14. How Green Was My Valley (1941)

Director: John Ford

Starring: Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O’Hara

Other Oscar Wins: Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Donald Crisp), Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction

Other Oscar Nominations: Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Sara Allgood), Best Writing, Best Sound, Best Film Editing, Best Score

Favourite Line: "Prayer is only another name for good, clean, direct thinking. When you pray, think. Think well what you're saying. Make your thoughts into things that are solid. In that way, your prayer will have strength, and that strength will become a part of you, body, mind, and spirit."

A scene from How Green Was My Valley.

 How Green Was My Valley is a beautiful and sentimental picture about a poor Welsh mining town as seen through the eyes of a young boy, Huw Morgan. As I have Welsh heritage myself, it was very cool to see a film featuring my family's cultural background. Wales is not a country that usually gets a lot of attention.

This movie is brilliantly filmed and written with some lovely performances from all involved. The most impressive, I found, was Donald Crisp as Huw's father, Mr. Morgan. He certainly earned his Oscar, and his performance is very truthful and nuanced. Also, Roddy McDowall as Huw himself is so endearing and he draws the viewer into the story.

Art by Olly Moss.

Something I found very interesting about How Green Was My Valley, was that despite being very clearly set in Wales, it was actually filmed Southern California. The plan had been to film on location, but the Second World War made that extremely difficult, and an 80 acre set was built instead. This also meant that the film had to be shot in black and white, because the colour of the flowers in California didn't match Welsh flowers. The film was finished in only two months.

Perhaps How Green Was My Valley's biggest claim to fame is that it beat Orson Welles masterpiece, Citizen Kane, for Best Picture. Citizen Kane is widely considered one of, if not the best film ever made, whereas How Green My Valley has faded into obscurity. Nonetheless, this is a lovely film, which I would recommend viewing, even just once.