts into things that are solid. In that way, your prayer will have strength, and that strength will become a part of you, body, mind, and spirit.
See More Quotes from How Green Was My Valley
How Green Was My Valley Facts
Two major factors entered into the decision to shoot the film in Southern California: (1) the continuous bombing of Britain by the Nazis; (2) the nervousness of Fox executives about the film's pro-union storyline. These factors, and William Wyler's reputation for perfectionism, swayed Fox to keep the filming done in the U.S.
"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on September 28, 1954 with Donald Crisp again reprising his film role.
John Ford referred to Philip Dunne's script as "nearly perfect a script as could be possible".
The author of the novel, Richard Llewellyn had claimed to have based the book on his own knowledge of the Gilfach Goch area, but this was proven false, as Llewellyn was English-born and spent little time in Wales. As it turned out, he had actually gathered his facts from conversations with local mining families.
Alexander Knox was Fox's first choice for the part of Dr Gruffyd, later played by Walter Pidgeon.
See More Facts about How Green Was My Valley >>