GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Scotty Burke It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

bkoganbing Marcia Davenport's novel The Valley Of Decision got the full MGM star gloss treatment when it came to the big screen. It was bought for the woman who was probably their biggest female star at the time Greer Garson. And Garson was given up and coming new leading man Gregory Peck in only his third film.The Valley Of Decision bears the unmistakable influence of Edna Ferber as well, no doubt this was who Davenport was trying to imitate. It's a story of an Irish working class lass who came to work as a maid for a wealthy steel family and gets quite involved with them and their problems. Quite the family as well with parents Donald Crisp and Gladys Cooper and their offspring Gregory Peck, Dan Duryea, Marshall Thompson, and daughter Marsha Hunt. Look at the cast and the children are pretty much as you classic movie fans can type them. Only Peck seems to have a real love for the business itself that brought them their wealth and of course he's who Crisp has pinned his hopes on to carry on after Crisp leaves this earth.Garson is the Irish lass of course and she does not exactly go with the blessings of the house. Lionel Barrymore is her father with adapted brogue and all and this is one of the few times Barrymore's wheelchair and paralysis is actually given explanation. He had an industrial accident and even though Crisp's family has given a small pension to live on, Barrymore is full of bitterness and hate. It all boils over and leads to a climatic tragedy. The character of the three sons also plays a part in that same tragedy.Other roles of significance are Preston Foster as a union organizer, John Warburton as the English impoverished Earl who courts and weds Marsha Hunt, and Jessica Tandy the society girl who Peck weds. The novel no doubt needed considerable editing to be brought to the screen, but I get the feeling it was done at the expense of Tandy's character. It's strangely underdeveloped for a major role.In Michael Freedland's book about Gregory Peck, Peck was quoted as saying he learned early on that this was a Garson picture because when he saw the shots of them together, she was always radiant and fully lit while he was in the shadows. Seeing the film, damn if Peck wasn't right. Garson knew her business and she got an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, but lost to Joan Crawford for Mildred Pierce. Peck also was in the Oscar running for Best Actor, but for his second film The Keys Of The Kingdom. Herbert Stothart's musical scoring got the only other Academy recognition with a nomination in that category.The Valley Of Decision shows MGM movie-making at its height and at its best. This was one expensive production and the sets show it as well as the impressive cast list. Definitely one for fans of Greer Garson.

krisflint-1 This movie is a treasure. Gregory Peck is a real man who falls in love with a feminine woman. Their chemistry comes through the screen. If you love romance, the old fashioned way, you will love this flick. This film is one of those epic stories chopped down into something you can simply enjoy in one evening. The cast of characters are fabulous with Donald Crisp, John Barrymore, Greer Garson, Geregory Peck, and so many other outstanding character actors. If you are in the mood for a story with characters who stand for their beliefs and work hard at maintaining the American dream, this movie does not disappoint. Although Greer Garson is much older in reality than Gregory Peck's 25 years the black and white screen does not give it away and their romance is very believable.

edwagreen Greer Garson, with a terrific Irish brogue, earned still another Oscar nomination. With the exception of 1940, Miss Garson was nominated for best actress from 1939-1945, a Hollywood record.The film depicts the old problem of wealth vs. poverty. A pretty and pert Greer goes to work for the family of Gregory Peck. They are lovely, unpretentious people. Her dad, played by the irascible Lionel Barrymore, is a hot head if ever there were. His hot-headedness will ultimately lead to his downfall as the film goes on.We see wealth and snobbery associated with it, especially by Peck's wife, brilliantly played by a young Jessica Tandy. In a change of pace, veteran movie mother, Gladys Cooper, comes off as a wonderfully, kind sort of matriarch married to the indomitable Donald Crisp.The ending is great. All I can say is that fairness triumphs over snobbery. Class distinctions just seem to go away.

tjonasgreen In Pittsburgh in 1873, plucky Irish immigrant Greer Garson accepts a position as a servant in the mansion of steel magnate Donald Crisp, though her father was crippled in his mill. Inevitably, Greer and Gregory Peck (as the principled second son of the family) find themselves drawn to each other despite class differences, and surprisingly, his parents spprove. But a series of dramatic events -- a steelworkers' strike, three violent killings, a spite marriage, a natural death and a surprising bequest -- all conspire to keep Greer and Greg apart while the audience is left to wonder when and how they can get together.In a way we don't care since these mismatched stars have no chemistry together. In only his third screen role, Gregory Peck is always competent and is sometimes better than that, but his cool, placid demeanor works against this tale of romance thwarted for over a decade. For her part, Greer Garson was never one to suggest sexual attraction or romantic passion, and she has the further handicap of looking much older than Peck and seeming too old to play her character in the early parts of the film. But by the end, when her character's age has caught up to her, Garson's usual poise and authority seem just right.If the lack of fireworks between the stars seems like a drawback, it somehow isn't because the narrative is really about the love affair an unhappy woman has with a warm, charismatic family. And here, the producer and the director Tay Garnett make sure the film is enlivened with a talented and varied supporting cast including Donald Crisp, Gladys Cooper, Lionel Barrymore (a hambone as usual), Dan Duryea, Preston Foster, Reginald Owen, Marshall Thompson and young Dean Stockwell. Of particular interest are two excellent supporting performances. MGM stalwart Marsha Hunt brings some bite and complexity to the role of Peck's sister, a selfish, superficial woman who is nevertheless decent and loving. And though Jessica Tandy spends most of the film in a thankless role as a brittle society girl hoping to snag Peck, by the end of the film she is allowed to give a vivid performance of bravura shrewishness, the kind of thing Agnes Moorehead usually did so well.