How Green Was My Valley

Name: How Green Was My Valley
Genre: Drama
Released: 1941-10-28
Duration: 1 h 58 min
Rating: 7.2
Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Anna Lee, Donald Crisp, Roddy McDowall

Rich is their humor! Deep are their passions! Reckless are their lives! Mighty is their story!

How Green Was My Valley (1941)

Timing: 1:58 (118 min)

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7.3/10
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Everything about the movie

Video 3

Photo 34

Actors and characters

Video for the film How Green Was My Valley — Larry Cohen on HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY

2:04

Photo 34

Release date

Country

Production

Genre

Budget

$800 000

Box office

$4 800 000

Website

Director

John Ford

Actors

Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Anna Lee, Donald Crisp, Roddy McDowall, John Loder, Sara Allgood, Barry Fitzgerald, Patric Knowles, Morton Lowry
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Darryl F. Zanuck

Camera operator

Arthur C. Miller

Composer

Alfred Newman

Artist

Audition

Editing

James B. Clark
Whole Team (29)

Short description

Huw Morgan, the academically inclined youngest son in a proud family of Welsh coal miners, witnesses the tumultuous events of his young life during a period of rapid social change. At the dawn of the 20th-century, a miners' strike divides the Morgans: the sons demand improvements, and the father doesn't want to rock the boat.

What's left behind the scenes

The construction of the mining village cost $110,000. Blocks of coal weighing over a ton each were brought in to build the mines. To create the impression that everything around was covered in coal dust (in the opening and final scenes), John Ford ordered everything to be painted black.
When an accident occurs at the mine, the mother and Bronwyn rush out of the house. In the first shot, the mother does not have a scarf – neither on her head nor on her shoulders. Then, the scarf suddenly appears on her shoulders, and then she will put it on her head and utter the famous phrase about seeing her husband and son with the Lord in heaven.
In 1990, the film was added to the National Film Registry as having "cultural, historical, or aesthetic significance."
Filming lasted 2 months.
During the scene where Hugh relearned to walk, a fly actually landed on the actor's arm. This wasn't in the script.
The last words of Kivary, “I am a coward, but I will hold your coat,” were added to the film by director John Ford, despite the objections of screenwriter Philip Dunne.
The only film by John Ford (1894-1973) to win an Academy Award for Best Picture.
The most nominated film of 1941, it received 5 Academy Awards.
The author of the novel adapted by John Ford, Richard Llewellyn (1906-1983), claimed he wrote the novel based on his own extensive knowledge of life in Wales, but this proved to be untrue, as he had rarely been to Wales. It later emerged that he had gleaned virtually all his knowledge from conversations with local miners.
Producer Darryl F. Zanuck (1902-1979) initially intended to film a 4-hour saga.
The mining village in Wales was built near the city of Malibu, California. By that time, the film's budget had been cut to $1.25 million, making location shooting impossible. Furthermore, filming abroad was practically impossible for a Hollywood studio due to World War II. In addition, Darryl F. Zanuck changed his mind about filming in color because the colors around Malibu differed from the color palette of Wales.