--- title: "How Green Was My Valley: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/how-green-was-my-valley/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/how-green-was-my-valley" critics_score: 80 critics_reviews: 9 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # How Green Was My Valley (1941): what the critics said Critics' score 80 from 9 reviews: 8 positive, 1 mixed, 0 negative. Most critics warm to it. Eight of the nine reviews are positive and none is negative, and the praise clusters on John Ford’s direction: his affection for the Welsh valley and its people, and his handling of working-class solidarity. The cast draws consistent notice, with Donald Crisp and the young Roddy McDowall named again and again. Several writers also single out the photography, from the low-angle compositions to the deep-focus interiors, and the more recent reviews read the film as a memory piece about childhood and a community that is disappearing as it is remembered. The reservations are about authenticity. The Guardian notes the Hollywood-built village standing in for Wales, and Time Out finds the backlot and the accents hard to believe in, even while the story still moves. Slant calls it more melodramatic and nostalgic than The Grapes of Wrath, and Empire, the one mixed review, admires the photography and the child’s-eye framing but is cooler on the whole. The spread is narrow: nobody dislikes it. ## Radio Times — Tony Sloman Rating 5/5. The critic praises this magnificent Oscar-winning family saga for its power to move and entertain, highlighting John Ford's loving direction of life in the Welsh valleys and the sincerity of the cast. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-qasyyp/how-green-was-my-valley/) ## The New York Times — Bosley Crowther Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 29 October 1941. The critic hails the film as a poetic and dignified achievement rich in visual beauty and human character, singling out its stunning pictorial mastery and superb performances, especially by young Roddy McDowall and Donald Crisp. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1941/10/29/archives/a-beautiful-and-affecting-film-achievement-is-how-green-was-my.html) ## RogerEbert.com — Scout Tafoya Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 8 May 2023. The critic praises Ford's rapturous, Proustian account of childhood memory and community in a Welsh mining valley, highlighting its blend of clarity and dreaminess alongside striking sequences of loss and labor solidarity. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/features/book-excerpt-scout-tafoyas-but-god-made-him-a-poet-watching-john-ford-in-the-21st-century) ## Variety — Abel Green Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 28 October 1941. The critic calls it one of the year's better films, a warm human story with impressive performances and expert craftsmanship that will appeal broadly, highlighting inspired casting including Donald Crisp, Sara Allgood, and young Roddy McDowall. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1941/film/reviews/how-green-was-my-valley-2-1200413725/) ## The New Yorker — Richard Brody Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 12 November 2015. The critic notes the film's resemblance to Citizen Kane as a flashback saga of lost idyll and community eroded by industry, praising Ford's nuanced depiction of working-class solidarity through expressionistic tableaux and sound. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/how-green-was-my-valley) ## Slant Magazine — Eric Henderson Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 12 February 2013. The critic notes the film's origins as a scaled-back production and its engagement with themes of proletarian rights, unionization, and human dignity amid family and community strife in a Welsh mining town. Ford's social conscience and low-angle camerawork are singled out for praise, though the film is seen as more overtly melodramatic and nostalgic than The Grapes of Wrath. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/how-green-was-my-valley/) ## The Guardian — Clyde Jeavons Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). The critic describes the restored 1941 Oscar-winner as still gripping and moving in its account of life in a Welsh mining community. They single out the elaborate Hollywood-built set representing turn-of-the-century Wales as a notable example of the film's 'Hollywoodisation'. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/movie/80556/how-green-was-my-valley) ## Time Out — TM Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 11 September 2012. The backlot village and accents hinder belief in this nostalgic Welsh tale, but it remains an elegant and eloquent film whose story of a traditional way of life breaking up resonates more strongly when viewed through an Irish lens. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/how-green-was-my-valley-2) ## Empire — David Parkinson Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. The critic praises Ford's innovative approach to adapting the novel through the young protagonist's perspective to critique resistance to social progress, along with strong performances and exceptional deep-focus photography. However, the review questions whether the film truly deserved its Oscars given stronger competition that year. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/green-valley-review/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/how-green-was-my-valley.md