How Green Was My Valley
1941 · 1h 58m · Drama
Watch it—this is a sweeping, emotionally rich portrait of working-class life that won Best Picture for a reason. John Ford's direction captures the beauty and heartbreak of the Welsh mining community with real poetry, and the family drama at its core still hits hard nearly 85 years later.
Plot
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.
Director: John Ford
Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Anna Lee, Donald Crisp, Roddy McDowall