Green Dolphin Street (1947) User Reviews

Is There Really a Plan at Work in our Lives?

[gloryoaks · 8/10 · 28 January 2005]

Is there really a Plan at work in the strange twists and turns of our lives? Green Dolphin Street makes the case that there is--that things happen for good reasons, which can't be understood during the heartbreak of the moment. We see a meaningful design woven in the lives of three people as the movie reaches its strongly crafted and truly moving conclusion. This is a story with a long-range view, taking us through the intertwined lives of two sisters and the man they love. It even reaches back to reveal secrets from the past, from their parents. And it moves forward with exciting scenes of the dangers of pioneer life in New Zealand in contrast to the peaceful world of the Chanel Islands where it all begins.

Intriguingly, another man, a fugitive from British justice, plays a key role in ensuring the happiness and safety of one sister, Marianne. In this role, Van Heflin has one of the best parts of his career and makes the most of it. Even here, the theme of a Plan at work is expressed when he suggests to her that they must be old souls who have known one another a very long time. For me, he greatly overshadowed her husband--in fact, would have made a much more suitable husband for her--and perhaps that was intended as another example of the ironies of life.

The role of Marianne, played by Lana Turner, is pivotal to the story. While she gives this part her very best, another actress with a stronger face and more range could have done better. Somehow, Lana still looked and sounded like a Hollywood glamour girl. Yet, at times, I was moved to tears during her scenes. Donna Reed in the role of her sister Marguerite seemed more comfortable with her assignment and developed a strength and radiant beauty in the course of the film. No one who has seen this movie could forget her scene as she climbs the cliff. Other memorable moments take place in New Zealand with the earthquake and tidal wave or the attack of the Maoris. But the best is saved for the last. The ending of Green Dolphin Street conveys a transcendence that lifts it far above the ordinary Hollywood costume period movie.

Eye-popping special effects add luster to rich romantic drama...

[Doylenf · 8/10 · 8 April 2001]

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.

Two sisters and their saga get the MGM treatment

[blanche-2 · 8/10 · 7 February 2006]

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.

Dame Gladys was really a California gal!

[gregcouture · 15 April 2003]

I saw this movie when it was first shown on a Los Angeles TV station that had licensed a number of big-budget MGM movies for a once-a-week event. I was in my mid-teens at the time and had a part-time job at a supermarket in Pacific Palisades, where my family lived. Gladys Cooper, who had a supporting role in "Green Dolphin Street" and who gave her usual British-sterling performance (as a French matriarch), was a frequent customer at that store and she seemed to always choose the checkout line where I was working. (Must have liked the careful way I packed her groceries!) I usually helped her out with her purchases to her top-down 1956 Thunderbird roadster. On the afternoon after "Green Dolphin Street" had been shown the previous evening, I did more than exchange the usual pleasantries with Ms. Cooper and mentioned having enjoyed the film and, in particular, the eloquence of her deathbed scene. She graciously thanked me and admitted to watching the film, too (for the first time, by the way), and that she had also enjoyed it. "It really wasn't bad!" she said, as she started up her convertible and waved goodbye. When weather permitted, and it did rather frequently in that southern California town, she usually looked like she'd come in to do her grocery shopping, in tennis shorts and a sleeveless blouse, after spending an afternoon gardening in what, no doubt, was as much of a showstopper as the many roles in which she had excelled. For a woman who was in her late sixties at the time, she radiated a most charismatic energy. A great lady whom I shall always remember most fondly.

Still-Watchable Costume Drama

[JamesHitchcock · 6/10 · 25 September 2004]

'Green Dolphin Street' is set in the early Victorian era and features two unusual backgrounds for Hollywood films, New Zealand and the Channel Islands. (Contrary to what some have thought, 'St Pierre' is not in France, but rather in the British-ruled Channel Islands, although the model for the offshore nunnery was clearly Mont-St-Michel in Normandy). The plot centers around two sisters, Marianne and Marguerite, who are both in love with the same man, William. (An added complication is that the girls' mother, in her youth, was in love with William's father, but they were prevented from marrying by the opposition of her parents).

