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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sweeping Large Scale Melodrama With First Class Visuals, March 18, 2005
This review is from: Green Dolphin Street [VHS] (VHS Tape)
"Green Dolphin Street", one of MGM's biggest film efforts during the late 1940's had a curious beginning in that it was the result of a story submitted in an MGM writing contest where the first prize would be the filming of the winning entry. That winner was the story "Green Dolphin Street", submitted by Elizabeth Goudge and involved the story of the painfully intertwined romantic lives of two sisters over many years and was a tale filled with unrequited love, passion, adventure, and struggle for survival in faraway places. The story was a natural for filming by that studio of studios MGM who made it one of their biggest productions for 1947 giving it a superb cast headed by Lana Turner and Donna Reed as the two sisters and with many excellent and quite ground breaking visual effects throughout the story that included massive earthquakes and tidal waves. The result was a big hit for MGM that really led the studio, despite its growing internal and financial concerns, into their next super production which was to be the massive epic "Quo Vadis". "Green Dolphin Street", combines uniformily fine acting along with first rate visuals that were rewarded with 4 justly deserved Academy Award nominations and quite rightly "Green Dolphin Street", took home the Best Special Effects Oscar for 1947.
The story centres around two sisters Marianne (Lana Turner), and Marguerite (Donna Reed), Patourel daughters of wealthy merchant Octavious Patourel (Edmund Gwenn). The sisters are like night and day as Marianne is the businesslike, ambitious daughter while Marguerite is the more retiring of the two. Both girls become attracted to their new neighbour William Ozanne (Richard Hart), the handsome and not totally upright son of the local doctor Edmund Ozanne (Frank Morgan). William is instantly attracted to the gentle qualities of Marguerite however it is Marianne in her usual take charge way who takes William on and after the death of his father pursuades him to seek a career in the Navy. However all does not go well for William and after missing his boat in the Orient he is accused of desertion and flees to the new colonies in New Zealand to hopefully start a new life. There he makes the reacquaintance of Timothy Haslam who knew him back at his home in Green Dolphin Street. The men set up a lumber business and Timothy who had a real infatuation for Marianne makes William write back home asking for Marguerite's hand in marriage. However William's hard drinking ways cause him still more trouble when he accidently asks for Marianne's hand instead and soon she is making preparations to travel to New Zealand believing the man she loves has finally developed feelings for her. The shock of seeing Marianne arriving on the ship instead of Marguerite however can't be undone and Willian dutifully marries Marianne without her knowing of his mistake. The years pass and the couple have a child and with Marianne's influence the lumber business prospers. Meanwhile Marguerite having lost both parents begins to search for a reason to life and is drawn to the serentity and purpose she finds among the nuns of St. Pierre Convent. William and Timothy find their business threatened by the natural elements in New Zealand and a terrible earthquake, tidal wave and then a Maori uprising force them to firstly move into sheep farming and later to return to Marianne's home in Green Dolphin Street in time to share with Marguerite the special occasion of her joining the convent as a novice. On the eve of the ceremony however Marianne discovers the truth about William's "request", for her to supposedly join him in New Zealand when he meant to ask was Marguerite. It is only after a now serenely happy Marguerite intervenes and tells Marianne of their own mother's consuming love for Wiliam's father before marrying their own father that she sees the lasting value of the hard earned love that William now feels for her.
