1941 How Green Was My Valley vs. Citizen Kane

1941 How Green Was My Valley (or The One That Beat Citizen Kane)



How Green was My Valley is mostly known for the fact that it won the Oscar over much acclaimed Citizen Kane, the American Film Institute's pick for greatest film of all time.

The movie is about Huw Morgan (yes, I did have to look up how to spell his name to discover that no, it is not spelled the same as Hugh the friendly Borg from Star Trek), a boy from a large Welsh family living in a coal mining town.  He is the youngest child in the family, and his older brothers all work in the mines with his father.  We follow the family through a strike at the mines, the older brothers leaving as the town's economy erodes, and the death of one of his brothers in a mine accident.  The local preacher helps Huw to get an education, but Huw ends up deciding to work in the mines, apparently so he can stay near his brother's widow, since he claims to be in love with her (he never has a chance with her, of course, being much much younger than her).  Huw's sister and the preacher fall in love, but the stubborn preacher refuses to be with her, because he says he is too poor for her, and he wants her to have a better life. So instead she marries a rich guy she doesn't love and is miserable.  Smart move, preacher.


The movie is good, but not satisfying.  It begins and ends with melodramatic narration by an older Huw, lamenting all his losses.  Nobody is happy.  The Morgans are either gone, dead or depressed and alone.

1941 Citizen Kane

After watching Citizen Kane 3 times trying to understand why it is considered by many the greatest movie ever made, I can at least say that I think it is better than How Green Was My Valley.  Not that How Green was bad, because it wasn't, but Citizen Kane was more innovative and unique.

I still can't really see why Citizen Kane is thought to be the greatest film of all time, but I would like to hear the arguments for it.  The acting is definitely first rate, especially Orson Welles himself.  I also understand that the flashback style of film-making was quite new for the time, and that certain camera shots were very unique, though most of this is lost on me, not being an expert on filming techniques in the 1940s.

Orson Welles gave a powerful performance as Charles Foster Kane, an amalgamation of newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst and other powerful figures of the time.  We see the life of Kane through the memories of those that knew him, as a reporter does research trying to discover the meaning behind his last word.

William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies.

If Kane really was supposed to be Hearst, and at least Hearst thought he was (he fought the film tooth and nail), I don't love the idea of creating a negative biopic about someone still living.  I think it's presumptuous to try to get inside someone's head and assume they are basically heartless.  I watched RKO 281, a movie about the making of Citizen Kane.  In that depiction, Welles is definitely guilty of taking for granted that he knows Hearst inside and out, without really knowing him, and he hurts both Hearst and Marion Davies (Hearst's longtime mistress) in the process.  Of course, RKO 281 is doing the same thing, trying to imagine what Welles was thinking, and we can't really know how much Welles actually intended Kane to be Hearst.  He certainly seemed to downplay his influence later, and especially denied that Susan Alexander was based on Davies.  He is quoted by Wikipedia as saying:

"That Susan was Kane's wife and Marion was Hearst's mistress is a difference more important than might be guessed in today's changed climate of opinion. The wife was a puppet and a prisoner; the mistress was never less than a princess. Hearst built more than one castle, and Marion was the hostess in all of them: they were pleasure domes indeed, and the Beautiful People of the day fought for invitations. Xanadu was a lonely fortress, and Susan was quite right to escape from it. The mistress was never one of Hearst's possessions: he was always her suitor, and she was the precious treasure of his heart for more than 30 years, until his last breath of life. Theirs is truly a love story. Love is not the subject of Citizen Kane."

It is my opinion that Citizen Kane should have won the Oscar, and Orson Welles should have won best actor for sure.

As a side note, my favorite movie of 1941 was That Hamilton Woman (Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh starred as Lord Horatio Nelson and Lady Emma Hamilton).  It was Winston Churchill's favorite movie, and how can you go wrong siding with Winston?