Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

adsqueiroz In the early 1900s, the Nolans, a poor Brooklyn tenement family, fight not only to survive, but also to improve their lives. The studious Francie worships her father, waiter and aspiring singer Johnny, despite him being an alcoholic and a pipe dreamer. With a strong temper, mother Katie holds the family together, including a flirtatious and impetuous aunt. Dorothy McGuire is a perfect mother who keeps her family together, but loses and regains some humanity in the process. She was an underrated actress in her time, always gave great performances. Peggy Ann Garner in one of the best child performances I have seen as an intelligent and caring daughter. What an incredible and moving film; made me cry many times while watching girl Francie reverencing her father and helping out her mother. A film worth seeing more than once.

wes-connors In the early 1900s, working class Brooklyn streets bustle with poor residents aching to earn a living. Spunky 13-year-old Peggy Ann Garner (as Francie Nolan) and her continuously hungry 12-year-old brother Ted Donaldson (as Neeley) collect enough rags to raise nine cents. The money goes to help the kids' struggling family. Penny-pinching mother Dorothy McGuire (as Katie) is a scrub-woman. Sporadically employed father James Dunn (as Johnny) is a singing waiter. Although he is not abusive or violent, Mr. Dunn is a hopeless alcoholic. Still, he has a charming relationship with Garner, encouraging her to hope and dream...When Garner notices a favorite tree is being cut down, Dunn assures his daughter the tree will grow back. Early in a series of episodic events, the family learns free-spirited aunt Joan Blondell (as Sissy) has married again. Her sister's multiple-marriages and her husband's drunkenness cause Ms. McGuire concern. Keeping both children in school becomes difficult. Although it involves fibbing about their residence, Dunn enrolls Garner in a finer school. As you might expect, she decides to become a writer. Soon, the family must move into smaller quarters. Their living situation becomes more unmanageable. Then, mother McGuire finds herself expecting...Based on a Betty Smith's classic novel, and guided superbly by first-time feature film director Elia Kazan, "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" transplants itself to the screen in extraordinary style. The Twentieth Century-Fox production team makes the picture artfully squalid. As the young heroine, Garner received much praise; she won "Film Daily" and "Oscar" awards for juvenile acting. Separating performers under 18 years of age is not done much anymore, sadly. Additionally, Dunn won an "Academy Award" for his kindly alcoholic father. In the "New York Film Critics" poll, Garner (#4) and Dunn (#8) did well in the lead categories...Watching the film today, one is equally struck by the performance of mother McGuire, relatively ignored by those giving out acting awards at the time. The focus is clearly on daughter Garner - but the central relationship and conflict is not between father and daughter; it's between mother and daughter. McGuire and Garner have an unspoken struggle which culminates in an cathartic scene, with mother lying perilously close to death, late in pregnancy. Garner blames McGuire for all the world's ills, including Dunn's alcoholism. It's a war between fantasy and reality, optimism and pessimism, hope and fear...When mother and daughter come to terms with each other, Garner's "Francie" can grow inside and out.********* A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (2/28/45) Elia Kazan ~ Peggy Ann Garner, Dorothy McGuire, James Dunn, Joan Blondell

Scott Amundsen Possibly only a director with an eye for gritty reality like the great Elia Kazan could come up with a successful adaptation of Betty Smith's classic novel. With the help of screen writers Tess Slesinger and Frank Davis, with some additional dialogue by Anita Loos (uncredited), Kazan manages to capture the atmosphere of the time and the place; he also demonstrates his considerable skill with characterization. The result is a movie that in spite of considerable flaws has the same raw emotional power that has made the book such an essential.The setting is the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn around the turn of the Twentieth Century. The original novel covered a period of about ten years in the lives of the Nolan family, which is the movie's first major gaffe: in having Peggy Ann Garner and Ted Donaldson play Francie and Neeley Nolan for the duration of the picture, he suspends the story in time and thus makes for a rather confusing adaptation of a book that spanned a decade and was about a young girl's coming of age.Be that as it may, Peggy Ann Garner is luminous as Francie; Oscar-winner James Dunn turns in solid support as her beloved father Johnny, and Dorothy McGuire, a brilliant actress who never really received her due in Hollywood, is sensational as matriarch Katie Nolan, a woman who marries a man she is madly in love with only to discover he is a no-good drunk. He is not abusive or anything like that, it's just that married to Johnny, the twin burdens of the household duties and earning enough money to live on fall on Katie's shoulders.This is a beautiful film. As an adaptation of the novel it fails in some key points (read it and you'll see), but overall it is a fine and moving piece of cinematic art, well-deserving of its status as an American classic.

Casablanca3784 Peggy Ann Garner was just 13 years old when filming "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." Thank you Mr. Turner because I never saw a finer acting performance by any young teen in any film. Peggy died at age 52 , was never a BIG STAR but her performance in this film could have never been matched had she lived and continued in the motion picture industry for a full lifetime. Simply stated: I was stunned by her ability. Incidentally she did win the Academy Juvenile Award in 1945.Dorothy McGuire as Peggy's mom.Enormously gifted. A lifetime of monumental acting achievement which didn't deviate one iota from this role. Then we have James Dunn who played Peggy's dad and for which he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor 1945. Dunn is absolutely superb as the community drunkard and a waiter with big dreams.You will see the hustle and bustle of 1912 Brooklyn. You will hear the calliope filling the streets with the resounding music of that era. You will see hardship and poverty endured as a 13 year old girl comes of age. The interaction of characters of this film is historic...the entire film is legendary and make sure you have a handkerchief handy.