Main Cast: Bette Davis, Nigel Bruce, John Dall, Joan Lorring, Mildred Dunnock, Rhys Williams, Rosalind Ivan
Release Year: 1945
Country: US
Run Time: 115 minutes
Plot
In this 1945 filmization of Emlyn Williams' semi-autobiographical 1938 play The Corn is Green,Bette Davis steps into the role originated on Broadway by Ethel Barrymore. Davis plays Miss Moffat, a turn-of-the-century schoolteacher in a Welsh mining town. She has opened her own school in hopes of lowering the town's illiteracy rate, thus enabling the younger residents to seek out more fulfilling lives than merely sweating away in the mines until they drop. She runs into a great deal of resistance from mine-owner Nigel Bruce, who realizes that as soon as the citizens can read and write, they'll rebel against his benevolent despotry. Even Miss Moffat concludes that her mission is hopeless until she is visited by young miner John Dall, who wants to know "what is behind all those books". Within two years, Dall has made so much progress that he has qualified for Oxford. A last-minute snag involving Dall's illegitimate child is solved when Miss Moffet herself agrees to adopt the baby so that her student can complete his education. Emlyn Williams himself came from a backward mining town, and was himself inspired to better things by a compassionate schoolteacher; the pregnancy angle was (probably) added to provide the story with a third act. The Corn is Green was remade for television in 1978, with Katharine Hepburn as Miss Moffat. Watch for one amusing gaffe in the original: despite carefully setting up the premise that the villagers are illiterate, they are shown hovering around a poster and reading it out loud in an early scene. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Although The Corn is Green is somewhat dated -- mostly due to its carefully-delineated three-act stage structure and its sometimes-arch speeches -- it still packs an emotional wallop. Yes, it's manipulative and the strings tend to show a bit, but it's presented with such conviction and talent that most viewers will be glad to be taken along for an enjoyable ride. The basic set-up -- strong-willed woman comes to backward Welsh town with determination and an agenda -- is practically irresistible, and it provides the cast with a number of dramatic set-pieces that they take full advantage of. Leading the charge is Bette Davis, whose towering performance takes advantage of her range of skills. If her acting is occasionally showy, it fits the part, and for the most part, she manages admirable restraint and taste. Her scenes with John Dall are especially memorable, full of sparks of lightning and an understated sexual tension. Dall more than holds his own, giving back as good as he gets and creating a memorable portrait of unrefined genius buried beneath both ignorance and a fear of discovery. Joan Lorring is also memorable as the slatternly Bessie, making something very much out of a line like "Oh, I've hurt my knee!" Irving Rapper does well at the helm, keeping things moving and pointing up the drama without overemphasizing it, and effectively creating an expansive outdoor atmosphere that contrasts with the rather claustrophobic setting of the classroom. Corn would be remade for TV in the 1970s, with Katharine Hepburn assaying the lead role. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Arthur Shields - William Davis; Gwyneth Hughes - Sarah Pugh; Thomas Louden - Old Tom; Billy Roy - Idwal Morris; Brandon Hurst - Lewellyn Powell; Tony Ellis - Will Hughes; Leslie Vincent - John Owen; Robert Cherry - Dai Evans; Gene Ross - Gwilym Jones; Robert Regent - Rhys Norman; Edmund Breon; John Dehner - Welshman; Sarah Edwards - Mrs. Watty's Friend; Herbert Evans; Margaret Hoffman - Militant Corps woman; George Mathews - Trap Driver; Leonard Mudie - Station Master; Adeline Reynolds - Old Woman Reading; Rhoda Williams - Wylodine; David Hilary Hughes; Robert Cory - Miners in Bar
Credit
Carl Jules Weyl - Art Director, Orry-Kelly - Costume Designer, Irving Rapper - Director, Frederick Richards - Editor, Jack L. Warner - Executive Producer, Max Steiner - Composer (Music Score), Robert Vreeland - Musical Direction/Supervision, Perc Westmore - Makeup, Sol Polito - Cinematographer, Jack Chertok - Producer, Fred MacLean - Set Designer, Robert B. Lee - Sound/Sound Designer, Casey Robinson - Screenwriter, Frank Cavett - Screenwriter, Emlyn Williams - Play Author
Middle-aged Lily Cristobel Moffatt (Bette Davis) sets up a school in a Welsh coal mining town, despite the determined opposition of the local squire (Nigel Bruce). Eventually, she considers giving up. Then she discovers a promising student Morgan Evans, a miner seemingly destined for a life of hard work and heavy drink. With renewed hope, she works hard to help him realise his potential.
Through diligence and perseverance, Morgan gets the opportunity to take an examination for Oxford University with, hopefully, a prized scholarship. Moffatt, the rest of the teachers, and their students are hopeful Morgan will pass the Oxford interview, and so he does.
However, Bessie Watty (Joan Lorring), a young woman who has recently given birth to Morgan's child, blackmails the faculty into giving her part of Morgan's scholarship money in order to help raise the baby. The conniving young woman has designs on another male suitor. Instead, Moffatt volunteers to adopt the child so that Morgan's academic future will not be ruined and Watty will be free to marry another man, unfettered by her responsibility to the child (since she and her affianced never really cared for it in the first place). Morgan quickly hears about Watty's scandalous, self-serving motives, and insists upon raising the child himself. Through a heartfelt and persuasive conversation, Moffatt convinces the young man to continue his higher education and contribute something to the world.
Cast
Bette Davis as Lily Cristobel Moffatt. The character was supposed to be in her 50s. To help her look the part, the thirty-six-year-old Davis wore a gray wig and a "fat suit" that added 30 pounds (14 kg).
