How Green Was My Valley (1941) - January 15,2013

[Akijama]

How Green Was My Valley Blu-ray

How Green Was My Valley (1941) is one of John Ford's masterpieces of sentimental human drama. It is the melodramatic and nostalgic story, adapted by screenwriter Philip Dunne from Richard Llewellyn's best-selling novel, of a close-knit, hard-working Welsh coal-mining family (the Morgans) at the turn of the century as a socio-economic way of life passes and the home-family unit disintegrates. Episodic incidents in everyday life convey the changes, trials, setbacks, and joys of the hard-bitten community as it faces growing unemployment, distressing work conditions, unrest, unionization and labor-capital disputes, and personal tragedy. Domestic life, romance, harsh treatment at school, the departure of two Morgan boys to find their fortune in America, unrequited love between the local preacher (Walter Pidgeon) and the only Morgan daughter (beautiful 19 year old Irish actress Maureen O'Hara), and other events are portrayed within the warm, human story.

The film was nominated for a total of ten awards and walked away with five Oscars: Best Picture (Darryl F. Zanuck for 20th Century Fox), Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Donald Crisp), Best Cinematography (Arthur Miller), and Best Art Direction. Its other nominations were for Best Supporting Actress (Sara Allgood), Best Screenplay (Philip Dunne), Best Editing, Best Score and Best Sound. The most controversial aspect of its Best Picture/Director win was that it defeated two of the greatest pictures ever made: Orson Welles' Citizen Kane (1941) and John Huston's The Maltese Falcon (1941).

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