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75 of 78 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tender Passage of Youth, March 29, 2005
Betty Smith's heartfelt and timeless novel of a young girl's passage through her youth in the Brooklyn slums was transformed by director Elia Kazan into one of the most touching and deeply felt films ever made. It has that rare ability to break your heart one moment and make you smile the next. There is a tenderness here that has rarely been captured on film. Many point to Elia Kazan's flashier films, but it was this sentimental film that was his crowning achievement. There are moments in this film when even those who never cry at the movies will be moved to tears. Peggy Ann Garner was so wonderful as the young and sensitive Francie, the Academy gave her an Oscar for Most Promising Juvenile Performer. James Dunn garnered an Oscar also as Francie's loving father, Johnny Nolan, a singing waiter with a gift for dreaming he passes on to Francie, who wants to be a writer. Francie's papa makes their hard life worth living and she worships him. He understands and adores her. But when he isn't working, Johnny is usually drunk. Everyone in their poor neighborhood knows Johnny is a good man, however, and loves and respects him. He is the one who will find a way for Francie to attend the school she dreams of, even though it is far from their home. Francie's mother is the only one who doesn't seem to see how special Johnny is. Dorothy McGuire gives another terrific performance as Francie's hard working mother, Katie, who tries desparately not to love her boy Neely more than Francie, and fails; tries desparately not to become bitter with the charming lad she married in her youth, but can't; and tries desparately not to let her heart grow cold and hard, and fails once more. Francie and her family may live in poverty, but Kazan takes the time to show the joy that can be found in the small things in life. For Francie, her father represents happiness and living. Joan Blondell, as Katie's sister and Francie's aunt Sissy, with her free spirit and big heart, adds to Francie's joy in life. It is one of Blondell's finest roles. It is Peggy Ann Garner's emotional performance, however, you will always remember. She brings a sweetness and sincerity to Francie that makes her unforgettable. Purchasing this film is an opportunity to own one of the true masterpieces in American cinema. It will touch your heart and remind you what Hollywood was once capable of, and make you wonder where it all went wrong.
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34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful film with an all star cast, September 24, 2001
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a movie that will hit a lot of people in many ways. For me, it is a reminder of my strong willed mother, alcoholic father and free-spirited brother. I think, like Francie, I was my father's friend more than I was his son. I would listen to his stories, wait up for my parents when they had gone to a party to make sure they got home ok, listen to my mother raking my father for his drinking and cringing as dad just sat there. The casting is outstanding and makes the movie work. Not just the major roles, but the smaller ones too are exceptionally casted. Put someone else in as the junkman and it might not work as well. Another person in the role of the doctor signing the death certificate may leave a different and lesser impression. Lloyn Nolan, Dorothy McGuire and James Dunn were all inspiried choices. Joan Blondell was a brilliant choice as Aunt Sissy, her of many husbands but still with a element of humanity that has stuck with her. There are many memorable scenes but some have a deeper and lasting meaning. A young girl named Flossie is showing off her new dress to all passers by. After a few moments it is apparent that Flossie is not well. Later when we learn she has died, McGuire tells Dunn that she'll have to buried in potter's field. Dunn hits the right tone, as in a resolute voice he reminds his wife that her parents did the right thing while she was alive by getting her new dresses. Good for dad! The other scene that hits me every time I see it, is the scene when after dad has died, Francie goes around and collects his shaving mug from the barber and puts it is a box under her bed. She still has a part of him! Dad's posthumous graduation gift to Francie is one of the most moving scenes I've ever witnessed. Blondell outdoes herself as the supporting and careing adult sharing a little girls bottled up grief. Where I live in Japan now, Annie Laurie is used as a song for an advertisement. When I hear the music and words, I don't think of the product but of the scene in the movie when Dunn learns they have inherited a piano from the previous room tenent and is playing and singing Annie Laurie. Pieces such as this stick in my mind. Some will say that the movie doesn't include everything from the book and that is lacks the gritty poverty, that it is a rather stilted happy ending. They have a point but folks, get into the characters, feel what they are trying to project and you'll come away from the movie a better person for having seen it. If need be see it again and again.
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24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
TEARFUL AND TERRIFIC., July 29, 2002
Having never read the Betty Smith novel, I cannot state how true this 1945 film was to its original source; but I do think it makes for quality heartfelt entertainment. As Francine, Peggy Ann Garner plays her role with an amazing display of natural unaffected intelligence uncommon in child actors of her era; hers is a wonderfully tear-jerking performance. Dorothy McGuire is fine as Francine's long-suffering mother Katie (something about her seemed a bit too classy for her character at times, but nothing to wreck another excellent portrayal). As the illiterate, rather loose-loving - and intensely likeable - Aunt Cissy, Joan Blondell does justice to her role. Blondell later wrote that there was originally a scene where children were playing outside on the street and find a tin full of condoms; curious, they went to Cissy for explainations. Blondell claimed the scene in which she lovingly explained about life and love to the children was the best she ever did - naturally, it was deemed too distasteful for release! As Johnny, the alcoholic singing waiter father whom Francine adores, James Dunn won himself a deserved AA. A poignantly (and fairly realistic) study of a struggling family living in Brooklyn way back when.
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