Com'era verde la mia valle

John Ford was a director with a vision bigger than life, as demonstrated by his films. Richard Lewellyn's novel must have been one source of inspiration for bringing to life this story about a small town in Wales. The director had the good fortune to have Arthur Miller as his cinematographer for this tale about the stark conditions about the miners' lives. The small town comes alive by the vivid account one sees on the screen. At times, what we are witnessing before our eyes, remind us of the work of great photographers such as Margaret Bourke-White, whose pictures for the old Life magazine parallel Mr. Miller's stark photography in the film.

Mr. Ford uses songs in most of his films. In this movie as well as in The Quiet Man, this device enhances what we are watching. The songs are diversions for the stark reality in the miners' lives. Their every day misery is somehow eased when they sing with clear voices ancient folk melodies they, and their forefathers, have always known.

The Morgan family is at the center of the story. We hear the narration from Huw, the youngest member of this family. All the men work in the mine; they are all disillusioned by the working conditions and meager wages that they give without hesitation to the matriarch when they are paid. They appear content at the beginning of the film, but we watch them gradually abandon their village in search of a better life; who can blame them?

The cast assembled by Mr. Ford is first rate. Donald Crisp, as the patriarch of the Morgan family outdoes himself in this film. Walter Pidgeon as the local church pastor is excellent. The young and radiant beauty of Maureen O'Hara was so powerful, we can't stop watching her for a moment when she is on screen. Roddy McDowall as the youngest child of the clan in his first appearance is also a magnetic presence that holds the viewer's attention all the time.

The rest of the actors do incredible ensemble work to support the principals. Anna Lee, John Loder, Barry Fitzgerald, Anne Todd make us believe they are the characters they are playing.

Ultimately this is a John Ford's triumph. He is the force that welds everything together and in spite of all the bad things that happen to the family and the town, he seems to be telling us there still is hope and life will continue.

Vintage and memorable film and one of Ford and Maureen O'Hara's best. This tearjerker tale of a Welsh's valley's turn of the century family from a coal mining region . It is told in flashback by a voice-in-off carried out by Huw Morgan (Roddy McDowall) who has decided to leave the valley forever . As he remembers back to his growing up period, when the dust from the coal mines, his family , mirths and distresses . Huw (played by a 13-year-old Roddy McDowall) is the youngest in a family composed by parents (Donald Crisp , Sara Allgood) and 6 brothers (John Loder, Patrick Knowles, among others) and one sister (Maureen O'Hara) who falls in love with the new preacher, Mr. Gruffydd (Walter Pidgeon) , who had a slightly different view of his relationship with her, and which would end up destroying his life in the valley. Rich is their humor! Deep are their passions! Reckless are their lives! Mighty is their story! Millions Have Read This Great Novel... Millions more will see an even greater picture!

Stunning and sensitive tale about tribulations and trial of a Welsh mining family from the youthful perspective of the youngest child , marvelously played bt the agreeable prodigy child Roddy MacDowall who had subsequently a long career as a great secondary actor . This dramatic film contains interesting characters , full of good feeling and tragic moments . This classic , sturdy picture ranks as one of the most sentimental of John Ford's work . It contains Ford's usual themes as familiar feeling , religion , friendship , sacrifice , sense of comradeship among people and ample shots on the mining village .It is a hight-spirited tale , being one of Ford's finest movies with a marvelous fresh-air feeling . Thought-provoking , enjoyable screenplay portraying in depth characters and brooding events with interesting issues running beneath script surface .In the forties , Ford won-back-to-back Best Director Oscars for two more classics he made at Fox, the screen adaptations of future Nobel laureate John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning classic Grapes of the wrath (1940) in 1941, and of Richard Llewellyn's memoir of his youth in the coal-mining region of Wales, this How Green was my valley (1941) . Adequate production design that achieved a deserved Oscar , buit by Richard Day and Nathan Juran , 160 builders took six months to construct Richard Day's elaborate set design. The studio brought in blocks of coal weighing over a ton apiece for the construction of the mines. To create the impression that coal slag covered the landscape in the opening and closing scenes, John Ford had the hillside painted black. This magnificent film featuring a magnificent performance by the whole casting , including a top-notch support cast such as Anna Lee , John Loder , Sara Allgood ,Barry FitzGerald , Rhys Williams ,Frederick Worlock , Ann Todd , Richard Fraser and Arthur Shields .There is another rendition about this classic story made in 1975 by Ronald Wilson (6 episodes, 1975-1976) with Stanley Baker , Siân Phillips , Mike Gwilym , Gareth Thomas .

Beautifully cinematographed by Arthur Miller in black and while , plenty of lights and shades . Evocative and sensitive musical score by Alfred Newman . The picture was magnificently directed by John Ford . John Ford often referred to this film as his favorite. In the 1940s, Ford won-back-to-back Best Director Oscars for two more classics he made at Fox, the screen adaptations of future Nobel laureate John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning classic The grapes of the wrath (1940) in 1941, and of Richard Llewellyn's memoir of his youth in the coal-mining region of Wales, ¡Qué verde era mi valle! (1941) . the mid-1940s, after working in many genres, Ford began to focus on Westerns again, beginning with My Darling Clementine (1946), one of the classics of the genre. Many of his Westerns featured John Wayne, whom he had first worked with on Stagecoach (1939) and who became a superstar in Howard Hawks' classic oater Río Rojo (1948). Wayne appeared in Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), and Río Grande (1950), the famous "Cavalry Trilogy." Along with "My Darling Clementine," Ford was plumbing the nature of American myth-making, and the creation of history as an historical narrative, that is, the re-creation of history John Ford created so many classic Westerns that he began to be associated with the genre. It's interesting to note that from 1950 through 1959, he made only one Western, the classic The searchers (1956), one of the greatest examples of the genre. Starting with Horse soldiers (1959) which he made for the Mirisch Co. at the end of the decade, six of his last eight completed movies were Westerns, including his last masterpiece, "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance." rating : Above average , 8 .

This film's legacy has been funneled down to "The Film That Shouldn't Have Beat Citizen Kane at the Oscars." This is a massive shame...yes, it skirts the technical experimentation and rampant cynicism of Kane, but it's sappy sentimentalism and moments of sweet humor are what make its more bitter critique of impersonal progress even more affecting. Ford was truly a master; he creates such a sense of place and community in this small mining town, and your heart breaks for their loss of innocence.

This movie tugged at my heart strings like few others. I was thoroughly immersed in the lives of the Morgans and found myself especially drawn to young Huw's trials, tribulations, and triumphs. The scene where he taps his fork twice and sneezes before he is acknowledged by his father was poignant beyond belief. Despite the hardships and tragedies there is also warmth and humor such as when family friends of the Morgans visit the schoolmaster after he had been especially harsh with Huw. The romantic aspect of the film is also well done by its primary principles, Angharad and the pastor. All in all the films does a magnificent job of capturing the lives of a family in a bygone time and place. There is no doubt that this is a great film and the fact that it beat out the likes of Citizen Kane for Best Picture is a testament to that fact. 9/10.

John Ford's film of social and familial change details the chilling effects hard economic times have on a large, but tight-knit Welsh coal mining family around the turn of the last century. Told in narrative flashback by the youngest of seven children (5 young men and a young lady) it begins when the coalmines are new, the valley still green, and the village cohesive and close-knit. As economic times worsen, the family and community fray and slowly disintegrate. The backdrop village becomes darker and smokier as the family fights valiantly to remain together. But unlike the treatment the story would probably get today, the family does not lose its dignity.

There is not much, if anything, to criticize in this movie, it's one of the best ever.