William himself loves Marguerite; indeed, he seems to be unaware that Marianne is in love with him. He persuades the girls' wealthy and influential father to help him to obtain a commission in the Royal Navy. He is, however, a feckless young man and a heavy drinker, and, after getting drunk and missing his ship while in China, deserts from the navy and flees to New Zealand. He meets Timothy, another Channel Islander and fellow-fugitive from justice who has killed a man in a brawl. Timothy is now running a logging business in a remote area of the North Island with the help of Maori workers, and invites William to assist him in his business. The business prospers, and William writes to Marguerite's father, asking for the hand of his daughter in marriage. Unfortunately, he is drunk at the time he writes the letter, and inadvertently writes 'Marianne' rather than 'Marguerite'. Marianne, delighted to think her love is returned, sets off for New Zealand to marry him.

In some respects, 'Green Dolphin Street' is a standard costume drama of its period, a combination of a Jane Austen-style drawing-room romance and an epic of the British Empire. The acting is neither particularly distinguished nor particularly bad. Nevertheless, it has a few interesting features. An earthquake hits the logging camp, and this scene can still generate tension even today, as the special effects are surprisingly well done for a film of this period. The characters are well-drawn and undergo genuine development; the feckless William becomes a more responsible character and comes to appreciate the finer qualities of the wife he has married by mistake. Timothy, a wild character in his youth, also matures. He is himself secretly in love with Marianne, but keeps this a secret as he believes she will be happier with William. (Unlike many of the white settlers, he admires the native Maori population and befriends them rather than treating them with contempt). Marianne, headstrong and determined but capable of sincere love, plays an important role in her husband's success. Back in St Pierre, Marguerite, originally a rather spoiled young woman, develops a religious vocation and enters a nunnery. (The film has a strong, specifically Catholic, religious atmosphere). This is a film that has stayed watchable. 6/10.

There are a couple of errors that I spotted. The ship's captain talks of having seen a flightless bird larger than an ostrich in New Zealand. This is presumably a reference to the moa, but this bird was already extinct before Europeans first landed in the country. It seems strange that William and Timothy, both fugitives from British justice, should think themselves safe in New Zealand, where they live quite openly under their real names. The country was, after all, a British colony at the time, and they could presumably have been arrested by the local authorities and extradited to Britain.

At the sign of the dolphin

[jhkp · 6/10 · 9 July 2016]

This could have been a great film. It's a little turgid and it isn't brilliantly acted or directed. It's really a tribute to the amazing MGM special effects department. Almost the whole film was made in the studio (sound stages and back lot), and what wasn't was shot in Oregon. The filmmakers never went near the Mont-Saint-Michel-style channel island where about half the story takes place, nor to China, nor New Zealand. But you're transported to these places, thanks to MGM's technical and artistic know-how.

I wouldn't say that director Victor Saville was a master of the camera, exactly, and some of his set-ups, as well as his long takes, in the dialogue sections of the story, are uninteresting or inept - lost opportunities in the creative or dramatic use of film. In MGM's glory days, such a mammoth film would possibly have been directed by King Vidor, or Sidney Franklin. What we have instead is almost a film that succeeds in spite of itself. It should not have worked, but it does. Not as a film classic but as a massive piece of hokum that is beautifully costumed, designed, and produced. There are no great performances, there are no scenes that thrill us with the artistry of their composition or the depth of their drama. There is no great direction. Nonetheless, one is swept along.

I can't imagine the film without Lana Turner, despite her performance being at times close to high-school-play level. Hers is a character along the lines of Scarlett O'Hara (though thankfully far less complex), wondering why all the fools around her worry about things like honor or ethics when there's status to be gained and money to be made. Donna Reed, as her more staid sister, Van Heflin, as a dark and brooding adventurer who loves her in secret, Richard Hart as her ineffectual but attractive husband, and Frank Morgan, Gladys Cooper, Dame May Witty, Edmund Gwenn, Reginald Owen, Moyna McGill, and Linda Christian round out the cast. But it's Lana's picture all the way.

