Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4417 in VHS
• Released on: 1994-03-07
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: Black & White, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 141 minutes

Customer Reviews

Still a great story after all these years! Well, almost.
I was just a child when I saw this 1947 film in a movie theater and have never forgotten it. Now, more than a half century later, I revisited it on video. I'm a different person now, and a lot of time has gone by, but I was still captivated by the film. Well, almost!

The story is set in the mid 19th century when British colonialism was at its peak. Two sisters are in love with the same man, played by Richard Hart, who goes off to sea in the King's navy. He is drugged in China, misses his ship and goes off to New Zealand to make his fortune. He's really in love with the quiet sister, played by Donna Reed, but when he sends for her to be his wife, his pen slips and he actually asks for the strong willed sister, played by Lana Turner. To complicate matters, the man who really loves the Lana Turner character is the husband's partner, played by Van Heflin. But that's just a small part of the sweeping epic that includes an earthquake, a tidal wave and a Maori war. The film is also about love, the kind that grows through the years, as well as religious love. Because while Lana Turner is off in New Zealand battling the elements of nature, Donna Reed becomes a nun.

This is a great story and there are twists and turns throughout. Lana Turner is beautiful. Her makeup is always perfect and her costumes are great. I can't help noticing though that even when she is about to give birth, she still has a perfectly corseted narrow waist, and her lipstick and hairdos are just a little too perfect throughout. But that, of course was the way they made movies in 1947. The film was 2 hours and 21 minutes and could have been shorter. Some of speeches were a little too long, especially near the end. Also, I can't help it, but I now have a 21st Century attitude about colonialism although back then it seemed like a thrilling adventure. Acting was excellent, several other sub-stories added a rich tapestry to the tale. Best of all, though, were the special effects, which won an Academy Award in 1948. I found the earthquake scene every bit as frightening as anything on the screen today even though this film was produced in black and white without benefit of modern technology. And except for the ending, the story moved fast and held my interest and, for a little while, transported me to a world of adventure, intrigue and romance. Recommended.

High praise for a fine, even great, film
Green Dolphin Street is a wonderfully made film in the tradition of great storytelling. Made in 1947 from its namesakes prize winning novel, the film took it's fair share of Oscars. Sadly, in 2000, it is a little recognized film, and deserves a much better recognized place among the great films.

The story is rich with well developed characters, good acting, an adventurous and romantic plot, marvelous sets, intimate sub-plots, grand-sweeping plots, personal tragedies and triumphs, the full body and flavor of a great novel, and a healthy dose of English, French and New Zealand history. When you add Lana Turner, Van Heflin and Donna Reed to all of that, then you have a rich treat of a movie.

The film may seem dated and old-fashioned to a few younger viewers, but anyone with even the slighest bit of open mindedness will find much to be enjoyed in this film. The production values given by MGM are in that high and great tradition of MGM. The plots, adventures and central love stories are as intense and exciting as any film ever made, and yet one can enjoy it with one's grandmother.

But there's nothing sappy about the story at all. Rather, we are given a rich cast of full and facinating characters who tell the story of a mistake that starts a love story with a big wrinkle.

This film well illustrates the richness of lives in 'the old days' of thoughtfulness, courtesy, diligence and devotion. From the elderly father and mother, to the young adults stepping out into the world, the story includes exciting and memorable visual and sound special effects which bear up to today's hi-tech stuff for pure excitement.

Green Dolphin Street shows just how grand and fine a film can be. It is a great, and lasting, film.

