Green Dolphin Street

source: Green Dolphin Street

Have not viewed this film in years and was completely surprised at almost everything in the entire film. It starts out rather slow, a bit boring and all of a sudden everything seems to happen. Lana Turner,(Marianne Patourel), "The Bad & The Beautiful",'52, gave one of her greatest performances with a very dramatic acting role along with Van Heflin (Timothy Haslam), " Tap Roots",'46 who could not help but follow Marianne's business advice and also gave in to all her demands. Donna Reed,(Marguerite Patourel),"The Last Time I Saw Paris",'54, played a woman who was deeply in love through out the entire picture and became very frustrated. Donna Reed gave an outstanding performance and could bring tears to your eyes. Edmund Gwenn(Octavius Patourel), "Miracle on 34th St.",'47 was the father to the two sisters and revealed great secrets as the film progressed. Frank Morgan,(Dr. Edmund Ozanne),"The Wizard of Oz",'39, played a great supporting role as a heavy drinking doctor who greatly loved his son. I noticed Linda Christian,(Hin Moa),"Thunderstorm",'56 playing a brief role in this film, Linda Christian was the former wife of Tyrone Power. This is a masterpiece of a Classic Film which even had great pictures of Old Clipper Ships with their majestic Sails. Don't miss this Picture.

Two-thirds of the way through it is confirmed you are watching officially sanctioned religious proselytizing by the Catholic Church. This explains the convoluted thinking that in order to be really happy you must marry someone you do not like. Of course, only someone more wise than you knows that. You are too immature to realize how to be really happy. Movies allowed the Catholic church great access to expose their diatribe to millions of moviegoers, without telling audiences they were going to see a Catholic movie. This movie had to be viewed, approved, and blessed by the Catholic church first -- before it was allowed to be distributed. It's a shame none of the actors in those days had any scientific background or intellectual curiosity at all about these matters, and that tens of thousands of future young men and women had yet to suffer massive sexual and emotional abuse at the hands of both the Catholic and Protestant clergy. This movie, as a testament, is an indication of what was wrong with society. Its message is illogical and rotten and the religious figures it holds up for glorification deserve the opposite treatment. A poor movie.

When I was 17, I read "Green Dolphin Street" for the first time. The book was one of those that I couldn't put down or forget. The characters became a part of me. Shortly after reading the book, I saw the movie. As with most movies adapted from novels, it fell somewhat short of my expectations, but not as badly as most movies of its time period. The characters in the movie are well developed with the exception of Lana Turner's, which is unfortunate since she is the central figure. Hollywood did it again, making the rather plain figure Elizabeth Goudge wrote of in her book into a sex symbol, but in all other areas, this movie was well put together and was a real treat. I was impressed with how well the special effects people created scenes of such magnitude as earthquakes and floods with the technology available in 1947. I believe that anyone who hasn't read the book would find this a riveting movie, full of action, drama, love, all he or she could ask for in a movie. The best part is the lack of smut and unnecessary violence. For those, like me, who read the book first, it will still be a good movie, even if we might long for a better remake one day!

A good film which will satisfy all tastes. Geographical diversions from France to New Zealand certainly add to the movies scenic appeal. Splendid action via the earthquake and flood scenes in New Zealand plus the tense atmosphere when the natives threaten to attack. The female viewers will enjoy the emotional aspects especially the final 10 minutes. The romance is gentle and restrained unlike the slop which we are assailed with in the modern trash movies. Another nice wrinkle...... no profane language. If you can see it I think you,ll find it very entertaining.

Green Dolphin street is a very wonderful movie. Many people would probably not sit through the whole thing because it is old, it's in black and white, etc. However, if you actually take the time to watch it you will find that it is a wonderful story and it delivers powerful life lessons. Lana Turner plays Marrianne beautifully, she gives a convincing portrayal of a stubborn, slightly pushy, but kind and caring girl. Donna Reed plays her younger sister, Marguerite, a sweeter, gentler girl. The reason I love the story so much is because of the girls' strength and determination throughout all the twists and turns that are thrown at them. Neither of them ever gives up hope, each of the characters works through every problem he or she comes across and never forgets the importance of love and commitment. The story is poignant and beautiful, it makes me cry.

Lana Turner as Marianne marries her sister Marguerite's beau in "Green Dolphin Street," an MGM extravaganza (but in black and white) that probably was meant to equal Gone With the Wind. The story concerns a family, the Patourels, living on the Channel Islands. Their mother (Gladys Cooper) was forbidden to marry the love of her life (Frank Morgan) and instead married Octavius (Edmund Gwenn) and has two daughters. Morgan returns to the area with a son, William (Richard Hart) and both of the girls go after him, though he falls in love with Marguerite (Donna Reed). Eventually he ends up in New Zealand and, in a drunken stupor, writes to Octavius for his daughter's hand in marriage - except he writes the name Marianne, not Marguerite, thereby changing his life and the lives of the sisters forever. The film is a bit long but holds the viewer once it gets going. Its main problem when it's seen today is the painted backdrops and fake scenery, all extremely obvious. When one compares the backdrops and scenery of the earlier Gone with the Wind to this, it's obvious that Selznick demanded a lot more care from his artists than did the powers that be on this film. There are several striking scenes, but the best is Donna Reed climbing a tunnel inside of a cave to escape the rising tide. The earthquake scenes and the Maori attacks are also excellent and exciting. The role of Marianne is huge and well essayed by Lana Turner. Marianne is a smart, controlling woman whose guidance turns William into a success. Apparently the character in the book was somewhat plain; obviously, Turner isn't, so she brings a femininity and beauty to the part as well as a strong core. Of course, when she's supposed to be pregnant, she's wearing a dress tightly cinched at the waist. It was considered indecent to show pregnancy back then, but it's ridiculous. As Marguerite, Donna Reed manages to bring some color into what is a somewhat thankless role. Van Heflin, as a friend and eventual partner of William, gives a wonderful performance as a tough but kind and tender man who makes William do the right thing by Marianne. Gladys Cooper does her usual fine job as Mrs. Patourel, and her final scene is beautiful. There were several very touching parts of the movie, and that was one of them. Newcomer Richard Hart, who died four years later, is William and looks good once he grows his mustache. The role, however, could have used a more exciting performance. Hart was from the theater and actually performed many of the classics on television in its early days. On an interesting side note, Linda Christian plays Turner's Maori maid. Turner at that time was seeing Tyrone Power. The story goes that Christian overheard Turner say that Power was going to be in Rome. Christian wangled the money for her and her sister, went to Rome, and stayed in the same hotel as Power. He never returned to Turner and the next year married Christian. Apropos of this, "Green Dolphin Street" asks age-old questions - are there mistakes in life, or a guiding hand? Did William really write the name of the wrong sister, or was that as it was meant to be? We all have to decide for ourselves. I'm not sure "Green Dolphin Street" will help one do that, but it's entertaining nonetheless.