Bronislau Kaper composed the big score that produced a hit song ("On Green Dolphin Street"), a jazz standard recorded by many of the greats.

The film was one of two that were based on novels MGM acquired through a contest sponsored by the studio in the late '40's, with a prize of 200,000 dollars. The other novel was Raintree County (not filmed until 1957).

adventure, action, romance, suspense, personal tragedies & triumphs

[Joe-321 · 9/10 · 27 January 2005]

Green Dolphin Street with its twists and turns is very intriguing. It was very well acted film its characters very deep in moving and realistic performances. It has action, adventure, suspense, romance, personal tragedies and triumphs and it is a wonderfully made film with the tradition of good storytelling. (PLOTS are not this good in lots of the current movies) Donna Reeds performance is great - Noting the extraordinary moments at Marguerite mother's deathbed when confessions of a personal sort are made to Marguerite and her father and especially suspense scenes in which Donna Reed climbs up the old passage inside of a mountain to the old door of the monastery. The story includes good visual and sound special effects which still hold up to today's hi-tech effects by providing some straight forward excitement!!! (Remember this was a 1947 film). It is rich with well the developed characters and very good acting by Donna Reed, Van Heflin and Gladys Cooper and Lana Turner who shows she can do a great job acting with out being a sex symbol. Mostly likely Green Dolphin Street would not play as well in 2005 with the younger audience, but I think that the "Old Movie buffs" will like it.

Mostly overwrought costume drama, though with compensations...

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 1 September 2011]

Lana Turner, playing 'bad sister' to Donna Reed's 'wholesome sister' in 19th century New Zealand, looks great in her period costumes but gives yet another of her plastic performances permeated with frantic unease. She and sibling Reed are both vying for the new man in town, with romantic complications sending the sisters on wildly divergent paths. Adapted from Elizabeth Goudge's novel "Green Dolphin Country", the film has some memorable set-pieces: a fabulous earthquake (undermined, unfortunately, with campy hysterics), a ferocious tidal wave, and a haunting, beautiful moment in which Reed scales a steep tunnel on the inside of a mountain and is taken in by the nuns. Relative balderdash is nonetheless an entertaining piece of work; pure Hollywood, though a first-rate example. Director Victor Saville shows a great deal of style, and the time and place of the story are vividly captured. **1/2 from ****

Sneaks Up On You

[conono · 8/10 · 21 November 2003]

Classic Action-Adventure-Romance-Morality Play and nearly anything else you'd like to see in a film, but presented in such an understated way that you'll find it sneaking up on you partway through.

Not sophisticated, not stunning, but full of human truth and including convincing performances in the leading roles. An overlooked, romantic chestnut, highly recommended.

The total does not equal the sum of its parts

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 7/10 · 27 November 2016]

If this had been done as a multi-episode television mini-series (I know, t.v. was not really around back in 1947), it would have worked perfectly. Because this film seemed to me more like a series of mostly great vignettes that didn't quite come together perfectly.

The story takes place in the 1840s, in England, where 2 sisters (played by Donna Reed and Lana Turner) compete for the same man. They are the daughters of the wealthy Edmund Gwenn and Gladys Cooper. The man they both love goes into the navy, but on a drunken night is rolled, misses his ship, and is now AWOL. Rather than be imprisoned, he heads for New Zealand (which looks remarkably like the forests of the United States). He writes a letter proposing to Donna Reed, but drunk once again, mistakenly writes the name of Lana Turner. So Lana heads to New Zealand and marries, but has a marriage that is not bad, but less than blissful. Meanwhile, Donna Reed -- after the death of both parents (was there a suicide involved?) -- decides to become a nun, just as Lana and her husband return to England.

Lana Turner is really good here. She was one of my 2 favorite actresses when I was growing up (the other being Sophia Loren; clearly I knew what a really fine woman was, even at age 12). Imagine my disappointment years later when I saw her in an extended television interview and she didn't seem any too bright. But, she was still a wonderful actress. BTW, she's a brunette here.

