How Green Was My Valley (1941) is based on a novel by Richard Llewellyn. It is the story of a family in a Welsh mining town.

The cast includes: Walter Pidgeon (as Mr. Gruffydd), Maureen O’Hara (as Angharad), Donald Crisp (Mr. Gwillym Morgan), Sara Allgood (Mrs. Beth Morgan), Roddy McDowall (13 years old, as Huw Morgan), Anna Lee (Bronwyn), Patrick Knowles (Ivor), James Monks (Owen), John Loder (Ianto), Richard Fraser (Davy), Evan S. Evans (Gwillym), Rhys Williams (Dai Bando), and Marten LaMont (Iestyn Evans).

The screenplay was by Philip Dunne. Art Direction was by Richard Day and Nathan Juran. Music was by Alfred Newman. Cinematography was by Arthur Miller. The film was produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, and was directed by John Ford. The film won five Academy Awards, for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Donald Crisp), Best Cinematography, and Best Art Direction.

The beginning and ending of the film are narrated by Huw (Hugh) Morgan, recalling the scenes of his childhood, fifty years earlier, when he was a boy growing up in the valley. The valley is the site of a mining town. Huw’s father, and Huw’s five brothers (Ianto, Ivor, Owen, Davy, and Gwillym) are coal miners.

The miners sing as they return home from work in the mine colliery. The father and sons each contribute their wages to meet the expenses of the family. They live very modestly in a small house, which is adjoined by a row of similar houses along the road leading down the valley.

The miners take pride in their work, washing the grimy coal dust from their bodies when they return home from work each day. They are happy that they can each contribute to the family.

The Morgan family has a definite hierarchy, with Mr. Morgan at the top, and little Huw at the bottom, but the family is warm and loving. Mrs. Morgan, and her daughter Angharad (also known as Harad), do the cooking and other chores for the family. Mr. Morgan is the head of the family, but Mrs. Morgan is its heart.

Young Huw (played by Roddy McDowall) has a boyish charm, innocence, joy, and exhilaration. He is enraptured by the appearance of Bronwyn, a beautiful young woman who visits the Morgan family, and who is Ivor’s fiancée.

Mr. Gruffydd (Walter Pigeon) is a new preacher who has come to town from the University of Cardiff. Harad (Maureen O'Hara) is attracted to Mr. Gruffydd. He performs the wedding ceremony for Ivor and Bronwyn. The family and friends celebrate after the wedding. They are initially uncertain whether the preacher will be a strict and rigid fundamentalist, but he shows himself to be warm, relaxed, and friendly. He wants to take part in the life of the town.

The mood of the film suddenly changes after the wedding celebration. A notice is posted by the owner of the mine, saying that wages for all the miners will be reduced. Mr. Morgan (Donald Crisp) tries to continue as if nothing has happened, but there is bitter disappointment among the people of the town. The simple, idyllic life of the town becomes a more gloomy scene of poverty and hardship.

Mr. Morgan tries to explain the conduct of the owner by saying that the price of coal is falling, but Ivor and Ianto know that the reason that wages have been reduced is because the iron-works at a nearby town have been shut down, and that there are now more workers who are willing to work for less wages. The sons confront their father, and demand to be allowed to start a union, but their father refuses. He sees this idea as a turn toward socialism.

Thus, the film portrays the theme of conflict between owners and workers, between wealthy and poor, between the powerful and the powerless. The labor conflict shows the harsher aspects of the economic reality of capitalism. The story takes place in the late-nineteenth century, and there is a sense of the loss in importance of the individual in an industrialized society.

The sons finally rebel, when unusual hardship is inflicted on their father by the owner of the mine, Mr. Evans. Mr. Morgan still refuses to accept a strike against the mine, and his sons leave home to live in another part of town. The miners eventually go on strike, and there is a long period of hardship for all the people in the community.

The strike lasts into the winter, and the mood of the town grows very bitter. A rock is hurled through the front window of the Morgan’s home, because Mr. Morgan had opposed the strike. Mrs. Morgan decides to address a gathering of the miners, and defends the conduct of her husband.

