麻豆社

On the 80th anniversary of the film that shaped global perceptions of Wales for decades, Gary Raymond asks how great was How Green Was My Valley?

Film buff Gary reviews it anew and addresses the questions that have bemused critics and audiences alike since the film鈥檚 release in 1941.The traditional verdict is that it was a sentimental adaptation of Richard Llewellyn's achingly nostalgic novel - a film about a Welsh mining community, made in California with an American Irish cast by a director of westerns. Its apparent lack of authenticity - from capacious colliers' cottages to extremely dodgy accents - has wound up Welsh audiences ever since. When not irritating the Welsh, the movie has also infuriated film critics for the crime of robbing Citizen Kane of the Best Picture prize at the Academy Awards. How could singing miners top Orson Welles' work of groundbreaking genius?

As Gary says, "That Oscar result is remembered as an upset, a triumph of the sentimental mediocrity of the establishment over the creative revolutionary spirit of the outsider. It was the conservative choice. But is that take true?" Examining How Green Was My Valley and its legacy with warmth, wit and irreverence, Gary takes a fresh look at the film to find out: "I've been trying to figure out who is right about it," he explains. "And I think I've come to some conclusions that may surprise you. I've come to realise that the film's damnable reputation is largely down to a misreading of the movie, a misunderstanding of what it is. I've come to realise that to understand How Green Was My Valley we need to understand its director John Ford; to unpick the prevailing narrative that Citizen Kane was robbed and we need to ask the question the rest of the world seems to have settled on 80 years ago - how great was How Green Was My Valley?"