How Green Was My Valley

Starring: Maureen OHara, Walter Pidgeon Director: John Ford Original UK Premiere: 1941 Dvd Release: 4th March, 2002 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: Black & White, PAL, Region 2 Encoding

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How Green Was My Valley is a novel of 1939, by Richard Llewellyn. The authors claims to have based it on his own knowledge of the Gilfach Goch area were bogus, as Llewellyn was English-born & spent little time in Wales, but gathered his facts from conversations with local mining families. How green was my valley then & the valley of them that have gone. The novel tells the story of the Morgans, a poor but respectable mining family of the South Wales valleys, through the eyes of the youngest son, Huw Morgan. Huws academic ability sets him apart from his elder brothers & enables him to consider a future away from this troubled industrial environment. His four brothers & his father are miners; after the eldest brother, Ifor, is killed in an industrial accident, Huw moves in with his sister-in-law, Bronwen, with whom he is secretly in love. Later, Huws father is also killed in the mine. Meanwhile, Huws only sister, Angharad, catches the eye of a wealthy coal-owner, but the marriage is an unhappy one & she enters into a clandestine relationship with the local minister.

Classic tale of family life in a Welsh valley at the beginning of the 20th Century. Its the story of Huw Morgan, son of a Collier in a small Welsh village, & his family. It depicts life in a small mining village at the turn of the Century, & how the lives of the Morgan family changed with the times. It also shows how the mines changed the Welsh landscape.

A film with humour, romance, courage, hardship & sadness, this film is one of all the time classics, & a must to watch.

Excellent performances by Walter Pigeon, Maureen OHara & the young Rodney McDowell, amongst others.

Maureen OHara, born Maureen FitzSimons, is an Irish - American film actress. Born in Ranelagh, County Dublin, Ireland, the famously red-headed beauty is noted for playing fiercely passionate heroines with a highly sensible attitude. She often worked with director John Ford & longtime friend John Wayne. She came from a theatrical family & began acting at the age of 14 with the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. At the age of 17 she was offered a screen test in London. Initially reluctant she was persuaded to attend. At the screen test was the actor Charles Laughton. She performed poorly in the test. However she met Charles Laughton who believed she had something. She returned to Ireland. Meanwhile Laughton looked at the test again & while he thought it was awful he couldnt forget her eyes. He told his business partner he was signing her & sent him the test tape. When he saw the tape he was furious as he believed it was a poor choice. However he came around when he too found he couldnt forget her eyes so he thought she must have something. Posters Of Mclintock

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Walter Pidgeon was a Canadian actor. Born near Saint John, New Brunswick, he began his career by studying at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He made several silent movies in the 1920s, then made some early talkie musicals, then played second fiddle to the main male star in such films as Saratoga & The Girl of the Golden West. It wasnt until he starred in How Green Was My Valley that he became well-known. He starred opposite Greer Garson in Blossom in the Dust & in Mrs. Miniver. He was nominated again in 1944 for Madame Curie, but he left Hollywood in the mid- 1950s for the stage. He retired fully in 1971 & died in Santa Monica, California. Walter Pidgeon died in 1984. In accordance with his wishes, his body was donated to the UCLA, Medical School for medical research. Pidgeon has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6414 Hollywood Blvd. Posters Of Big Red

Editors Choice: Big Red, Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, How Green Was My Valley, Mrs Miniver, View DVDology

John Ford was one of the most accomplished American film directors of the 1930s to 1960s, known particularly as a director of the Westerns, although his tributes to the veterans of World War II & Americana are also equally effective. In recent years, it has been claimed that his westerns, particularly The Searchers, portray Native Americans in an unflattering light, though it has also been said that The Searchers is actually a critique of the pathology of American racism. // He was born John Martin Feeney in Cape Elizabeth, Maine to John Augustine Feeney & Barbara Curren, both of whom were born in Spiddal 1, County Galway, Ireland in 1856. John A Feeneys grandmother, Barbara Morris, was said to be a member of a local gentry family, the Morrises of Spiddal, presently headed by the decidedly well-off Redmond Morris, 3rd Lord Killanin. John Augustine & Barbara Feeney arrived in Boston & Portland within a few days of each other in May & June 1872, were married in 1875 & became American citizens three years later. Posters Of John Ford

Editors Choice: The Battle Of Midway, The American West Of John Ford, Donovans Reef, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Horse Soldiers, The Searchers, The Quiet Man, Mogambo, View DVDology

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