How Green was my Valley (1941)

This film is overlong,

 uneven, clunky and filled

 with groan-worthy and

 sigh inducing scenes.

 However it has some fantastic

moments and showcases

 the skill of it's director well.

This film is a mess in more ways than one. It has an uneven and often jarring tone, it is probably about 20 minutes too long and it perfectly fits the phrase 'product of it's time'. At one point in the film these flaws became so overbearing that I was tempted to stop watching all together. However I'm glad that I didn't, because I found some really admirable qualities as the film continued and it really began to grow on me.

The issue I feel I am obligated to discuss first is the setting, Wales. I am Welsh myself, and have lived here almost my entire life. Therefore my reading of this film will be radically different than a non-Welsh person. The first hurdle the film had to leap from the start was it's portrayal of the Welsh culture, my culture. So how did it fare? Visually it was very well done. John Ford seems to have a wonderful eye for scenery and nailed this aspect from the first moments of the film onward. I would not be surprised if the element which attracted Ford to the project was the opportunity to bring this setting to life, because it is the element he aces above all others. The film's most memorable moments come from it's fantastic cinematography and how it embodies it's setting so well.

Beyond this key aspect of the portrayal, the film largely feels quite phoned-in when it comes to how it handles Welsh culture. The accents are passable enough, although they sometimes dip into sounding closer to Irish than Welsh. What annoys me the most however is how the life of a mining community is shown. Mining has been one of the key industries in Wales for generations, and perhaps above anything else, it is a very difficult way of life. Miners are poor, have a short life expectancy due to the amount of toxic coal dust they ingest, and live under the assumption that they will probably die on the job at some point. This film does nothing with that lifestyle and sands off the consequences of it entirely. Poverty is not shown, in fact I would call the family of the main character closer to middle-class than working-class. This is a huge issue with the film in my opinion and robs the setting of not only it's realism, but also the potential drama the subject could bring along. The aforementioned idea of impending mortality comes up a little at the end, however by that time it was too late, at least in my opinion.

Aside from it's portrayal of the culture, the film boasts a good cast of strong actors. I cannot really think of any bad performances in the film, in fact despite some grievances with the accent the majority of the acting is very good here. The are a lot of subtle moments from the cast here, and most of the powerful character moments in this film are made so due to some great expressions and emotive body language. A young Roddy McDowall leads the cast here, and he is actual very good for such a young actor. Definitely one of the best child performances I have seen form a film of this era. Donald Crisp should also receive high praise for his portrayal of the father, showing a wide and deep range of emotions whilst undergoing some real development and changes throughout the narrative. Overall, this film has some great acting bolstered by a solid, if fairly dated, script.

 The pacing is one of the most bewildering elements of the entire film. On the one hand, the film feels quite drastically overlong and several sections probably could have been cut. In addtition the film has an awful disregard to internal continuity, forgetting prior scenes in moments wherin it would have been perfect to do so. However despite this, it is relaxed and slow moving enough to be enjoyable. It is a relaxing film to watch and is never too rash whenever it changes intensity or tone (I will get to that). Overall I guess it's pacing is too sloppy and the screenplay is too wishy-washy to really work properly, however I am not willing to call it a complete failure due to how pleasant it was to watch during it's slower sections.

Finally the film's tone. Once again, it is an uneven mess and is probably another instance of how the film is a product of it's time. Some fairly heavy ideas and moments are disregarded completely in a jarring display, for example the surprisingly ho-hum reaction to a prominent character dying by his entire family. A scene involving a character possibly being crippled for life is followed by a semi-comedy scene featuring a comically drunk doctor. This tonal dissonance is hard to explain or justify, however the best way I have is this; The film is told from the perspective of a man looking back at his childhood. I personally viewed these  moments as the character attempting to dull the pain of these moments to himself. Despite this however, the tone is still detracting and often feels like poor writing rather than a stylistic choice. 

Overall, this film is a total mess. In some aspects it is very good, the cinematography is great, the acting engaging and the atmosphere warm and nostalgic. However it's scattershot tone, muddled pace and cheesy falseness prevents it from being anything more than a fascinating curiosity.

By Jack D. Phillips
A Zoom Film Review