Review of How Green Was My Valley (1941) by Amanda B — 25 Jun 2008

It's a shame this movie has aged so poorly. Maybe the material was powerful at one time, but now the overblown melodrama of the thing makes it nearly impossible to see the good elements of the story.

The acting is uniformly laughable. That's really not fair to these actors, who I'm sure were brilliant for their time, but it's true. I found myself giggling at the intensity in some scenes, the stylized movements, the weird accents. That's not to say there isn't some good in the acting. In some of the quiet moments, a facial expression will speak volumes. In some of the mildly dramatic scenes, the tension in the acting is near brilliant. But frequently the intensity becomes hilarious, and the "sweet" scenes make you want to throw up from the schmaltz these actors exude.

The biggest problem with the movie is the narrative flaws. Things skip around far too much, and it has the feel of a very long book condensed for the screen. The relationship between the sister and the preacher is spotty and random, and not given the prominence it deserves. The brothers are not very well developed, and consequently there is no dramatic tension regarding their fate. We're also apparently supposed to believe that the Morgan family is "close-knit", because they eat supper together and give out spending money every evening and because Huw, played by a thirteen year-old, refers to his father as "Da-da". But when things start disintegrating, it's not believable. The boys would really leave their home over a thirty second argument with their father? I have to believe it would've played out a little differently than that.

Okay. It's not that bad for an old movie. The story is fairly good, even if there are plot holes and at times it feels like entire scenes are missing. There are some genuinely poignant moments, such as the two deaths that occur, and the two "meetings" at the chapel. But overall, it's nothing special.