Striking Weather (1941)

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Movie
German title Breaking weather
Original title How Green Was My Valley
Country of production United States
original language English , Welsh
Publishing year 1941
length 118 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director John Ford
script Philip Dunne
production Darryl F. Zanuck for
20th Century Fox
music Alfred Newman
camera Arthur C. Miller
cut James B. Clark
occupation
synchronization

Schlagende Wetter (German alternative title: Black Diamonds , So Green Was My Valley or Strong Hearts ) is an American feature film directed by John Ford from 1941 based on the novel So green was my valley ( How Green Was My Valley , 1939) by Richard Llewellyn . The work was nominated for a total of ten Academy Awards, won five trophies and asserted itself in the Best Film category against The Trail of the Falcon and Citizen Kane . In 1990 the film was considered particularly worth preserving by the Library of Congress and was included in the directory of the National Film Registry .

The film is set in South Wales at the turn of the 20th century . It describes the life and breakdown of a hard-working family.

action

The story begins with the monologue of Huw Morgan, a middle-aged man who leaves his village of Cwm Rhondda in south Wales , which has been disfigured by the intensive coal mining . Huw wants to leave his village and his family house and remembers earlier events that connect him to this place:

The young Huw grows up as the youngest child of the simple but respected miner Gwilym Morgan and his wife Beth in the village community. Huw's five older brothers, like her father, work in Mr. Evans' local coal mines, with the only sister Angharad helping her mother with the household. It shows the conservative and often strict, but at the same time caring and warm-hearted household of the Morgan family. At this point in time, the village is idyllic and not yet characterized by gloomy mountain heaps and coal remains . One of his first memories includes the wedding of his brother Ivor to Bronwyn from the neighboring village. At the happy wedding reception, Huw's sister Angharad meets the new Cardiff preacher, Mr. Gruffydd . Both feel immediately attracted to each other.

The first problems hit the village when the wages of the miners are reduced. Gwilym Morgan, who is the labor leader, tries to find a compromise and rejects a strike as a protest. However, the majority of the workers try their luck in an argument and form a union, and Gwilym's position not only splits off from the other miners, but also from his sons who leave the house. At a nightly meeting of the strikers, Beth suddenly appears, who defends her husband and threatens death to those who want to attack him. On the icy way back in the night there is a snow storm and Beth falls into a body of water. With Huw's help, villagers can finally save her, but Huw - who jumps into the water himself - is temporarily paralyzed in his legs. Huw recovers over a period of several months, largely thanks to the help of Mr. Gruffydd. At some point the dispute ends and Gwilym can get along with his sons again. But the working conditions and salaries of workers have deteriorated.

Meanwhile, the beautiful Angharad receives a marriage proposal from Iestyn Evans, the son of the mine owner. Angharad's heart is with Mr. Gruffydd, however, the strict deacons and blasphemous village women would never accept a marriage between the two. Angharad eventually enters a loveless marriage with Evans and leaves the country with him. Thanks to his intelligence, Huw has meanwhile taken on a better school in a nearby village. Because of his origins as the son of a mine worker, however, his classmates mock and beat him there. Boxer Dai Brando and his companion Cyfartha kindly teach Huw to box. He can now defend himself against the other students, but now the cruel teacher Mr. Jonas beats him. Dai Brando then appears in Mr. Jonas' classroom and gives him a boxing lesson, whereupon Mr. Jonas ends up lying on the floor to the delight of his students.

When his wife Bronwyn has the child, Huw's brother Ivor is killed in an accident in the mine. The Morgan family's situation worsens when more sons are fired for cheaper labor. They move away to seek their fortune elsewhere. Huw is now completing his school education and could now go to university. Huw, however, prefers to work in the mine, which angered his father, as he knew the poor working conditions of the mine workers and would rather see his son in a higher occupation. Angharad then returns to the village without her husband, which causes malicious blasphemy in the village. An affair between Mr. Gruffydd and Angharad is speculated. After denouncing the bigotry and small-mindedness of his congregation in a sermon, Gruffydd leaves the village. Shortly thereafter, there is another mine accident, with Father Gwilym being trapped. Huw and his friends save the trapped miners, and Huw is briefly reunited with his father before he dies. Meanwhile, the widowed Beth hears her husband tell her about the beauty of the kingdom of heaven.

The film ends with dream images in which Huw sees his old village and his family once again as they only exist in his memory.

German version

The German dubbing was created in 1950 in the studio of Ultra-Film GmbH in Munich under the dubbing direction of Alfred Vohrer . The dialogue book written Bertha Gunderloh . Since Alfred Newman's film music was not available as an additional track at the time, the dialogues for the German version could not be backed with music as in the original version. It was released in the Federal Republic of Germany on April 28, 1950.

role actor Voice actor
Huw Morgan as the narrator's voice Irving Pichel Hans Nielsen
Angharad Morgan Maureen O'Hara Eva Vaitl
Gruffydd Walter Pidgeon Peter Pasetti
Huw Morgan Roddy McDowall Axel Jahn
Gwilym Morgan Donald Crisp Walter Holten
Beth Morgan Sara Allgood Gertrud Spalke

Awards

Oscar 1942

Awards

More Oscar nominations

1990: Entry into the National Film Registry

Reviews

“A social picture of time from the 1880s, based on the novel by Richard Llewellyn. Ford's very impressive film won several Academy Awards. "

"Impressive social picture of the time from the 19th century [...] worth seeing."

- 6000 films (Handbook V of the Catholic Film Critics, 1963

“[A] atmospherically dense saga with lots of local color; impressive social study of high rank […] (rating: 3½ out of 4 possible stars - exceptional). "

- Adolf Heinzlmeier and Berndt Schulz , Lexicon "Films on TV"

literature

  • Richard Llewellyn : My valley was so green. Novel (Original title: How Green Was My Valley ). German by Albert Gysin . List-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 2000, 506 pages, ISBN 3-612-65139-0 .
  • Hans-Jürgen Kubiak: The Oscar Films. The best films from 1927/28 to 2004. The best non-English language films from 1947 to 2004. The best animated films from 2001 to 2004 . Schüren, Marburg 2005, ISBN 3-89472-386-6 .

DVD release

  • My valley was so green . Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment 2005

Soundtrack

  • Alfred Newman : How Green Was My Valley. The Original Motion Picture Score . The Classic Series Vol. 3. Fox Records / Arista Records, New York 1993, recording no. 07822-11008-2 - Original recording of the film music by the Twentieth Century Fox Studio Orchestra under the direction of the composer

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Thomas Bräutigam : Lexicon of film and television synchronization. More than 2000 films and series with their German voice actors etc. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-289-X , p. 318
  2. cf. the German and English audio tracks on the DVD edition So green was my valley , Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment 2005
  3. ^ Lexicon of International Films . (CD-ROM edition), Systhema, Munich 1997.
  4. Breaking weather. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  5. 6000 films. Critical notes from the cinema years 1945 to 1958 . Handbook V of the Catholic film criticism, 3rd edition, Verlag Haus Altenberg, Düsseldorf 1963, p. 375.
  6. ^ Adolf Heinzlmeier, Berndt Schulz: Lexicon "Films on TV" . Extended new edition. Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 , p. 754.