As she is returning home with Huw in a snowstorm, they fall into an icy stream. They are rescued, and are brought home. Huw’s legs have been frozen, and he is unable to walk. Mr.Gruffydd comes to encourage him, after the doctor has told him that he may never walk again. Mr. Gruffydd shows kindness and concern, and gives him a copy of Treasure Island to read, as Huw slowly recovers from his injury.

Harad falls in love with Mr. Gruffydd. He shows his admiration and respect for her.

Mrs. Morgan has also been injured from the freezing of her legs, but she slowly recovers. The miners who form the town's chorus of singers come to deliver songs and flowers for the family, and the five sons who had left home are reunited with the family.

Mr. Gruffydd supports the idea of a union for the miners, and realizes that this would improve their working conditions. He also realizes that the Church, by accepting the current social conditons, has favored the wealthy over the poor. He refuses to condone injustice. He says, however, that justice must apply equally to workers and owners.

The strike is finally settled, due to the efforts of Mr. Gruffydd and Mr. Morgan. But there are not enough jobs for all the workers, and some of them must leave the valley. The two younger brothers, Owen and Gwillym, leave to start a new life in America.

With the help and encouragement of Mr. Gruffydd, Huw is finally able to recover from his injury, and is able to walk again.

Harad and Gruffydd have fallen in love, but he refuses to marry her, because his salary as a preacher will never support a wife and family. He does not want to expose her to hardship. Harad becomes gloomy and dejected.

Iestyn Evans, the arrogant son of the owner of the mine, proposes to marry Harad, and she accepts his offer when she realizes that Gruffydd will never marry her. She does not love Evans, but she feels the need to try to relieve her family’s economic hardship.

Huw begins to attend school at a nearby town, but is taunted and bullied by the other boys, and by the brutal schoolmaster. They regard him as inferior, because he comes from a poor mining town.

Ivor is killed in a mining accident, just before his pregnant wife, Bronwyn, delivers her child.

Huw makes good progress in school, becomes a young scholar, but decides to leave school to go to work in the mine, rather than begin study at Cardiff. He stays with Bronwyn and her baby, and gives her his wages to help support the family.

Ianto and Davy lose their jobs when the owner of the mine realizes that he can hire other workers for less money. The two brothers have to leave the valley to look for work, and they later travel abroad. This reveals the social forces that are causing the breakdown of each family in the mining community. The film portrays the destruction and disintegration of society.

Harad returns from Cape Town, South Africa without her husband. She keeps her distance from her family, however, because she feels compelled to maintain her social standing as the wife of a property owner. She is unhappy, and is still in love with Gruffydd. He does not try to meet her, but gossip spreads through the town that Harad is planning to divorce her husband. Gruffydd has to give up his position as Preacher, because of the suspicion and mistrust of the town. However, he has always acted honorably.

A fiery explosion occurs at the mine, and Mr. Morgan is trapped under a fallen crossbeam. Gruffydd and Huw go into the mine to try to rescue him, but Mr. Morgan dies as Huw reaches him.

At the end of the film, the narrator, Huw, as a man fifty years later, recalls the happiness and beauty of life before the days of strife and conflict, and says wistfully, “How green was my valley!” as he recalls the days of his youth.

The film is remarkable for its brilliant direction and cinematography. The film’s only flaw is its sentimentality. But the story is a very moving and sympathetic portrayal of a culture and way of life in late-nineteenth century England.

The story is also notable for the complexity of its characters. The actors give brilliant performances, among them, Donald Crisp, Sara Allgood, and Roddy McDowell.

Donald Crisp plays the proud, upright father, who believes in the traditional values of hard work and loyalty, but who lacks insight into how he and his family are being exploited by an unjust social system.

Walter Pidgeon plays the kind and caring preacher, who understands the economic and social needs of the community, but who lacks insight into his need to have a personal life beyond his ministry. His mistaken rejection of the possibility of marrying Harad, even though they love each other, is a denial of the honesty and integrity of their love for each other.

Roddy McDowell is charming, as he portrays a wide-eyed sense of wonder and discovery, in learning about life as a boy, followed by a sense of commitment and dedication to assumimg the responsibility of adulthood.