Kazan's first film, a sentimental family melodrama, is well acted (James Dunn won a Supporting Oscar), but it doesn't begin to suggest the powerful director he would become in the 1950s.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
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Reviews Counted:14
Fresh:14
Rotten:0
Average Rating:7.6/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 8 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: The story centers on young Francis Nolan, whose father's sudden death leaves the family to somehow survive in a harsh, desperate time. Like the tree in the back of their house, uncared for and... The story centers on young Francis Nolan, whose father's sudden death leaves the family to somehow survive in a harsh, desperate time. Like the tree in the back of their house, uncared for and forgotten, their struggle to survive is a valiant one. Based on Betty Smith's 1943 novel. Academy Award Nominations: 2, including Best Screenplay. Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor--James Dunn. [More]
Starring: Dorothy McGuire, Joan Blondell, James Dunn, Lloyd Nolan
Starring: Dorothy McGuire, Joan Blondell, James Dunn, Lloyd Nolan, Peggy Ann Garner, Ted Donaldson, James Gleason, Mae Marsh
Director: Elia Kazan
Director: Elia Kazan
Producer: Louis D. Lighton
Screenwriter: Tess Slesinger
Story: Betty Smith
Composer: Alfred Newman
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Reviews for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Rarely has the dream factory lavished such skill on such destitution and such insistence that people are not really that changeable in nature.
Where Tree is frequently slow, it is offset by the story's significance and pointed up notably by the direction of Elia Kazan.
This episodic, charmingly sentimental movie is a trifle lengthy but never tedious.
Kazan's film has a sharp eye for social detail, but avoids giving occulted status to the peeling paper, damp walls and austere kitchen table.
Elia Kazan has directed this picture, his first, with an easy naturalness that has brought out all the tone of real experience in a vastly affecting film.
This family has a great deal of love but a lot of difficulty showing it.
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