Van Heflin, who wanted to be a suitor to Lana, is first to get to New Zealand, and becomes involved in the timber industry. What an odd coincidence that the 3 main characters all end up all the way from England to New Zealand at about the same time. Heflin is okay here.

Donna Reed is wonderful, and I wish the film would have spent more time with her story.

Richard Hart is the husband/suitor. I wasn't familiar with him. Turns out he died at age 35 from heart issues and had a short career. I really didn't care for him much here.

Frank Morgan has a great role here as the father of Richard Hart, but alas he passes away not far into the film.

Edmund Gwenn and Gladys Cooper (as husband and wife) are terrific, as they almost always were.

Dame May Witty plays the Mother Superior at the convent. We see little of her, but she pops up throughout the film at opportune moments. Limited, though good performance.

The special effects during the earthquake and tidal wave scenes are quite remarkable for 1947.

A very good film which could have been great. Worth watching.

Shades of Gone With the Wind in the Southern Hemisphere

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 27 January 2006]

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.

Powerful Story, Good Acting

[PRETTYLADY82 · 10/10 · 9 May 2002]

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.

impressive story, although there are some obviously unpleasant things about it

[lee_eisenberg · 6/10 · 12 August 2020]

I didn't know what Victor Saville's "Green Dolphin Street" was about until I started watching it. I get the feeling that this was one of the first Hollywood movies to depict the Maoris. The depiction of them here is roundabout, but I would guess that most people worldwide weren't that familiar with them. Of course, the depiction of them is pretty regressive by today's standards.

Other than that, it's got an OK plot. One character talks about two sides of the same coin, and I saw Marianne and Marguerite as an allusion to that: they were so similar, so what was William to do?

The earthquake scene was impressive. I don't know whether any movie had depicted earthquakes by that point, but this one gave an idea of the intensity, and the scene won the movie an Oscar.

As for the cast, they turn in fine performances (not that I would expect otherwise from the likes of Donna Reed). They give one a sense of the tension lurking in these seemingly ideal communities. All in all, despite the questionable racial material, I found to be mostly a good movie, a look at how small acts can have big consequences.

PS: screenwriter Samson Raphaelson is the uncle of "Five Easy Pieces" director Bob Rafelson (who also put The Monkees together).

A mixed bag of treats and nuts and a few lemons.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 2 April 2013]

This is a gorgeous film to look at, and like the previous decade's "San Francisco", is best remembered for a powerful earthquake sequence. But the soap opera storyline has got to be seen to be believed, and it all surrounds the children of former lovers Frank Morgan and Gladys Cooper, reunited years later as neighbors, he a widower with a grown son and she married (to Edmund Gwenn) with two daughters. The two girls both fall in love with the son (Richard Hart), a brooding young man who thanks to Gwenn becomes an officer in the Imperial Navy and an accidental deserter thanks apparently to some rice wine given to him by a Eurasian girl he meets while in China. Now a drunk like his father, he settles in New Zealand, and sends a letter to his love, accidentally putting in her sister's name. When she shows up ready for marriage, he feels guilty and goes through with it, causing a situation he will have to face years later when the sisters are reunited.

This is almost a "Gone With the Wind" of the south of the equator as two completely different women, one willful (Lana Turner), the other sweet (Donna Reed, seeming very much like Olivia de Havilland) love the same man and go through tons of heartache. Reed is ready to do what her mother once almost did, jump off a cliff, but the Mother Superior (Dame May Witty) who once prevented Cooper from doing the same thing steps in once again, giving Reed a book that will change her life. In New Zealand, a pregnant Turner goes through one of the wildest on-screen earthquakes, later deals with her husband's partner (Van Heflin) who obviously loves her, and stands tall through a rebellion by native New Zealanders who are not about to be ruled by the British.

Everybody does their best to help this film rise above it silly over-the-top story, which will keep your attention because of its delightful attention to detail. The earthquake itself is one of the boldest sequences ever in film, and the flood that follows devastating, especially considering recent events with tidal waves and tsunamis which have caused world devastation. Still, there is a feeling of too much of a good thing as it strives too hard to cover too much territory, pretty much a retread of "The Rains Came" which ironically was remade by Turner as "The Rains of Ranchipur".

