Special Features:
Theatrical Trailer  �  French Soundtrack

SUMMARY
I finally finished the Billy Wilder book I mentioned in the Double Indemnity review and have since moved on to Scott Eyman's book on director John Ford titled "Print the Legend". Over the next few months I plan on reviewing some of the John Ford films available on DVD. (Stagecoach, The Searchers, They Were Expendable, etc.) 

How Green Was My Valley is John Ford's academy award winning picture from 1941 and one of the most beautifully crafted Hollywood pictures of its time. How Green Was My Valley is set in a coal town in Ireland in the late 1800's and is about family, and the mythical status the concept of the perfect family holds for most people. What this film expresses so poetically is that the perfect family is impossible to hold together. Children grow up and develop their own opinions. Some die young and others leave to go to far off countries. Through the eyes of Huw Morgan (Roddy McDowall) we see his family just as it is about to break apart. In my opinion this picture is perfect in every aspect. From the acting, writing, set design, music, cinematography,  and most importantly in the direction of John Ford. This is a film not to be missed.

The technical quality of this DVD is outstanding. The print the transfer was made from is very well preserved for a film from the early forties. The transfer is as good as I have seen from a film made during this era. Typically the transfers for these films will have somewhat washed out blacks. The blacks are so deep in this transfer I cannot imagine that it looked a whole lot better when this film originally hit the big screen. I hope when Fox gets around to Ford's The Grapes of Wrath they take the same care in producing a quality product. The one area this disc does suffer is in its extras. A film of this stature deserves more than just a theatrical trailer.