How Green Was My Valley Plot Intro
A small coal mining village in Wales during the late 1800’s. The Morgan family consist of Gwilym Morgan (Donald Crisp) and Beth Morgan (Sara Allgood) and their seven very-Welsh-named children, in particular their only daughter Angharad (Maureen O’Hara) and their youngest son, Huw (Roddy McDowall). There’s also a dishy new vicar, Mr Gruffydd (Walter Pidgeon) who has eyes for Angharad. Huw is the narrator and main POV of the family’s trials and tribulations, as they take us through strikes, money-worries, illnesses, emigration, malevolent school teachers, marriages, and deaths down the mines.
Citizen Kane Plot Intro
In his colossal, barren mansion of Xanadu, newspaper magnate and Rupert-Murdoch-esque businessman, Charles Kane (Orson Welles), dies. His last word is cryptic and inexplicable to even his closest servants and friends- “Rosebud”. A team of journalists, determined to get a scoop, delve into his life, determined to discover who, or what, Rosebud is, and discover more about this enigmatic man.
Citizen Kane is often named as one of the greatest films of all time. The American Film Institute, which compiles arguably the most definitive rankings of films and stars, places it at number one, surpassing other such household names as Gone With the Wind, The Godfather and Casablanca. It has had supreme influence on film-making thanks to its innovative cinematography and non-linear narrative structure (flashbacks and music-heavy montages are used very liberally). Any good film student would have studied it at some point - on pain of death.
So why no Best Picture Oscar for Kane in 1941? Kane has so much to say about the human condition and how it changes when corrupted with power. It’s also a landmark in film-making styles. Well, on viewing How Green Was My Valley, I can now see why it won. It’s outstanding. The film is sweet, involving, and has a huge amount of heart to it, and provides an insight into a culture and time like a David Starkey documentary.
While Orson Welles approached Citizen Kane with a heavily artistic and conceptual frame of mind, John Ford (who won four Best Director Oscars) directs Valley much more simplistically, but lets the story and characters speak for themselves. There are extremely powerful and inspirational moments- Beth Morgan’s recovery from illness and her speech against the miners ostracising her husband; the elder brothers’ bittersweet departures to America, New Zealand and Canada in search of a better life; a hypocritical preacher’s condemnation of a fallen woman in front of an entire congregation. I was transported to 19th-century Wales throughout the whole two hours. It was so vivid and natural that it was like looking through a time-hole into a forgotten age. I wanted to be there, but the fear and suffering of these people, who manage to find humour even in the most grim of moments, also made me want to remain a bystander. I defy anyone to make their way through the film without shedding at least one tear, particularly for Sara Allgood’s stunning performance as matriarchal Beth. My only criticism is of the episode involving a sadistic, snobbish school teacher which felt a little too pantomime amidst the naturalism to me.
Is it a deserved win over Citizen Kane? In hindsight, perhaps not. Valley has pretty much faded into obscurity, unless you’re a big film buff, while Kane’s endurance and timelessness is self-evident. But in 1941, with war raging and cinema’s audiences crying out for smaller, more-domestic films, films that show real people overcoming real situations rather than the reverential life stories of the ’30s, Valley would have been the perfect catharsis for any cinema-goer worried about their husbands, fathers, brothers and sons consumed by the fogs of war. Charles Kane could be read as a relatively tenuous allegory for Hitler because his pursuit of helping the under-privileged turns into a struggle to maintain power and influence over the people, but Valley resonates more strongly in its depiction of communities helping each other no matter what strife is thrown at them.
These are two very different films. Kane is innovative, character-driven, and timeless in its themes. Valley is more traditional and linear in its plot structure (similar to All Quiet on the Western Front, Cimarron and Cavalcade), but with more heart and realism than in previous pictures. It’s a much more quintessential example of the ’40s film as the next few films will prove, while Kane combines the magnitude of the ’30s films with the experimentation of the ’70’s. The latter would be my personal choice of winner due to its current notoriety, but both are excellent pieces of entertainment. Your preference really depends on your taste in films.
