1941 Best Picture:
How Green Was My Valley

Competition:  Blossoms In the Dust, Citizen Kane, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, Hold Back the Dawn, The Little Foxes, The Matlese Falcon, One Foot in Heaven, Sergeant York, Suspicion

Other Winners:
Best Actor: Gary Cooper, Sergeant York
Best Actress: Joan Fontaine, Suspicion
Best Supporting Actor: Donald Crisp, How Green Was My Valley
Best Supporting Actress: Mary Astor, The Great Lie
Best Director: John Ford, How Green Was My Valley

Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Anna Lee, Donald Crisp, Roddy McDowall, John Loder, Sara Allgood, Barry Fitzgerald 

Storyline:  A Welch mining town is the backdrop for this film about a large, and very close, family, during the early union days, as seen through the eyes of its youngest son. 

Did it deserve to win: Not even close!  How Green Was My Valley was a good film, but it was hardly the best of its year.  This sweet little movie about a coal mining town, unions and family loyalty was up against some serious competition.

Sergeant York, the Gary Cooper picture, that won him an Oscar, was far better.  So was Suspicion, the Hitchcock film that won the Best Actress Oscar for its star, Joan Fontaine.  The Maltese Falcon is regarded as a classic to this day.  It didn't even garner a nomination for Best Picture.  

It's considered a crime, at least among film critics and serious film lovers, the fact that Citizen Kane, considered to be the best film of all time, didn't win the award.  This shouldn't come as such a surprise, however, for several reasons.  Indeed, Orson Welles masterpiece is groundbreaking.  There was no other film like it at the time.  But it wasn't a popular movie.  Audiences of the day simply didn't get it, or didn't want to.  To make matters worse, it took shots at William Randolf Hearst, the newspaper magnet of the day, and didn't have much good to say about Hollywood either.  

Critique:  If you are looking for a sweet, gentle film, about hardships and family values, you will find nothing better than How Green Was My Valley.  To say that it was 'lovingly directed' and 'beautifully acted' couldn't be closer to the truth.  

The film moves slowly, and deals with a lot of issues, but it plays very well.  The subject of unions was a touchy one.  It seems apparent that the film is against organized labor, which is fine, but the voice of Joe McCarthy, who's team was starting to go to work by 1941, seemed to echo in the background.  

On the other hand, the film has a small scene where a woman is branded by the church elders for having a child out of wedlock.  It is remarkable that a film would even show a scene like this in 1941, but it goes further by allowing the audience to take a sympathetic view of the girl, while villainizing the church. The young Angharad stands up to the deacons and storms out of the church, calling them hypocrites.  The message, by today's standards, is a positive one, and notable because at the time, the view was quite different. 

 

Best Scene:  Walk Huw!  Sentimentalists will love the relationship that develops between the boy and the Preacher, particularly when Pidgeon urges McDowell to try and walk.  McDowell offers up a great performance, considering he was only a child at the time.  His character truly evolves from a lame wimp to a scrappy punk. 

Behind the Scenes:  How Green Was My Valley was the last of the films to be released in its year, leading Variety to suggest that the voters 'have a short memory.'  This claim would be made in other years when most of the nominated films would be released at Christmas.

John Ford won his second Oscar in a row.  He won the previous year for The Grapes of Wrath, and would win a third for The Quiet Man in 1952.

Among those that Orson Welles blamed for the loss of the Best Picture Oscar was Louella Parsons, a Hearst employee, who openly campaigned against his film.  

Joan Fontaine beat out her own sister, Olivia de Havilland,  in the Best Actress category.  de Havilland was nominated for To Each His Own.  The win was especially interesting considering the fact that the sisters were carrying on a highly publicized feud.  Many years later, Fontaine denied that there was any animosity between the two. 

Joan Fontaine accepts her award for Best Actress in Suspicion.

 

 

Roddy's first day of school is not a memorable one.

Angharad's feelings for the preacher get her into trouble with the townsfolk.

Also in 1941:

May 11:  London is hit by the worst ever raid.

Dec 5:  German's face losses in attack on Moscow.

December 7:  Japan pulls a sneak attack on the US, hitting Pearl Harbor.