Editor’s note : this review is a
translation of one of the first reviews to ever appear on this blog back in
2009. Those were less than a 150 words long and were written immediately after
the viewing of each film. This is as aforementioned a translation and a longer
edit of this original film review.
How Green Was My Valley
(John Ford, 1941)
At the turn of the century in a Welsh
mining village, the Morgans, he stern, she gentle, raise coal-mining sons and
hope their youngest will find a better life.
Oft maligned
as the greatest steal of all time at the Academy Awards, wining Best Picture
and Best Director over Orson Welles’
Citizen Kane, John Ford’s How Green Was My
Valley, that was supposed to be William
Wyler’s film, is part of one of the most prolific era of Ford’s career. Along Stagecoach, The Long Voyage Home, Young
Mr. Lincoln, The Grapes of Wrath,
Tobacco Road, and Drums Along the Mohawk were all made
between the time span of 1939 and 1941. This is almost as many films as Stanley Kubrick did in his entire
career. Joking aside, Ford’s How Green Was My Valley is quite unique
and personal in his career.
