How Green Was My Valley (1941)

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

Philip Dunne (screenplay)
Richard Llewellyn (novel)

Release Date:

9 April 1942 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama | Family

Tagline:

Rich is their humor! Deep are their passions! Reckless are their lives! Mighty is their story!

Plot:

At the turn of the century in a Welsh mining village, the Morgans (he stern, she gentle) raise coal-mining...

Plot Keywords:

Miner | Village | Wales | Gossip | Melodrama

Awards:

Won 5 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Walter Pidgeon	...	Mr. Gruffydd
Maureen O'Hara	...	Angharad
Anna Lee	...	Bronwyn
Donald Crisp	...	Mr. Morgan
Roddy McDowall	...	Huw (as Master Roddy McDowall)
John Loder	...	Ianto
Sara Allgood	...	Mrs. Morgan
Barry Fitzgerald	...	Cyfartha
Patric Knowles	...	Ivor
Welsh Singers	...	Themselves
Morton Lowry	...	Mr. Jonas
Arthur Shields	...	Mr. Parry
Ann E. Todd	...	Ceinwen (as Ann Todd)
Frederick Worlock	...	Dr. Richards
Richard Fraser	...	Davy

Also Known As:

Richard Llewellyn's How Green Was My Valley (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

118 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Welsh

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Australia:PG | UK:U | West Germany:12 (f) | USA:Approved (certificate #7480) | Canada:G (video rating) | Brazil:Livre | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:S | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Ranch, Malibu Creek State Park - 1925 Las Virgenes Road, Calabasas, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Darryl F. Zanuck originally intended the film to be a four-hour epic to rival Gone with the Wind (1939).

Goofs:

Continuity: When Roddy McDowall's character comes home after being beaten by his teacher, there is no blood or marks on his back.

Quotes:

Dai Bando: [Cyfartha is holding Mr. Jonas in boxing position] Now look, to make a good boxer, you must have a good... *right hand*, you see?
[strikes Mr. Jonas with a right jab, the force of which knocks Mr. Jonas into the wall]
Dai Bando: Now, you see, that is how you will punish your man - with a right and a left, and put your shoulder into it!
[Mr. Jonas is slumped against the wall, dazed]
Cyfartha: The gentleman is talking to you!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Married with Children: How Green Was My Apple (#8.16)" (1994)

Soundtrack:

Rhyfelgyrch Gwyr Harlech

How Green was my Valley was the greatest film of all time.

Greatest movie of all time. I saw this first during World War II, and it made such an impression upon me that I had to go back time after time. Now 60 years later it lingers in my memory over any other movie I have ever seen. No movie before or since has left such a lasting impression upon me.

It could easily be brought back to the modern screen as a classic film that will never die. I wish I could own it on DVD, but I have no idea where I can obtain it. It would be at the top of classic films of all time as an asset in my library. It appeared at a time in our history when the world was being torn asunder and we did not know what tomorrow would bring. It was so uplifting at a time when we needed that uplift.