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).

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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
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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


1001 Classic Movies: How Green Was My Valley

By Amanda Garrett on Aug 15, 2016 From Old Hollywood Films

How Green Was My Valley (1941) starring Walter Pidgeon and Roddy McDowall is one of the 1001 classic movies you should see. Each Monday, I'm going to recommend a classic movie you should see (for the reasons behind the 1001 series and reviews of earlier films covered go here). August's theme coin... Read full article


How Green Was My Valley

By Amanda Garrett on Feb 27, 2016 From Old Hollywood Films

Today, I'm reviewing How Green Was My Valley, starring Walter Pidgeon (left) and Roddy McDowall. This film about life in a Welsh coal-mining village won the 1941 Academy Award for best picture. This article is part of the 31 Days of Oscar blogathon hosted by Paula's Cinema Club, Outspoken & Fr... 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


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Quotes from

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.


Angharad: Look now, you are king in the chapel. But I will be queen in my own kitchen.
Mr. Gruffydd: You will be queen wherever you walk.
Angharad: What does that mean?
Mr. Gruffydd: ...I should not have said it.
Angharad: Why?
Mr. Gruffydd: I have no right to speak to you so.
[he leaves]
Angharad: [stopping him] Mr. Gruffydd, if the right is mine to give, you have it.


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.


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Facts about

The title of the novel appears in two sentences. It is first used in Chapter XXX, after the narrator has just had his first sexual experience. He sits up to "look down in the valley." He then reflects: "How green was my Valley that day, too, green and bright in the sun." Needless to say, this sexual experience was cut out of the film. The phrase is used again in the novel's last sentence: "How green was my Valley then, and the Valley of them that have gone."
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.
Darryl F. Zanuck originally intended the film to be a four-hour epic to rival Gone with the Wind.
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National Film Registry

How Green Was My Valley

Released 1941
Inducted 1990
(Sound)




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Also directed by John Ford




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Also produced by Darryl F. Zanuck




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