Drama, action, romance, the ingredients for a good movie.

[KEITH-LANCASTER · 8 March 2002]

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.

Unconvincing Melodrama

[dglink · 6/10 · 17 February 2005]

The trailer for "Green Dolphin Street" tries to elevate the film to the levels of "Gone with the Wind" and "Mutiny on the Bounty," which is a sure sign of desperation on the part of MGM's publicity department to sell a potential bomb. If the novel on which this film is based bears any resemblance to what is on screen, the book must be nearly unreadable. The plot turns on "the slip of a pen" and winds and spins as the characters make totally unmotivated decisions that send them racing around the globe. The lines are juicy and overripe and will provide countless quotes for devotees of bad dialog. Katharine Hepburn was apparently first choice for the central role, but she must have read the script, and the part of Marianne fell to Lana Turner, who certainly gave it her all. Turner definitely has star power, and viewers' eyes are on her whenever she is on screen. However, neither she nor a good cast of supporting players, which includes Van Heflin, Edmund Gwen, Gladys Cooper, and Frank Morgan, can rise above the purple prose and the lack of character development. An unknown actor, Richard Hart, has the leading male role and is somewhat bland opposite Turner. Perhaps a strong male star would have balanced the casting since Hart does not convince as being a worthy object of Lana Turner's attention. As for the Donna Reed character, Margarite, the term "unconvincing" is hardly strong enough; perhaps "unbelievable" gets closer despite Reed's attempts to breathe some life into a cardboard saint. The special effects, which are dated today, were a selling point for the film, but unfortunately the spark of excitement that they bring comes two-thirds of the way into the story and leaves too much running time until "The End" in which viewers continue to gag on the cornball lines and intense emoting. The trailer states that 20 million people read the book; it's hard to believe that more than 20 of them could have sat through this movie.

Improbable, slightly stiff and bland period piece...

[secondtake · 6/10 · 22 November 2014]

Green Dolphin Street (1947)

What a perfect cast for a heavy drama. Even as the MGM lion roars, the orchestra announces deep doom. Lana Turner is a sultry and often ambiguous leading woman. Van Heflin is that great star who doesn't steal all the women. And then Donna Reed of course must be the "good" woman. It all adds up. The one weak link, if we have to start there, is the director, Victor Seville, a product of the routine British film industry of the 1930s, competent but stiff, especially for 1947.

Green Dolphin Street, the street, is fictional, though meant to be set in New Zealand. Hence the British coattails. The famous song, "On Green Dophin Street," comes from the movie, and led to a famous Miles Davis and Bill Evans versions, which outstrip the movie. The movie is the only case, as far as I know, that joins the two actors who played legendary characters; the Wizard of Oz (Frank Morgan) and Santa Claus (Edmund Gwenn, from "Miracle on 34th Street"). Morgan, in particular, plays the same sort of charmed character as the famous wizard—or more accurately the charlatan in the wagon at the start of that 1939 MGM movie.

I say all this to point out the limitations of the this post-war oddity. The previous roles of the actors intrude on their performances here. (Even the appearance of Gladys Cooper made me think more of "The Bishop's Wife" than this movie. Maybe it's me.) Blame Seville, I think. Mostly there is an attempt to be "epic" and create a huge, sweeping drama that seems limited and invented for the screen. Everything is fine, but fine is just what it is. Oh, the disasters make it exciting, and the acting is rather nice. You won't be disappointed as long as you keep your perspective in handcuffs.

So what works best? Actually, Van Heflin is terrific, playing a role a bit more exaggerated than he usually goes for—a pirate, of sorts (a sailor and stowaway). And when you get to the huge plot twist (halfway through) you might even laugh. It's so tragic and improbable—purely the product of a writer's imagination—you have to at least sit up and say, oh dear! (That 1947-speak for NFW!) Anway, it does spice things up, and so the partying takes on a certain desperation, at least in the background.