Weeding out the comic book movies aimed at 10 year old's, there's almost nothing at the movies this summer. So I remembered this MGM classic from 60 years ago when I was in 3rd grade and found the VHS at Video Vault. In 1947, kids used to love the westerns, Walt Disney, and action pictures, but we were also smart enough to appreciate certain movies made for the grown-ups. Green Dolphin Street is one of them. A romance-adventure filling the screen from St Pierre off the coast of France, to the China coast, to New Zealand. Big ships at sea, tribal warfare, an earthquake, a tidal wave, a crawl through the smuggler's rock cave, the glorious site of Mont St. Michel --- a convent on a rugged mountain island cut off from the mainland once a day by the high tide. On top of this add two beautiful sisters and two rugged men. All this brought together with MGM's talent for making the big ones with uncompromising bigness, but not forgetting a strong storyline. In 1947 I thought the earthquake in New Zealand was pure fiction, but a Google search proved that quakes are frequent there. Others will disagree, but I found the special effects of 60 years ago to be much more effective than the silly, overblown stuff they do these days. Exhibit 1 is Peter Jackson's stunningly stupid "remake" of 1933's KING KONG, where the original film and its special effects still stand tall after 80 years, and the newer thing is a failure that struck out fast. Good movies often lead to travel. If you drop everything after GDS and head for Mont St. Michel, visit the monastery (not convent) and have the omelet at Mere Poulard's -- the best you'll ever have anywhere on Earth. Godless liberals who squirm at the sight of a Christmas Crib will be most uncomfortable with the many devout religious scenes in Green Dolphin Street. The secret is that Hollywood was frequently religious back then; patriotic too!

Green Dolphin Street was MGM's big blockbuster film of 1947 the year I made my earthly debut. Why MGM didn't bother with some color for this one is beyond me, it might have elevated it a star or two higher in the ratings. Like Gone With the Wind it concerns the lives of four people, two sisters, the romantic Donna Reed and the more practical Lana Turner and the men that loved them, Richard Hart and Van Heflin. Only in this one Scarlett actually marries her Ashley and Rhett Butler kind of fades away before the finale. Richard Hart is the Ashley Wilkes of the piece, the somewhat spoiled son of Frank Morgan living on St. Pierre one of the Channel Islands. He's a weak character who goes between sisters Donna Reed and Lana Turner. A Freudian slip of a pen while writing a letter in a state of intoxication has him send for Lana instead of Donna. By now Hart has arrived in New Zealand which is in its colonial period. Another refugee is Van Heflin from the same island who's the strong and adventurous Rhett Butler. Green Dolphin Street is the only film I know made in Hollywood that ever dealt with New Zealand so it is of some curiosity. It won the special effects Oscar that year for its depiction of an earthquake and a tidal wave. Oddly enough the name of the ship that brought all these folks to New Zealand is the Green Dolphin and a sequence where it is swamped by a tidal wave was cut from the film. And it still won the special effects Oscar. But viewers this isn't Gone With the Wind though it has pretenses. It also depicts the wars with the Maori which were every bit as bloody as the American Indian wars. I wish some Kiwis could see this film and write their impressions of it.

Individual performances in this romantic epic are excellent--Lana Turner, Van Heflin, Donna Reed and Richard Hart do some fine work. Even more impressive are three of the supporting players involved in a sub-plot of their own: Frank Morgan, Edmund Gwenn and Gladys Cooper. Basically a love story depicting two sisters in love with the same man (Richard Hart) and what happens when, in a drunken stupor, he sends for the wrong woman to join him at an outpost in New Zealand. Plot complications thicken and the rest of the story is told against a backdrop of native uprisings, tidal waves and earthquakes that are all realistically depicted. No wonder the film won an Oscar for its startling Special Effects. Lana Turner does a wonderful job as the spirited heroine on an emotional roller-coaster and Van Heflin gives his usual impressive performance as the only man who knows the truth about her relationship with Richard Hart. Donna Reed is sincere as the good sister and has a gripping scene where she is stranded on an island as the tide closes in and must climb an inner cave wall to the safety of a monastery. She also has an extraordinary moment at her mother's deathbed when confessions of a personal sort are made to her and her grieving father. Edmund Gwenn and Gladys Cooper do an outstanding job of conveying their emotions here. Richly satisfying as a romantic drama, its high production values give it that special MGM gloss worthy of an epic film. It's a lengthy film and by the time it's all over, you feel as though you've experienced a lifetime of personal events.