Romance of Happy Valley (1918)

Synopsis: This is one of those movies that answers the question "How are you going to keep 'em down on the farm?" An ambitious country boy (Robert Harron) heads off to the city to make his fortune, leaving... This is one of those movies that answers the question "How are you going to keep 'em down on the farm?" An ambitious country boy (Robert Harron) heads off to the city to make his fortune, leaving behind his sweetheart Jennie (Lillian Gish) and adoring family in the small town of Happy Valley. He gets a job in a toy company and tries to invent a mechanical frog, which takes him eight years. Meanwhile, Jennie waits devotedly at home, and gradually the girlish gleam goes out of her lovely eyes. When the hero finally returns, his frog a success at last, he finds the town has fallen to ruins in his absence, and Jennie and his family are destitute. D.W. Griffith was obviously working in his bleak, Dickensian social commentarist mode when he crafted this small classic, but in his masterful hands, the film transcends it's dated theme. Harron and Gish are both wonderfully heartbreaking in the leads, and the photography by longtime Griffith cameraman Billy Bitzer beautifully captures the bucolic splendor of the small town locale. [More]

Starring: Robert Harron, Lillian Gish, George Fawcett, Kate Bruce

Starring: Robert Harron, Lillian Gish, George Fawcett, Kate Bruce

Director: D.W. Griffith

Director: D.W. Griffith
Story: D.W. Griffith
Producer: D.W. Griffith

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