Los verdes años

A.J. Cronin's "The Green Years" has been splendidly brought to the screen thanks mainly by the performances of that grand old stager Charles Coburn, and that wonderful child star Dean Stockwell (what a pity he ever had to grow up!) Their scenes together are something very special even today. Coburn was nominated for best supporting actor, which was unfair, as he is clearly the star and should have had the nomination of Best Actor. As a young Cathoic lad thrown into a family of Scottish Protestants, Stockwell is quite amazing. The supporting cast of Gladys Cooper, Hume Cronyn ( a little over the top), Jessica Tandy and Richard Haydn are very very good, while Tom Drake is the best he ever was in a movie. The atmosphere of the era and the village is brilliantly captured by Director Victor Saville.

TCM screened this film recently and it was worth staying up past my bedtime to watch it. The film can be summed up in two words: Charles Coburn. He is magnificent as the perpetually inebriated yet good natured great grandfather. His dialogue is top notch and he delivers it to the hilt, at times funny, and others poignant. Dean Stockwell as the young boy is always interesting to watch, as are Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn. Fans of old films will recognize many stock players as well: the mother here is also the mother in The Fighting Sullivans and the school master turns up years later as the impresario for the Von Trapp children in the Sound of Music. It's fun to see him so young. The movie has a lot of the Goodbye Mr. Chips qualities I love in film. And keep your ears open and you'll hear strains of similar music from The Wizard of Oz - letting you know it's an MGM production. Throw in a bit of Charles Dicken's Oliver Twist and you've got a fine movie. I won't give any more away.

I have some strong disagreement with the category of nomination for Charles Coburn here. Most definitely he was not in a supporting role, in fact in a cast of fine players he dominates the film as the rascally old grandfather first to Dean Stockwell and then to Tom Drake in The Green Years.

It seems like A.J. Cronin can't write a novel that won't be turned into a fine film like The Citadel and The Keys Of The Kingdom. As a writer Cronin successfully blended medicine and religion into his work in Great Britain the same as Lloyd C. Douglas on this side of the pond in Magnificent Obsession.

In this story Cronin talks about the love of medicine and science acquired at an early age. Except possibly for The Boy With Green Hair I don't think Dean Stockwell was ever more appealing on the big screen. Seems like his mother ran off with of all things an Irishman and both are dead now. So young Stockwell is taken in by his Scot relative more as an obligation than anything else. They are a thrifty lot and that's putting it mildly.

The one who Stockwell bonds with is his grandfather Coburn. He's quite the rogue and known to take a dram or three with his buddies at the tavern. But he's got more character than the rest of the family put together. Eventually when Stockwell grows up to be Tom Drake and looks to be failing in his ambitions, it's Coburn who proves to be his salvation.

The Green Years hasn't lost one inch of charm and values and it's a year older than I am. Still wonderful family viewing. Scotland pre World War II is captured beautifully here with cinematography that gained the film it's only other Oscar nomination.

Poor Coburn and his fellow nominees were screwed by the Academy that year as they awarded a special Oscar to Harold Russell for his performance as the armless sailor in The Best Years Of Our Lives and then had him compete in the Best Supporting Actor category. Coburn and his fellow competitors William Demarest, Clifton Webb, and Claude Rains were at a very unfair disadvantage to Harold Russell.

Not a film to be missed for family viewing time.

A measure of this film's quality is that days after screening it I'm still thinking about it. It's a great multifaceted story with many and varied parallel plots and the performances will stay with you for a long time. Several scenes have become permanently engraved in my mind, too many to enumerate. Others have commented on Charles Coburn's performance and yes, it is outstanding, but not the only notable one. Hume Cronyn's miserly Papa Leckie is exasperating and even oddly sympathetic. Norman Lloyd who plays Papa's son is truly a chip off the old block if with more joviality. Gladys Cooper and Selena Royale are both excellent as always and Dean Stockwell gives a very nuanced performance, more so than in any other film I've seen him in. I should also mention Beverly Tyler whom I have never seen before if only for her singing voice which is truly angelic. And let's not forget another outstanding performance by Jessica Tandy in a complete role reversal from her previous outing in "The Valley of Decision". She is by far my favorite here even though she is not a headliner, with Coburn and Hume close seconds. If I have a gripe it's about the chronology. The story takes place in 19th century Scotland, a notoriously unhealthy place, yet it covers four generations. Coburn's grandpa is already an old man when Bobby comes to live with the Leckies yet he lives long enough to see Bobby to young adulthood a decade later. To top it all off he's an overweight alcoholic and his lifestyle is anything but healthy. That alone stretches all credulity although it is possible, if barely so. I think I'll have to read Cronin's novel on which the film is based to discover how the author handled this detail. Put that aside though and enjoy a great find.

I've only seen this movie on the TV and even then, it was years ago and its never been on TV again. I saw it before the days of VCR's. Its such a good movie, and unfortunate that it never came out on video or better still, on DVD. The movie was taken from the A.J. Cronin book of the same name. Dean Stockwell's performance was well done in the part of Robert Shannon a young Scottish boy. His father Hume Cronyn is the penny pinching father. Another favourite of mine is Jessica Tandy (Hume Cronyn's wife in real life, is also in the movie. As always and one of my favorite actors is Charles Coburn. Tom Drake plays the part of the older Robert Shannon. He wasn't in a lot of movies, but I always liked him. So far, it has never been on video or TV but if you ever see it listed in the TV Guide, watch it. Its very good.