How Green Was My Valley - Film

In 1939, Richard Llewllyn wrote How Green Was My Valley.  It soon became a best-seller, winning the National Book Award, awarded by the American Booksellers Association, for favorite novel of 1940.

Hollywood mogul, Darryl Zanuck, head of Fox Studios, bought the movie rights to make the novel into a movie for $300,000, more than any other to that time.  He dreamed of making an epic film as a response to David O. Selznick's making of Gone With The Wind (1939).  He wanted to film it in glorious color in Wales, where the novel was set.  He also wanted, and signed, William Wyler, considered the best Director, to direct the film.  However, World War II broke out in the United Kingdom (including Wales) in 1940, ruling out filming in Wales.  Delays meant William Wyler was free to pursue other films, which he did.

But Zanuck pressed on, deciding to film in the San Fernando Valley (in black and white since California's golden fields would not look like Wales in color), and settling for John Ford as the Director, famous for making many black and white films in the West.  The film went on to win 5 Academy Awards out of 10 nominations.  It won (in 1941) for:

• Best Picture (20th Century Fox)
• Best Director (John Ford)
• Best Actor in a Supporting Role (John Crisp - Mr. Morgan)
• Best Cinematography, Black & White (Arthur C. Miller)
• Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White (Richard Day, Nathan Juran Day, and Thomas Little)

The center gem of this film is the introduction of a very young Roddy McDowell.  He plays Huw, the central character who tells the story as an old man recalling his memories growing up.  So much of the story is told by simply watching the eyes and reactions of this very young character and actor, who carries the heart and plot of the film.

Another gem is the first of several appearances of Maureen O' Hara in a John Ford film, playing the part of Angharad.  She would go on to play many other parts in his films, perhaps most famously in the 1953 film, The Quiet Man.

However, many gems adorn this film with many stars such as Walter Pidgeon (Pastor Gruffydd), Donald Crisp (who, as I mentioned, won Best Supporting Actor), Sara Allgood (nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role), Ana Lee (Bronwyn), Barry Fitzgerald (Cyfartha), and many others.

The story revolves around a Welsh family - the Morgans - as related to us by Huw.  They are coal miners, and a central conflict in the family is unionization.  However, that turns out to be a backdrop to many other issues such as Huw confronting and overcoming a serious illness, whether the local pastor who lives on a poverty basis, will marry Huw's sister or whether she will marry the rich local mineowner's son, whether that pastor will overcome the hasty judgments of his Deacon's Board, and especially what will become of the green valley when the slag heaps from the mines overcomes the green vibrant valley?

Another gem of this film is the music, by Alfred Newman, also nominated for an Academy Award, which features Welsh singing, a beauty to behold.

I am surprised to find, when I bring up this film, many are unfamiliar with it.  So I urge you to watch it if you haven't (or to watch it again if you haven't for a while) - it will feed your soul.  (You can watch it on NetFlix, find it at your video store or public library, or order it on Amazon.)   I will have more to say when I finish reading the original novel, which I am well into.

Recently, Turner Classic Movies presented this film as one of its Essentials.

Who (or What) is a Catholic (or a catholic)? - Part 7

There is a common saying among Catholics, "Once a Catholic always a Catholic."  This means, under Canon Law (the Catholic Church's bylaws), once you have been baptized in a Roman Catholic Church, or have been received into it, you are recognized as a Catholic for life.

This recognition is never removed, whether or not you regularly attend Mass, whether or not you follow Catholic practices.  You may cease attending Mass altogether, but you are still recognized as a Catholic - though perhaps a lapsed Catholic.  You may even leave the Catholic Church and begin attending other churches.  Still, you are

Pew Forum survey - Faith in Flux - 2009

recognized as a Catholic by other Catholics.  You may even begin identifying yourself as a Lutheran, a Methodist, or even a Baptist.  Still, you are recognized by other Catholics as a Catholic.

Another way to look at this is once you have been raised as a Catholic, the values imprinted in you largely stay for life (or at least, according to some, the guilt they impose).  This may help explain why the Beatles, who were mostly raised Catholic or Anglican (close), reflected many Catholic values in their many of their songs, even while they, at times, refuted their religious backgrounds.

Some find this view (once a Catholic always a Catholic) offensive.  They say it violates your freedom, and tags you with a label that you may not want.  I suppose it can be used that way, and undoubtedly some Catholics have misused it that way.  That is not the purpose.

Others are surprised to find that though they have attended and identified with another church for most of their lives, Catholics still recognize them as Catholic.  They are not so much offended as simply amazed that Catholics still regard them as Catholic.

Under this view, even if you are excommunicated, you are still recognized as a Catholic.  You might be considered a bad Catholic, but you are still a Catholic.  (Does this mean Martin Luther was still considered a Catholic after he was excommunicated?)

Many Catholics do not like this saying.  They resent Catholics who disagree with the teachings of the Catholic Church and yet say they are still Catholic - by citing this saying.  They also do not like it when Catholics who do not regularly practice their faith claim to be Catholic.  I will have more to say about this in a future post.

Some say if you publicly defected from the Catholic Church, you would no longer be considered Catholic.  They base this on a provision of the Canon Law.  However, that provision had to do with marrying outside of the Catholic Church.  In any event, that provision was removed from the Canon Law in 2010, and so no longer applies.

One positive way to look at this view of Once A Catholic Always A Catholic.  Once you are baptized in the Catholic Church (or received into it), you are part of the Catholic family.  You can never lose that as long as you live, just as you can never lose your family as long as you live.  You are always welcome back (sometimes called being welcomed home).

A good friend, who is also a Catholic theologian, suggested that after Vatican II, with its emphasis of the Church as the People of God, and following the 1983 revision to the Canon Law, especially as to Baptism, that it may be more appropriate to update this old saying to - "Once a Christian, Always a Christian."

I think the old saying is true enough, so that once you have been baptized or recognized as a Catholic, other Catholics will always recognize you as a Catholic, and welcome you back, no matter how far you drift away, or where you wander.  However, and especially in light of Vatican II, that saying should not be used in a manner to divide Catholics from other Christians or to otherwise not recognize all who are validly baptized in Christ as part of the People of God.

Back to Part 6
Back to Intro
Over to Who (or What) is an Evangelical - Part 1