Themes: Fathers and Daughters, Innocence Lost, Down on Their Luck
Main Cast: Dorothy McGuire, Joan Blondell, James Dunn, Lloyd Nolan, Peggy Ann Garner
Release Year: 1945
Country: US
Run Time: 128 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
One-time movie song-and-dance man James Dunn won an Academy Award for his "comeback" performance in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Based on the best-selling novel by Betty Smith, the film relates the trials and tribulations of a turn-of-the-century Brooklyn tenement family. The father, Dunn, is a likable but irresponsible alcoholic whose dreams of improving his family's lot are invariably doomed to disappointment. The mother, Dorothy McGuire, is the true head of the household, steadfastly holding the family together no matter what crisis arises. The story is told from the point of view of daughter Peggy Ann Garner, a clear-eyed realist who nonetheless would like to believe in her pie-in-the-sky father, whom she dearly loves. Joan Blondell co-stars as the family's brash, freewheeling aunt, whose means of financial support is a never-ending source of neighborhood gossip. This first film directorial effort of Elia Kazan earned a special Oscar for "Most Promising Juvenile Performer" Peggy Ann Garner. A Tree Grows From Brooklyn was remade for TV in 1974, and also served as the basis of a Broadway musical. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a prototypical "family values" film. Its coming-of-age motifs were perfectly suited for 1945 audiences looking for reassurance that American ideals would survive the tumult of World War II and the challenge of Communism. Appropriately, it was directed by Elia Kazan, who would later "name names" of suspected Communists before the House Un-American Activities Committee. The performances are first-rate, particularly James Dunn, who won an Oscar as the family's alcoholic father, and Peggy Ann Garner, who won a special Oscar as "outstanding child actress." Dorothy McGuire provides a steady centerpiece, and the film is also a splendid recreation of New York circa 1900. ~ Richard Gilliam, All Movie Guide
The film is based on an American novelA Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith first published in 1943. It relates the coming-of-age story of its main character, Francie Nolan, against a backdrop of tenement life in Brooklyn, New York, at the turn of the 20th century.
Dorothy McGuire stars as Katie Nolan, mother of earnest young teenager Francie (Peggy Ann Garner) and streetwise pre-teenage Neeley (Ted Donaldson). Katie's husband, Johnny Nolan (James Dunn), is a charming dreamer whose drinking and inability to find steady work condemn his family to poverty. Their free spirited, oft-married Aunt Sissy (Joan Blondell) is an occasional visitor. The story takes place around 1900, in a Brooklyn tenement.
Because the book is lengthy and takes place from before Francie is born till after she is 16 years old, the movie concentrates on Francie as a teenager 14 - 15.
Also one of Katie's sisters is eliminated and her qualities and quotes from the book are given to Sissy, somewhat toning down her character. Other characters, like Francie's school teacher, are changed to protagonists to ease the transition to film.
