With a mother like Mary Clare, it's amazing that doctor son Michael Denison has turned out as well as he did. She favors her other son (Ronald Howard), and refuses to accept the fact that he died in battle in World War I. Every word out of her mouth ridicules Denison and his wife Dulcie Gray, even wishing that the grandson that Gray presents to her what's howard's. If she only knew the soap opera going on behind the scenes of the two brothers and the beautiful Gray.
Denison also has issues in his job, only able to get work in the nearby factory town where the poor are subject to all sorts of diseases. He has issues with his boss Stephen Murray who is basically a decent man but roughly questions and challenges every move Denison makes, leading to a hearing that could cause him his position. The hospital owners obviously care more about profits than people, and the poor of the area know that, rooting for Denison to win the battle.
It isn't an easy life for the remaining members of this family who lost their position in society when Clare's husband died, especially when she continues to paint in and her late son as a saint. They are quite a contrast to the struggling but loving family from "How Green was my Valley" which this reminded me of a great deal. Fantastic performances helps the audience deal with the more bitter characters who aren't one dimensional cardboard cutouts. I felt sorry for Clare's disillusioned and embittered matriarch. As seen through the eyes of the older Denison, this is a very literary like film that takes time to build, but once it grabs you, you're in.
Denison also has issues in his job, only able to get work in the nearby factory town where the poor are subject to all sorts of diseases. He has issues with his boss Stephen Murray who is basically a decent man but roughly questions and challenges every move Denison makes, leading to a hearing that could cause him his position. The hospital owners obviously care more about profits than people, and the poor of the area know that, rooting for Denison to win the battle.
It isn't an easy life for the remaining members of this family who lost their position in society when Clare's husband died, especially when she continues to paint in and her late son as a saint. They are quite a contrast to the struggling but loving family from "How Green was my Valley" which this reminded me of a great deal. Fantastic performances helps the audience deal with the more bitter characters who aren't one dimensional cardboard cutouts. I felt sorry for Clare's disillusioned and embittered matriarch. As seen through the eyes of the older Denison, this is a very literary like film that takes time to build, but once it grabs you, you're in.