La calle del Delfín Verde

When I was 17, I read "Green Dolphin Street" for the first time. The book was one of those that I couldn't put down or forget. The characters became a part of me. Shortly after reading the book, I saw the movie. As with most movies adapted from novels, it fell somewhat short of my expectations, but not as badly as most movies of its time period.

The characters in the movie are well developed with the exception of Lana Turner's, which is unfortunate since she is the central figure. Hollywood did it again, making the rather plain figure Elizabeth Goudge wrote of in her book into a sex symbol, but in all other areas, this movie was well put together and was a real treat.

I was impressed with how well the special effects people created scenes of such magnitude as earthquakes and floods with the technology available in 1947. I believe that anyone who hasn't read the book would find this a riveting movie, full of action, drama, love, all he or she could ask for in a movie. The best part is the lack of smut and unnecessary violence. For those, like me, who read the book first, it will still be a good movie, even if we might long for a better remake one day!

Individual performances in this romantic epic are excellent--Lana Turner, Van Heflin, Donna Reed and Richard Hart do some fine work. Even more impressive are three of the supporting players involved in a sub-plot of their own: Frank Morgan, Edmund Gwenn and Gladys Cooper. Basically a love story depicting two sisters in love with the same man (Richard Hart) and what happens when, in a drunken stupor, he sends for the wrong woman to join him at an outpost in New Zealand. Plot complications thicken and the rest of the story is told against a backdrop of native uprisings, tidal waves and earthquakes that are all realistically depicted. No wonder the film won an Oscar for its startling Special Effects.

Lana Turner does a wonderful job as the spirited heroine on an emotional roller-coaster and Van Heflin gives his usual impressive performance as the only man who knows the truth about her relationship with Richard Hart. Donna Reed is sincere as the good sister and has a gripping scene where she is stranded on an island as the tide closes in and must climb an inner cave wall to the safety of a monastery. She also has an extraordinary moment at her mother's deathbed when confessions of a personal sort are made to her and her grieving father.

Edmund Gwenn and Gladys Cooper do an outstanding job of conveying their emotions here. Richly satisfying as a romantic drama, its high production values give it that special MGM gloss worthy of an epic film. It's a lengthy film and by the time it's all over, you feel as though you've experienced a lifetime of personal events.

I saw this movie when it was first shown on a Los Angeles TV station that had licensed a number of big-budget MGM movies for a once-a-week event. I was in my mid-teens at the time and had a part-time job at a supermarket in Pacific Palisades, where my family lived. Gladys Cooper, who had a supporting role in "Green Dolphin Street" and who gave her usual British-sterling performance (as a French matriarch), was a frequent customer at that store and she seemed to always choose the checkout line where I was working. (Must have liked the careful way I packed her groceries!) I usually helped her out with her purchases to her top-down 1956 Thunderbird roadster. On the afternoon after "Green Dolphin Street" had been shown the previous evening, I did more than exchange the usual pleasantries with Ms. Cooper and mentioned having enjoyed the film and, in particular, the eloquence of her deathbed scene. She graciously thanked me and admitted to watching the film, too (for the first time, by the way), and that she had also enjoyed it. "It really wasn't bad!" she said, as she started up her convertible and waved goodbye. When weather permitted, and it did rather frequently in that southern California town, she usually looked like she'd come in to do her grocery shopping, in tennis shorts and a sleeveless blouse, after spending an afternoon gardening in what, no doubt, was as much of a showstopper as the many roles in which she had excelled. For a woman who was in her late sixties at the time, she radiated a most charismatic energy. A great lady whom I shall always remember most fondly.

'Green Dolphin Street' is set in the early Victorian era and features two unusual backgrounds for Hollywood films, New Zealand and the Channel Islands. (Contrary to what some have thought, 'St Pierre' is not in France, but rather in the British-ruled Channel Islands, although the model for the offshore nunnery was clearly Mont-St-Michel in Normandy). The plot centers around two sisters, Marianne and Marguerite, who are both in love with the same man, William. (An added complication is that the girls' mother, in her youth, was in love with William's father, but they were prevented from marrying by the opposition of her parents).

William himself loves Marguerite; indeed, he seems to be unaware that Marianne is in love with him. He persuades the girls' wealthy and influential father to help him to obtain a commission in the Royal Navy. He is, however, a feckless young man and a heavy drinker, and, after getting drunk and missing his ship while in China, deserts from the navy and flees to New Zealand. He meets Timothy, another Channel Islander and fellow-fugitive from justice who has killed a man in a brawl. Timothy is now running a logging business in a remote area of the North Island with the help of Maori workers, and invites William to assist him in his business. The business prospers, and William writes to Marguerite's father, asking for the hand of his daughter in marriage. Unfortunately, he is drunk at the time he writes the letter, and inadvertently writes 'Marianne' rather than 'Marguerite'. Marianne, delighted to think her love is returned, sets off for New Zealand to marry him.

In some respects, 'Green Dolphin Street' is a standard costume drama of its period, a combination of a Jane Austen-style drawing-room romance and an epic of the British Empire. The acting is neither particularly distinguished nor particularly bad. Nevertheless, it has a few interesting features. An earthquake hits the logging camp, and this scene can still generate tension even today, as the special effects are surprisingly well done for a film of this period. The characters are well-drawn and undergo genuine development; the feckless William becomes a more responsible character and comes to appreciate the finer qualities of the wife he has married by mistake. Timothy, a wild character in his youth, also matures. He is himself secretly in love with Marianne, but keeps this a secret as he believes she will be happier with William. (Unlike many of the white settlers, he admires the native Maori population and befriends them rather than treating them with contempt). Marianne, headstrong and determined but capable of sincere love, plays an important role in her husband's success. Back in St Pierre, Marguerite, originally a rather spoiled young woman, develops a religious vocation and enters a nunnery. (The film has a strong, specifically Catholic, religious atmosphere). This is a film that has stayed watchable. 6/10.

There are a couple of errors that I spotted. The ship's captain talks of having seen a flightless bird larger than an ostrich in New Zealand. This is presumably a reference to the moa, but this bird was already extinct before Europeans first landed in the country. It seems strange that William and Timothy, both fugitives from British justice, should think themselves safe in New Zealand, where they live quite openly under their real names. The country was, after all, a British colony at the time, and they could presumably have been arrested by the local authorities and extradited to Britain.

Green Dolphin Street with its twists and turns is very intriguing. It was very well acted film its characters very deep in moving and realistic performances. It has action, adventure, suspense, romance, personal tragedies and triumphs and it is a wonderfully made film with the tradition of good storytelling. (PLOTS are not this good in lots of the current movies) Donna Reeds performance is great - Noting the extraordinary moments at Marguerite mother's deathbed when confessions of a personal sort are made to Marguerite and her father and especially suspense scenes in which Donna Reed climbs up the old passage inside of a mountain to the old door of the monastery. The story includes good visual and sound special effects which still hold up to today's hi-tech effects by providing some straight forward excitement!!! (Remember this was a 1947 film). It is rich with well the developed characters and very good acting by Donna Reed, Van Heflin and Gladys Cooper and Lana Turner who shows she can do a great job acting with out being a sex symbol. Mostly likely Green Dolphin Street would not play as well in 2005 with the younger audience, but I think that the "Old Movie buffs" will like it.