How green was my valley (1941)

'How Green Was My Valley' was a movie directed by John Ford and released in 1941. The movie was based on a novel of the same name (written by Richard Llewellyn), and was written by Philip Dunne (the movie was produced by Darryl F. Zanuck). The movie is a moving portrayal of the disintegration of a close knit family when faced with the pressures of a changing socio-economic way of life, the changes these bring upon both the family unit and on the youngest boy of the family, all the while as he is maturing into adulthood. The movie was released in the same year that Citizen Kane was released, and 'How Green Was my Valley' managed to get a number of the higher profile Academy Awards. The movie was set in the location of South Wales coalfield at the heart of the South Wales Valleys, but due to the Second World War ongoing at the time, the movie had to be shot in the United States rather than in Wales as the Director had desired.



The movie starred Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Anna Lee, Donald Crisp, and Roddy McDowall in the main roles. The movie takes the story of the Morgans, a family of miners in the late nineteenth century; they are based in the South Wales coalfield. The movie is told from the perspective of the youngest of the clan, Huw Morgan, when he is reminiscing about the story of his life (he is now 60 years old, the movie is is a flashback). Tension the family begins to increase dramatically when his father refuses to join the miners strike, and his elder brothers disagree; in this rift, 3 of his elder brothers move out of the house.
The family has to ensure hardship, alongside, their entire town and the culture of the whole place is now in slow decline; the movie is also a depiction of how earlier movies would take the impact of technology on human life, especially as modern technology replaces human labor. The movie also focuses on the struggle of human life, and the never give up spirit of humans even in the face of struggles and adversity (especially in how the movie shows the strength of a family).

The movie was nominated for 10 Oscars, and managed to win 5 Oscars out of them:

Academy Award wins

* Best Picture - Darryl F. Zanuck.
* Best Director - John Ford
* Best Supporting Actor - Donald Crisp
* Best Black-and-White Cinematography - Arthur C. Miller
* Best Black-and-White Art Direction-Interior Decoration - Richard Day, Nathan H. Juran and Thomas Little

Academy Award nominations

* Best Adapted Screenplay - Philip Dunne
* Best Supporting Actress - Sara Allgood
* Best Film Editing - James B. Clark
* Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture - Alfred Newman
* Best Recording Sound - Edmund H. Hansen