How Green Was My Valley Trivia Quiz

Answer: Wales

The setting for the movie was a coal-mining town in Wales, around the turn of the twentieth century. The opening narration explained that the valley was still green then, as the slag heaps from the mines had only just begun to darken the hillsides.

The Welsh love of song is illustrated throughout the story, with miners singing on their way to and from the mine in one scene, and townspeople serenading at the Morgan family's door, to celebrate that Mrs Morgan was recovering from an accident that kept her (and her youngest son) bedridden all winter. A group billed as Welsh Singers provided the voices.

Answer: Huw Morgan

Huw was the youngest child of the Morgan family, consisting of six sons and one daughter. The elder sons were coal miners like their father, but Huw was sent to school in the next valley in the hope that he would be able to become a doctor or lawyer, and never go down into the colliery.

The narrator's voice (the grown-up Huw) was provided by Irving Pichel, but the lad himself was portrayed by Master Roddy McDowall, as he was billed, who pretty much stole every scene he was in. Already a veteran of several movies by the time he played Huw, McDowall went on to a long career including such films as "Lassie Come Home" (1943), "Planet of the Apes" (1968) and a couple of sequels, "The Poseidon Adventure" (1972) as well as numerous television appearances and voice work.

Answer: Their father opposed the union they sought to form.

Ianto Morgan (John Loder) spoke out in favour of a miners' union, because the mine owners were beginning to hire cheap labour from other places, and pushing down the wages paid to the existing workers. Their father (Donald Crisp in his Best Supporting Actor Oscar-winning role) favoured continuing to work as usual, believing that loyalty and hard work would be rewarded. This clash of opinions resulted in Ianto and his brothers Owen, Davy and Gwilym gathering their clothes and going to find lodgings elsewhere.

It was some time later that the same four, leaving two at a time, left to seek better lives in far flung corners of the world. Their mother was ill during the first time that they were away. They were seen returning home in the scene during which the Welsh Singers performed in front of the cottage. Only the eldest brother, Ivor (Patric Knowles) was married at this time and living with his wife Bronwyn in their own home.

Answer: Iestyn Evans

Although Angharad (Maureen O'Hara) and the preacher Mr Gruffydd (Walter Pidgeon) were clearly in love, marriage to the son of Mr Evans, the mine owner, was a more advantageous match for the family, or so it was believed.

The scene where the mine owner called on Mr Morgan, who had been soaking his feet, to ask permission for his son to call on Angharad was both amusing and telling, as Morgan scrambled to put on his stockings and shoes so as to appear more respectable to his employer.

Iestyn was portrayed by Marten Lamont (1910-1982) whose other credits included "Pride and Prejudice" (1940) and "Of Human Bondage" (1946).

Answer: Mr Gruffydd

Huw and his mother (Oscar-nominated Sara Allgood) had attended a meeting of union-minded miners on the hillside, during a snowstorm. Mrs Morgan delivered an impassioned speech regarding the treatment that her husband had received at their hands, and left with Huw to return home. On the way both fell and were trapped in icy water until the returning miners heard and rescued them.

Throughout the winter Huw and his mother, she in an upstairs bedroom and he in a built-in bed downstairs, communicated with each other by tapping on floor and ceiling. The preacher, Mr Gruffydd encouraged the boy to read, and promised to take him to see the first daffodils in the spring. This promise was kept, and whilst there on the hillside the preacher set Huw on his feet and walked several paces away calling the lad to walk toward him. Before long Huw had recovered enough strength in his legs to walk to the national school in the next valley.

Answer: Taught him to box

Dai Bando (Rhys Williams) was something of a local character, and with his companion Cyfartha (Barry Fitzgerald) came to the Morgan's home to teach young Huw the rudiments of boxing. The other students at the national school had not taken a liking to the scholar from the mining village, and he had come home bruised and dirty from his first day there. After some instruction by Dai Bando, the next time another student picked a fight Huw was ready, and had the upper hand. The fight was stopped by Mr Jonas, the teacher, who proceeded to thrash Huw for fighting. The other boys respected Huw after this incident.

When Huw returned home with his back bloody, his brothers offered to do something, but Huw said "No!" Instead, without Huw's blessing, Dai Bando and Cyfartha paid a visit to the school, and "taught" the odious teacher something about boxing. Mr Jonas was left in a heap on the floor.

Answer: Fell under a tram

Ivor, the eldest and first married Morgan son, fell under one of the heavy trams that were used to transport the coal from the coalface to the lift, and was crushed to death. The whistle at the mine was heard to blow at an unusual time, alerting those in town that something had gone wrong underground. All left what they were doing to rush to the mine entrance to discover what had happened.

Ivor had been a choirmaster as well as a miner, invited to lead members of his choir to perform for the Queen at Windsor Castle. He left behind his widow, Bronwyn who soon after gave birth to their son, a first grandchild for the Morgans.

Answer: Miner

Despite the hopes his parents had for him, Huw declared that he wished to go down the colliery with his father. He worked pushing a tram, like the one that killed his brother, or holding a metal stake for an older miner to strike with a sledgehammer, and staggered home exhausted but happy to have earned a pay packet.

He had admitted to the viewers having fallen in love with his sister-in-law Bronwyn the first time he saw her, and when he saw how she still pined for Ivor, young Huw offered to come and live with her so she had someone for whom to lay out clothes again. He would give her his pay packet too.

Answer: Angharad

Angharad had returned from South Africa without her husband, and rumours started that she was seeking to divorce him, in favour of Mr Gruffydd with whom she had been in love all along. One particular deacon, Mr Parry (Arthur Shields) had earlier shown himself to be mean-spirited and sanctimonious in chastising another young woman. After Mr Gruffydd had told the chapel-goers just what he thought of most of them and left the chapel, Parry tried to make Huw stay for the deacons' meeting, but Huw followed the preacher.

As Gruffydd was telling his young friend that he, the preacher, must leave the valley without seeing Angharad, the mine whistle blew signalling an explosion and cave-in. Among those still trapped below was Huw's father, and Mr Gruffydd (who had been down the mines as a young man) led a party to try to rescue them. Among those who joined him were Huw and Dai Bando. Angharad knelt beside the cage and took the preacher's hand, just before it was lowered into the mine.

Answer: John Ford

This was Ford's third of four Academy Awards for Best Director, the others having been for "The Informer" (1935), "The Grapes of Wrath" (1940) and "The Quiet Man" (1952). (Note that dates quoted are release years, not Oscar ceremony years.)

The movie beat out, amongst others, "Citizen Kane" for Best Picture, and Ford prevailed over "Kane's" Orson Welles as Best Director. Wyler ("The Little Foxes") and Hawks ("Sergeant York") were also nominees.