Anyway, there are the special effects, which won an Oscar, and the generally high level of production, an MGM style very visible. But even if it was truly popular on its release, I think it's too dated now to make much of a dent on most us in the 21st Century. Watch warily.

One of my favorite film scenes of all time

[cooke_mark · 8/10 · 25 July 2006]

Although I've been a vintage film buff for years, I saw this film for the first time this week. Glady's Cooper's deathbed scene, played with Edmund Gwen and Donna Reed, has now become one of my favorite, most touching moments in film. Her dignity and courage, Gwen's simplicity and kindness, and Reed's ethereal beauty, along with the composition and lighting of the scene (including the candle-lit crucifix at the rear), riveted my attention and emotions from beginning to end. By the end of the scene I had tears streaming down my face, and believe me I'm a hard nut to crack.

Otherwise, I thought there was a fine performance from Van Heflin (worthy of a look-alike Orson Welles), a rather startling and frightening depiction of a New Zealand earthquake and flood, very beautiful costumes and sets, and did I mention that Donna Reed is so beautiful you can barely stand to look at her? Her scene with Lana Turner below the crucifix at the convent, in which she describes her happiness at becoming a nun, is worthy of Ingrid Bergman in "The Bells of St. Mary's.

Great Story, Hokey Script

[jerry-293 · 7/10 · 21 February 2007]

As the cliché goes, the book is so much better than the movie.

That having been said, it's a great story, and the film acting is excellent according to the standards of the 1940s.

I've wondered why such a bland actor was cast in the lead. He's supposed to be a weak character, but surely MGM had roster of highly skilled actors who could convincingly PLAY weak.

Unfortunately, some of those lines in the script are just unactable. Despite the talent on screen, they make you want to gag.

Nevertheless, there's some dynamic drama, and those special effects are spectacular, even today.

The evocative, romantic theme music was made into a song, "On Green Dolphin Street," which has become one the most frequently played tunes in the jazz repertoire.

Unjustly Forgotten Near-Masterpiece With Grand Performances by Everyone

[joe-pearce-1 · 10/10 · 30 May 2021]

I saw this film when it came out in 1947, for either $.12 or $.15 (that's cents, folks!) at the old Nassau Theater in Brooklyn. I must have gone to see the accompanying feature, as at that age I had no interest in great romantic stories or films. How wrong I must have been, for that was 74 years ago, and although I had not seen it again until last night, there are at least five scenes in the movie that I have never forgotten, and if an 8-year-old kid can be impressed enough by a film to have a vague recollection of even one scene three-quarters of a century later, it had to be a great movie, or at least a memorable one. . Watching last night, I was convinced that it was both great and memorable and that I must have been quite advanced for my age to have enjoyed it so much at such a tender age.. I've gone considerably downhill since. Anyway, those five scenes were:

1. Frank Morgan's death and his son's tearful reaction to it.

2. Gladys Cooper's deathbed confession to her husband and daughter.

3. The shock i got almost immediately following Gladys Cooper's passing to hear the priest tell her daughter than her father had joined her mother in death.

4. The great earthquake and subsequent tidal wave scene.

5. The sight of a refined young English girl crawling for dear life up the inside of a cave to the top of a cliff to avoid an incoming tide.

None of those five points are hidden from the viewer as the story progresses, so that they do not constitute spoilers.

And I had also remembered in a more general way that the Richard Hart character had ended up marrying the wrong woman due to his drunkenly addressing his marriage proposal letter to the wrong sister.

What I may not have totally appreciated then were the superb performances of both the lead and supporting actors. I'm absolutely amazed that this film is not listed among the Hollywood classics. It should be.

Lots and lots of plot!

[adamsandel · 6/10 · 28 January 2021]

Great cast, handsomely produced, and one of Lana Turner's most assured performances - but it's all plot and very little character development.

Handsomely mounted but lumbering soap opera

[gridoon2024 · 5/10 · 5 August 2018]

The technical credits are impeccable, the special effects of the earthquake and the tidal wave are very impressive and still hold up (easily the best sequence in the film - it lasts from the 83rd to the 90th minute), and the acting is very fine (Lana Turner covers all the bases), but the big, long, ambitious story fails to grab your interest, despite spanning many years and at least three continents. ** out of 4.

