A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Photos

View All Photos (6)

Cast

Peggy Ann Garner
as Francie Nolan

James Dunn
as Johnny Nolan

Lloyd Nolan
as McShane

Dorothy McGuire
as Katie

Joan Blondell
as Aunt Sissy

Ted Donaldson
as Neely Nolan

James Gleason
as McGarrity

Ruth Nelson
as Miss McDonough

John Alexander
as Steve Edwards

B.S. Pully
as Christmas Tree Vendor

Ferike Boros
as Grandma Rommely

Charles Halton
as Mr. Barker

Patricia McFadden
as Sheila

Robert Strange
as Doctor

Robert Tait
as Street Singer

Teddy Infur
as Boy

Mickey Kuhn
as Boy

Constance Purdy
as Woman

J. Farrell MacDonald
as Carney

Adeline de Walt Reynolds
as Mrs. Waters

George Melford
as Mr. Spencer

Mae Marsh
as Tynmore sister

Al Bridge
as Cheap Charlie

Edna Jackson
as Tynmore Sister

Vincent Graeff
as Henny Gaddis

Susan Lester
as Flossie Gaddis

John Berkes
as Mr. Crackenbox

Lillian Bronson
as Librarian

Alec Craig
as Werner

Alan Bridge
as Cheap Charlie

Joseph J. Greene
as Hassler

Virginia Brissac
as Miss Tilford

Harry Harvey Jr.
as Herschel

Robert J. Anderson
as Augie

Art Smith
as Ice Man

Erskine Sanford
as Undertaker

Martha Wentworth
as Mother

Francis Pierlot
as Priest

Al Eben
as Union Representative

Harry Seymour
as Floorwalker

George Carleton

Joyce Tucker
as Girl

Nicholas Ray
as Bakery Clerk

Robert Malcolm Young
as Doctor

Norman Field
as Principals of School

George Meader
as Principals of School

Peter Cusanelli
as Barber

View All

Critic Reviews for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Audience Reviews for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

• Apr 10, 2013

  Flying under the radar, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a great Kazan film. Putting aside the snitch tendencies off the screen, the tale of the family in a Brooklyn tenement is particularly dark in a tremendous way.
  

  John B Super Reviewer
• Feb 05, 2010

  Director Elia Kazan gives us his adaptation of the Betty Smith novel about a young girl coming-of-age in 1900s Brooklyn. Living with an alcoholic father and a workaholic mother, she and her tough little brother try to survive the rough times in their little apartment home. The father is a singing waiter and dreams of one day making it big in show business. To his daughter, he's larger-than-life character, a charming prince or movie star. The mother is more pragmatic or cynical, or maybe just tired of the hard life, and finds his antics less amusing. The daughter is naturally inquisitive, she attempts to read every book in the library in alphabetical order. It's only natural she's extraordinarily bored at the substandard and overcrowded school she attends. She wants nothing more than to attend the school where the children of higher incomed families go. The father makes it the one wish of hers he can fullfill and somehow manages to get her in. She means to rise above her status in life and make something great of herself. She wants to be a writer. The teacher at her new school encourages her, but warns her not to be a pipe-dreamer, as "they never do anyone any good" (ironically, her father is one of the biggest pipe-dreamers ever, and she fails to see this). The little girl is like a tree growing in Brooklyn, a thing of radiant beauty pushing it's way up through the sidewalk. Where so many darkened minds exist in illiteracy and poverty, she intends to grow up with her imagination intact and in pursuit of the intellectual, despite her surroundings. But when her surroundings are a family as loving and supportive as hers, she almost can't help but succeed. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a wonderfully expressed film, full of the sorrow and joy of timeless adolescence.
  Devon B Super Reviewer
• May 14, 2009

  A family living in poverty with a realist mother and a dreamer dad. Touching father/daughter scenes full of their optimism despite their circumstances are well-executed due to the talents of Dunn and Garner. This movie definitely requires a box of tissues.
  nefnie l Super Reviewer
• May 26, 2006

  i never get tired of watching this. so many different stories throughout that make up this family's life. Peggy Ann Garner (Francis) has such talent
  Mary G Super Reviewer

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Quotes

News & Features