"Green Dolphin Street", boasts a first rate cast with Lana Turner and Donna Reed as the two sisters making inspired choices. Long regarded as just a glamour girl Lana Turner has one of her better roles here as the quick witted daughter who doesn't see being a woman as an obstacle to being a success in business. Fresh from her triumph in the classic "The Postman Always Rings Twice", Turner here has a very different type of follow up role and she handles it perfectly from the refined setting of her parents comfortable life in England to carving out an existence in the wilds of New Zealand. She even puts aside her famed glamour image for the exciting scenes when her family is threatened by the Maori uprising. Donna Reed seemed to be forever typed playing sweet characters in her movie heyday and her Marguerite in "Green Dolphin Street", is a continuation of that trend however her many touching scenes in the convent with veteran character actress Dame May Whitty as the Mother Superior are truly beautiful and illustrate the depth of talent that this great actress possessed. Richard Hart as William had a short career before his early death but here showed great promise and a young Van Heflin already displays the great dramatic skills he became renowned for later in his career as the rough neck who has a life long passion for the independant Marianne. Character actors Dame May Whitty, Frank Morgan, Gladys Cooper and of course Edmund Gwenn make perfect casting in their various roles and lent their considerable talents to often small but important parts in the overall story. Gladys Cooper's death bed scene where she talks about the gradual development of her love for her husband over many years is one of the emotional highlights of the story and wont leave a dry eye in the house. Of course "Green Dolphin Street", is perhaps still best known for its stunning Oscar winning visual effects and the scenes depicting the earthquake and tidal wave in New Zealand are unmatched for a film from the 1940's and have a frightening quality to them even after all these years.
Old style melodrama of the first order, "Green Dolphin Street", with its wealth of talent both in front of and behind the cameras makes me lament the state of most Hollywood product nowadays. The production has a rich integrity about it that was typical of the major MGM efforts at this time and despite its great length the film never seems to drag in my belief moving as it does from the tranquil environment of St. Pierre Convent through to the rugged frontier in New Zealand with ease. Try and catch the MGM movie making machine at its refined best in director Victor Saville's "Green Dolphin Street", soon.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"I FEEL THE EARTH MOVE UNDER MY FEET...", September 20, 2000
This review is from: Green Dolphin Street [VHS] (VHS Tape)
"Green Dolphin Street" was the result of a novel-writing contest, sponsored by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. The author of the best original novel, in MGM's opinion, would have their novel turned into a screenplay, and then produced/filmed/released as a feature film by MGM Studios. The novel, by Elizabeth Goudge, was published in 1944, and this MGM film was completed and released in 1947. As a story and a film, it's ALL THERE. Sights, sounds, characters, costumes, international adventure, anthropolical insights, loyalty and betrayal, disaster and redemption. The black-and-white cinematography capture the New Zealand landscapes, Pacific seascapes, French convents and sea villages so skillfully, you would think Amsel Adams photographed them! Lana Turner never looked better and gave an Oscar-worthy performance. Donna Reed gives a great supporting performance as Turner's younger sister. Reed is afforded a spectacular sequence in which her character must escape from a brutal incoming tide (washing over a landbridge), by clawing her way up a vertical tunnel inside a cliff. The best sequence, though, is the earthquake sequence. "Green Dolphin Street" won the 1947 Academy Award for Special Effects and for good reason. Once the Maori Aborigines stop beating their drum to the seismological gods, a catastrophic earthquake of epic proportions begins. This sequence must have inspired Irwin Allen during the filming of his 1970's disaster epics because it looks like "Earthquake," "The Towering Inferno," and "The Poseidon Adventure" all rolled into one! Geysers, fire, landslides breaking dams, tidal waves, and locals being swallowed up by the earth and being squashed by monstrous falling timber make for a VERY dramatic disaster. And the NOISE...no wonder the film was nominated for Best Sound, if only for Lana Turner's hysterical, banshee-like screeching. After starting all over from nothing, the main characters get caught in the middle of a Maori civil war and must try to escape. Whether it be the convent on the island of St. Pierre, France; a sheep farm or timber camp in New Zealand; a Chinese denizen or the wide open sea, this film has something for everyone. Just be prepared to "hold on tight."
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Something for almost everyone, December 23, 2004
This review is from: Green Dolphin Street [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This is a fine old movie about love and destiny -- being true to yourself and to those you love. It is a wonderful opportunity to see some excellent film actors from the mid 20th century, also. I have always felt that it did not do the book justice, however. I do think that the casting was very interesting. Donna Reed was cast as the beautiful, ethereal sister, and Lana Turner was cast as the sister that was described as plain in the book. Well, that makes for an interesting dynamic. Certainly, this film is worth seeing if you want to view a perfect example of the costume drama as done in the 1940's. It belongs in any serious collection of film.
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