MovieChat Forums > How Green Was My Valley (1942) Discussion > Sara Allgood

Sara Allgood

posted 18 years ago by Harold_Robbins
7 replies | jump to latest

I was surprised to learn from the DVD audio commentary that the only member of the cast Ford didn't like or get along with was Sara Allgood, nor did Ford like her performance as Beth Morgan - supposedly he even criticized the very Irish Miss Allgood for not cutting bread like a real Irishwoman! (It's also mentioned on the commentary that Ford didn't seem to care too much that VALLEY was set in Wales and that its characters were Welsh, and definitely gave it an "Irish" slant - little wonder that many a Welshman has been offended by this film through the years.)

Personally, I disagree strongly with Ford - Allgood's performance is one of the finest in the film, and moved me to tears more than once, often without her saying a word - she had an extremely expressive face and body language. She and Donald Crisp were perfectly matched as a couple who had been together for many, many years (it's also made clear in the novel that the Morgans still have an active "romantic" life) - their affectionate bickering (such as "Ah, go and scratch...") comes across as completely natural. It's a shame that Allgood didn't win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for which she was deservedly nominated.

"I don't use a pen: I write with a goose quill dipped in venom!"---W. Lydecker

[–] csu16387 17 years ago

I saw How Green Was My Valley again last night, and Sara Allgood's performance is unforgettable. She's one tough gal, but also very heartbreaking. Her character, I feel, is the heart and soul of the family. I haven't seen Mary Astor's performance in The Great Lie. However, it must have been incredible to have beat out Allgood in How Green Was My Valley. She's so amazing here and I'm surprised to learn that John Ford didn't like her.

BTW, Walter Pidgeon was inexplicably left out of the Oscar race that year. He was superb as well.

"Sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand."

[–] agera 16 years ago

>I haven't seen Mary Astor's performance in The Great Lie. However, it must have been incredible to have beat out Allgood in How Green Was My Valley.

Actually, no, Mary Astor gives a good solid performance in a very typical "woman's picture" but she's much better in The Maltese Falcon (in which she gives a beautifully shaded performance as a sociopathic vamp) or in Dodsworth (she's truly touching as a woman in love).

This is not meant as a slam, I'm a big Mary Astor fan. But I think that with The Great Lie, both Davis and Astor were wasted in what was a silly piece of outlandish junk (this from someone who finds, say, Davis's miraculous makeover in Now, Voyager completely believable).

Astor was trained as a classical pianist, though, so she's totally convincing in the scenes in which she plays piano. And I am glad she got an Oscar, even if the role and film were third-rate. She was a marvelous actress who could suggest all kinds of depths.

[–] wadetaylor 17 years ago

To be honest I don't think that Ford really didn't like her performance. I think it was several things. I think he didn't like the fact she would talk back to him. He also was famous for berating actors, he did it John Wayne all the time, so it didn't mean he didn't like what she was doing. However, I think that more than anything there were some mother issues with Ford, Sara Allgood looked like Ford's mother for all reports, and he wanted her to do things like his mother did it. Saying that she was not cutting bread like a real Irishwoman, meant she was not cutting it like he remebered his mother, who was Irish, doing it.

[–] HarlowMGM 16 years ago

Sara Allgood is gives unquestionably the greatest performance in the film. The emotions she conveys with a look - or especially a look away - are extraordinary. She was completely robbed of the best supporting Actress Oscar that year.

Ford was a infamous crab who loved to complain and often insult his cast. I don't think it was a big deal, it was just one of his eccentriticies.

[–] snowpatroler99 16 years ago

I managed to get hold of a book of the screenplay for the film and to my great joy the screenwriter Phillip Dunne had written an introduction at the fore of the book.
Dunne says of Sara Allgood's performance -

'My biggest disappointment was Sara Allgood. Donald Crisp won an Oscar for his performance as Morgan, and the part of Beth I always thought was even stronger. When I heard that the great Sally Allgood of the Abbey Theatre was to play it, I thought she would steal the picture. She had it in her hands and she blew it.'*

Dunne then goes on to explain that there were three key scenes (lines) that Allgood totally blew. I haven't time to quote all that Dunne says on these three scenes but I did find myself nodding in agreement.

Again quoting directly from the book of the screenplay. Dunne had this to say about Ford's feelings toward Allgood.

'He (Ford) didn't like Sally Allgood and didn't hesitate to tell me so in language that would blister this page'*

*How Green Was My Valley: The Screenplay for the John Ford directed film - Phillip Dunne (Santa Teresa Press 1980)

[–] jackboot 15 years ago

I loved her performance! She was one of my favorite characters. I loved the way she and Donald Crisp worked off of each other. I'm so surprised to learn of these negative views of her performance by Ford and Dunne!

Could you cite which the three lines were of hers that Dunne felt she had blown so badly? I'm just curious. I'd love to know.

[–] nephihaha 15 years ago

"Sara Allgood is gives unquestionably the greatest performance in the film"

The worst accent too. Apart from the preacher maybe.