The Corn Is Green

1945

The Corn Is Green

Critics Consensus

No consensus yet.

Tomatometer
Not Yet Available

TOMATOMETER

Total Count: N/A

75%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 1,044

Watch it now

Amazon

iTunes

The Corn Is Green Photos

View All Photos (1)

Movie Info

In this 1945 filmization of Emlyn Williams' semi-autobiographical 1938 play +The Corn is Green, Bette Davis steps into the role originated on Broadway by Ethel Barrymore. Davis plays Miss Moffat, a turn-of-the-century schoolteacher in a Welsh mining town. She has opened her own school in hopes of lowering the town's illiteracy rate, thus enabling the younger residents to seek out more fulfilling lives than merely sweating away in the mines until they drop. She runs into a great deal of resistance from mine-owner Nigel Bruce, who realizes that as soon as the citizens can read and write, they'll rebel against his benevolent despotry. Even Miss Moffat concludes that her mission is hopeless until she is visited by young miner John Dall, who wants to know "what is behind all those books". Within two years, Dall has made so much progress that he has qualified for Oxford. A last-minute snag involving Dall's illegitimate child is solved when Miss Moffet herself agrees to adopt the baby so that her student can complete his education. Emlyn Williams himself came from a backward mining town, and was himself inspired to better things by a compassionate schoolteacher; the pregnancy angle was (probably) added to provide the story with a third act. The Corn is Green was remade for television in 1978, with Katharine Hepburn as Miss Moffat. Watch for one amusing gaffe in the original: despite carefully setting up the premise that the villagers are illiterate, they are shown hovering around a poster and reading it out loud in an early scene.

Rating:

NR
Genre:

Classics, Drama
Directed By:

Irving Rapper
Written By:

Frank Cavett, Casey Robinson
In Theaters:

Jul 14, 1945 wide
On Disc/Streaming:

Sep 25, 2012
Runtime:

115 minutes
Studio:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Cast

Bette Davis
as Miss Lilly Moffat

John Dall
as Morgan Evans

Joan Lorring
as Bessie Watty

Nigel Bruce
as The Squire

Rhys Williams
as Mr. Jones

Rosalind Ivan
as Mrs. Watty

Mildred Dunnock
as Miss Ronberry

Gwyneth Hughes
as Sarah Pugh

Billy Roy
as Idwal Monris

Thomas Louden
as Old Tom

Arthur Shields
as William Davis

Leslie Vincent
as John Owen

Robert Regent
as Rhys Norman

Tony Ellis
as Will Hughes

Elliott Dare
as Glyn Thomas

Robert Cherry
as Dai Evans

Gene Ross
as Gwilym Jones

George Mathews
as Trap Driver

Brandon Hurst
as Lewellyn Powell

David Hilary Hughes
as Miners in Bar

Herbert Evans
as Miners in Bar

Billy Evans
as Miners in Bar

David Hughes
as Miners in Bar

Adeline de Walt Reynolds
as Old Woman Reading

John Dehner
as Welshman

Robert Cory
as Miners in Bar

Rhoda Williams
as Wylodine

Sarah Edwards
as Mrs. Watty's Friend

Margaret Hoffman
as Militant Corps woman

Stub Mussellman
as Bit

Bert Speiser
as Bit

Leonard Mudie
as Station Master

Edmund Breon

View All

Critic Reviews for The Corn Is Green

All Critics (3) | Fresh (2) | Rotten (1)

Irving Rapper's screen version of Emlyn Williams semi-autobiographical play is well acted by Bette Davis as the spinster-teacher, but is too theatrical, sentimental and conventional.

Jan 5, 2012 | Rating: B- | Full Review…

Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com