How Green Was My Valley Highlight
Beth’s recovery from a prolonged illness is a powerful scene. Beforehand, the miners had been turning against her husband for opposing their strike. But they greet her at the door with friendliness and atonement. A lovely moment symbolising the importance of camaraderie and community.
Citizen Kane Highlight
Oh God, there’s so many moments to choose from! I suppose my favourite is when Kane is contacted by a colleague in Cuba saying that everyone’s writing poetry here and war will not happen. Determined to provide a headline, Kane replies, “You provide the prose poems, I’ll provide the war”.
How Green Was My Valley Lowlight
An over-acting school teacher bullying Huw for his low-class status and allowing other children to assault him. He eventually gets his comeuppance but it felt very melodramatic and incongruous compared to other episodes.
Citizen Kane Lowlight
I literally can’t think of anything. The film is so carefully thought out and connected together that it’s verging on perfect (despite my assertion that nothing can be totally perfect).
How Green Was My Valley Mark
9/10
Citizen Kane Mark
10/10
When we started this project, we scrolled through the films ahead of us, and alighted on the curious fact that Citizen Kane - considered by many film buffs to be the best film ever made - did not go on to win the Oscar, and lost out to a now-obscure film called How Green Was My Valley. We decided there and then that when it came to this week, we would watch both films and critique them, seeing whether the forgotten film about Welsh mining villages would stand up to the renowned Orson Welles masterpiece. I for one was excited to write a scathing review of some saccharine piece that had nothing on Welles’ film of power’s ultimate decay.
As it was, they are both extraordinary pieces and to define which should have won the Oscar is ultimately incredibly hard. Kane is the first example we have of someone actually taking cinematography and running with it - something that films such as Birdman and La Vie En Rose owe a huge debt to. Every shot is perfectly planned, the central character is constantly shrouded in shadow, and in his final shot in the film, he walks past a mirror and is reflected in it thousands of times, each self walking on lonely into the dark. I was gripped by the central drama of who this man is, and the groundbreaking methods Welles has used to create it.
So how on earth could Valley have beaten it? Well actually, it is in itself a wonderful piece. By focusing on the actualities of miner life (we see cave-ins, poverty, strikes and infighting), and setting it from one family’s viewpoint, we are drawn into the characters while never falling into sentimentality. And the Welsh singing throughout! It is a musical, mesmerising piece, with heroes and villains. The teacher Paul so disliked for pantomime villainy, I found rang terrifyingly true - and when two miners from our central character’s village storm into the classroom and beat the teacher up, I found myself loudly cheering at the tv screen. There’s a whole ream of themes - from the rich/poor divide, to how religion means different things for all of them. It’s filled with naturalistic acting, realistic and emotional narratives, and all tinged over with the everyday humour that is in all our lives.
Ultimately I am unsure of who should have been the winner. In terms of breaking ground with style, cinematography and non-linear stories, Kane takes the crown in no uncertain terms. But for me the real winner is (by a hair’s breadth) Valley - it is our first instance of really naturalistic, powerful acting - led by the incomparable Sara Allgood who as the matriarch whips us through comic scenes and one scene of devastating tragedy with utmost realism. As she stands, frozen, simply waiting to hear the terrible news, I found myself unable to rip my eyes from her face. A forgotten masterpiece.
How Green Was My Valley Highlight
Sara Allgood quietly steals every single scene she’s in with patient good-humoured kindliness, meaning that a tragic scene later on reaps great pathos.
Citizen Kane Highlight
Every single shot is thought about and considered. Welles clearly adhered to the school of Hitchcock thinking. It’s a lesson in cinematography.
How Green Was My Valley Lowlight
There are moments which feel slower - though not dragging - but are soon whipped back up into the story, and proven to be necessary.
Citizen Kane Lowlight
The acting, while elegant, is not really worth writing home about as the style overwhelms it. Also, the second wife’s angry voice is so irritating that it detracts from the power of her scenes
How Green Was My Valley Mark
10/10
Citizen Kane Mark
10/10
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