An Underappreciated Saga!!

[olddiscs · 9/10 · 18 February 2002]

Ive seen this movie several times, and each time, Im never bored ! I am fascinated.. its long yes, a bit sluggish, but the epic story and unusual locale (New Zealand) never fails to entrap me... MGM Gloss at its best.. well acted.. especially by characters actors, Van Heflin, Gladys Cooper,etc.. Donna Reed is perfect as Marguerite, Lana Turner is more than adequate as her sister Maryann.. but Lana's hair, never comes undone especially in the lengthy exciting earthquake sequence/ she still keeps her style & glamour, well thats MGM, and that was Lana!! Her doo finally comes undone during the Maori attack!! This is a good rainy day movie, you can sink your teeth into it... and enjoy.. enjoy the story the cast the sets & locale too bad not filmed in color...

Chance or destiny?

[MissSimonetta · 7/10 · 15 March 2021]

GREEN DOLPHIN STREET belongs to that special class of Hollywood spectacle that really wanted to be the next GONE WITH THE WIND. Made in the 1940s and 1950s, these films tended to be big historical epics, with big battles, big emotions, and big run-times. GREEN DOLPHIN STREET fares pretty well in this category: though the visual effects have aged poorly and the melodrama gets almost farcical at points, good acting and an interesting metaphysical bent regarding the possibility of fate within the love square plot elevate the film. Though Lana Turner is the one in the spotlight, and to be fair she does a good enough job as an ambitious and intelligent woman forced to live through the men in her life due to Victorian sexism, it's Donna Reed as her tormented sister and Van Heflin as a taciturn fugitive who steal the show.

Disaster.

[rmax304823 · 5/10 · 26 February 2014]

Nice catchy musical theme, above average special effects during earthquake scene. Story familiar.

Two beautiful sisters (Turner and Reed) belong to the richest family on St. Pierre. Turner is materialistic, manipulative, and Donna Reed is warm and pure. They're both interested in the young and handsome Richard Hart but he comes from a lower class. Turner doesn't care about that. She can kick him around until he becomes rich. Reed just plain doesn't care.

Now, no story like this can get by for very long without periodic tragedies, preferably equidistant from one another in the plot line. Bingo. We meet three elderly people. I reckoned only one of them to be toast, but no. In an excess of misery, all three give up the ghost. There's another death, the lovable and outspoken Captain O'Hara, of the clipper Green Dolphin, but his demise is saved for much later and is mentioned in passing, an amuse-bouche of a death.

The hero, Hart, is not exactly flawless. He gets in trouble and flees the Chanel Islands to exotic New Zealand. If Hart is lower class, the Maoris we see are even lower. They fall into two types: the compliant, hard working lumberjacks and the nasty tribe from the north who are probably cannibals, never having enjoyed the benefits of the enlightenment that comes with civilization, like Christianity and slavery. Hart joins the lumber company of the buckskin-clad Van Heflin, also a refugee from St. Pierre, who has loved Turner from afar since childhood. We feel his pain.

Hart write a letter from New Zealand to Donna Reed, confessing his love and asking her to join him in marriage and live in the boondocks. But, inebriated, he addresses the letter to Turner instead of Reed, driving Reed to a nunnery perched on a hill that looks like Mount St. Michel.

Turner, of course, joins him and, in Hart's absence, must give birth while their primitive hut is shaking and falling down around her. Births are never easy in these kinds of movies. Fortunately, Van Heflin is in attendance and asks Turner to trust him because he knows what he's doing. He never claims that he "don't know nothing about birthing babies."

Well, why go on with it. It fits a formula. It's a sprawling drama of mixed loves and adventures in an exotic setting. As in a Russian novel, everybody seems to marry the wrong person. It induces a Niagara of tears. I cried like a baby and found myself sobbing, "Let it end; let it END." It finally ended. It must have, because when I woke up it was over. I vaguely remember seeing it as a child and found the earthquake thrilling. I still do.