Average Rating: 7.8/10
Reviews Counted: 34
Fresh: 30 | Rotten: 4
Though it perhaps strays into overly maudlin territory, this working-class drama is saved by a solid cast and director John Ford's unmistakeable style.
Average Rating: 7.2/10
Critic Reviews: 5
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 0
Though it perhaps strays into overly maudlin territory, this working-class drama is saved by a solid cast and director John Ford's unmistakeable style.
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Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 6,863
Spanning 50 years, director John Ford's How Green Was My Valley revolves around the life of the Morgans, a Welsh mining family, as told through the eyes of its youngest child Huw (Roddy McDowall). Over the years, the family struggles to survive through unionization, strikes, and child abuse. As they do so, their hometown and its culture begins to slowly decline. Donald Crisp portrays Gwilym, the patriarch of the Morgan household, who dreams of a better life for young Huw. Based on the novel of
Jan 1, 1941 Wide
Mar 7, 2000
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
All Critics (34) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (31) | Rotten (4) | DVD (12)
Because his recollections ring true, they are certain to evoke a similar nostalgia in all but the most slab-sided of moviegoers.
Top CriticHow Green Was My Valley is one of the year's better films, a sure-fire critic's picture and, unlike most features that draw kudos from crix, this one will also do business.
Expert performances from Donald Crisp, Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, and a host of brilliant character actors enhance a magnificent movie experience.
You can never expect to see a film more handsomely played.
If not for the inevitable comparisons to Citizen Kane, How Green Was My Valley might have aged better.
Beat out the much superior Citizen Kane for the Oscar for Best Picture.
This John Huston film [is] typically epic with a faithful screenplay to Richard Llewellyn's famous novel.
A complex account of family life and strife that takes in traumas, hardships, romances, conflicts and the odd happy moment without ever sentimentalizing or becoming unbelievable.
[Its] moralizing is dishonest and at times offensive. No matter how effectively a story is told, it's hard to buy into one that so often deceives its audience.
Emotionally effective if also sentimental evocation of working class life in a Welsch mining community, reaffirming John Ford's populist ideology and strong belief in the family as society's most important institution
Life in the working class generally determines where your life will lead. A young boy with the chance to break out realizes where his future is supposed to be.
An elegant and eloquent film, nevertheless, even if the characteristically laconic Fordian poetry seems more contrived here.
The tough, but highly sentimental John Ford was one of the few great cinema artists who was appreciated in his time.
A tedious working class drama that did not deserve the accolades it received.
While I can't say How Green Was My Valley is the most enjoyable movie ever, it's definitely well-made, and sticks with you.
If I'm not mistaken, this film is probably best remembered as the won that scored an upset victory over Citizen Kane at the Oscars by nabbing five out of the ten awards it was nominated for (the most signicant being best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography (black and white), and Best Art Direction (black and
March 14, 2011Super Reviewer
Other than getting to see a young Roddy McDowall, there wasn't anything of interest in this movie. I did just watch the beginning, really, but it's a very long movie spanning 50s years of the character's life! And what a boring life it was. Maybe some people like these real life dramas, but not me.
September 5, 2010Super Reviewer
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