How Green Was My Valley

1941, Drama, 1h 58m

86 Reviews 5,000+ Ratings

What to know

critics consensus

Nostalgic without becoming maudlin, this working-class drama is enlivened by a terrific cast and John Ford's ineffable directorial eye. Read critic reviews

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How Green Was My Valley Photos

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Movie Info

Huw Morgan (Roddy McDowall), the academically inclined youngest son in a proud family of Welsh coal miners, witnesses the tumultuous events of his young life during a period of rapid social change. At the dawn of the 20th century, a miners' strike divides the Morgans: the sons demand improvements, and the father (Donald Crisp) doesn't want to rock the boat. Meanwhile, Huw's eldest sister, Angharad (Maureen O'Hara), pines for the new village preacher, Mr. Gruffydd (Walter Pidgeon).
  • Genre:
    Drama
  • Original Language:
    English
  • Director:
    John Ford
  • Producer:
    Darryl F Zanuck
  • Writer:
    Philip Dunne
  • Release Date (Theaters):
     wide
  • Release Date (Streaming):
  • Runtime:
  • Distributor:
    20th Century Fox
  • Sound Mix:
    Mono
  • Aspect Ratio:
    Flat (1.37:1)

Cast & Crew

Walter Pidgeon
Mr. Gruffydd, Village Preacher
Maureen O'Hara
Angharad Morgan, Eldest Daughter
Roddy McDowall
Huw Morgan, Youngest Son
Donald Crisp
Mr. Gwilym Morgan
Anna Lee
Bronwyn Morgan, Ivor's Wife
John Loder
Ianto Morgan
Sara Allgood
Mrs. Beth Morgan
Barry Fitzgerald
Cyfartha, Dai Bando's Partner
Patric Knowles
Ivor Morgan
Rhys Williams
Dai Bondo, ex-boxer
Evan S. Evans
Gwilym
John Ford
Director
Darryl F Zanuck
Producer
Philip Dunne
Screenwriter
Arthur Miller
Cinematographer
Alfred Newman
Music
James B. Clark
Film Editing
Richard Day
Art Director
Nathan Juran
Art Director
Guy Pearce
Makeup
Thomas Little
Set Decoration
Gwen Wakeling
Costume Design
Eugene Grossman
Sound
Roger Heman Sr.
Sound
Show all Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews for How Green Was My Valley

All Critics (86) | Top Critics (29) | Fresh (80) | Rotten (6)
Full Review… Pauline Kael New Yorker Full Review… Marjory Adams Boston Globe Full Review… Katherine Howard Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com Full Review… Mae Tinee Chicago Tribune Full Review… Times (UK) Staff Times (UK) Full Review… Edwin Schallert Los Angeles Times Full Review… Dilys Powell Sunday Times (UK) Full Review… Ruth Lewis Austin American-Statesman Full Review… Kevin Wallace San Francisco Examiner Full Review… Ardis Smith Buffalo News Full Review… Donald Kirkley Baltimore Sun Full Review… Harold V. Cohen Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
View All Critic Reviews (86)

Audience Reviews for How Green Was My Valley

  • Aug 09, 2020
    John Ford, master raconteur, does have a particular affection for "remember how good it was in the old country" stories, and that affection does shine some here. Coal mining in Wales? Remember those good old days? And child labor? They don't make 'em like that anymore! As ever Ford's sweep of the tale brings it all off much better than it sounds. There might be a tear or two. And perhaps Walter Pidgeon's best film.
    Kevin M. W Super Reviewer
  • Jun 13, 2016
    It definitely needed to be longer but the movie remains a deeply sad nostalgia piece that's filled with surprising complexity.
    Alec B Super Reviewer
  • Oct 27, 2013
    A boy comes of age in a Welsh village. A sprawling, ambitious epic of a film, How Green Was My Valley wreaks of nostalgia, in the voice over, in the salt-of-the-earth characters, and the cursory treatment it gives its themes. While many of these nostalgia films achieve a universality, I found the characters ultimately unrealized and unexplored. For example, Angharad's love affair with the preacher, which is aborted by her marriage to an upper class man, is portrayed only slightly, and the next time we see her, she is miserable. But what about the interceding time? What about the preacher's life between then and now? Whereas a good epic like War and Peace leaves none of its main characters ignored, this one satisfies itself with episodic fragments. Overall, epics like this one are tricky, and I think director John Ford bit off more that he could chew.
    Jim H Super Reviewer
  • Oct 18, 2013
    Slightly overrated film but it is a good depiction of life in a coal mining town. We get to see young Roddy McDowall before he started wearing chimpanzee makeup. Nice imagery for an early film. The valley is clearly very green..or not.
    John B Super Reviewer
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