Sweeping Large Scale Melodrama With First Class Visuals
"Green Dolphin Street", one of MGM's biggest film efforts during the late 1940's had a curious beginning in that it was the result of a story submitted in an MGM writing contest where the first prize would be the filming of the winning entry. That winner was the story "Green Dolphin Street", submitted by Elizabeth Goudge and involved the story of the painfully intertwined romantic lives of two sisters over many years and was a tale filled with unrequited love, passion, adventure, and struggle for survival in faraway places. The story was a natural for filming by that studio of studios MGM who made it one of their biggest productions for 1947 giving it a superb cast headed by Lana Turner and Donna Reed as the two sisters and with many excellent and quite ground breaking visual effects throughout the story that included massive earthquakes and tidal waves. The result was a big hit for MGM that really led the studio, despite its growing internal and financial concerns, into their next super production which was to be the massive epic "Quo Vadis". "Green Dolphin Street", combines uniformily fine acting along with first rate visuals that were rewarded with 4 justly deserved Academy Award nominations and quite rightly "Green Dolphin Street", took home the Best Special Effects Oscar for 1947.

The story centres around two sisters Marianne (Lana Turner), and Marguerite (Donna Reed), Patourel daughters of wealthy merchant Octavious Patourel (Edmund Gwenn). The sisters are like night and day as Marianne is the businesslike, ambitious daughter while Marguerite is the more retiring of the two. Both girls become attracted to their new neighbour William Ozanne (Richard Hart), the handsome and not totally upright son of the local doctor Edmund Ozanne (Frank Morgan). William is instantly attracted to the gentle qualities of Marguerite however it is Marianne in her usual take charge way who takes William on and after the death of his father pursuades him to seek a career in the Navy. However all does not go well for William and after missing his boat in the Orient he is accused of desertion and flees to the new colonies in New Zealand to hopefully start a new life. There he makes the reacquaintance of Timothy Haslam who knew him back at his home in Green Dolphin Street. The men set up a lumber business and Timothy who had a real infatuation for Marianne makes William write back home asking for Marguerite's hand in marriage. However William's hard drinking ways cause him still more trouble when he accidently asks for Marianne's hand instead and soon she is making preparations to travel to New Zealand believing the man she loves has finally developed feelings for her. The shock of seeing Marianne arriving on the ship instead of Marguerite however can't be undone and Willian dutifully marries Marianne without her knowing of his mistake. The years pass and the couple have a child and with Marianne's influence the lumber business prospers. Meanwhile Marguerite having lost both parents begins to search for a reason to life and is drawn to the serentity and purpose she finds among the nuns of St. Pierre Convent. William and Timothy find their business threatened by the natural elements in New Zealand and a terrible earthquake, tidal wave and then a Maori uprising force them to firstly move into sheep farming and later to return to Marianne's home in Green Dolphin Street in time to share with Marguerite the special occasion of her joining the convent as a novice. On the eve of the ceremony however Marianne discovers the truth about William's "request", for her to supposedly join him in New Zealand when he meant to ask was Marguerite. It is only after a now serenely happy Marguerite intervenes and tells Marianne of their own mother's consuming love for Wiliam's father before marrying their own father that she sees the lasting value of the hard earned love that William now feels for her.

"Green Dolphin Street", boasts a first rate cast with Lana Turner and Donna Reed as the two sisters making inspired choices. Long regarded as just a glamour girl Lana Turner has one of her better roles here as the quick witted daughter who doesn't see being a woman as an obstacle to being a success in business. Fresh from her triumph in the classic "The Postman Always Rings Twice", Turner here has a very different type of follow up role and she handles it perfectly from the refined setting of her parents comfortable life in England to carving out an existence in the wilds of New Zealand. She even puts aside her famed glamour image for the exciting scenes when her family is threatened by the Maori uprising. Donna Reed seemed to be forever typed playing sweet characters in her movie heyday and her Marguerite in "Green Dolphin Street", is a continuation of that trend however her many touching scenes in the convent with veteran character actress Dame May Whitty as the Mother Superior are truly beautiful and illustrate the depth of talent that this great actress possessed. Richard Hart as William had a short career before his early death but here showed great promise and a young Van Heflin already displays the great dramatic skills he became renowned for later in his career as the rough neck who has a life long passion for the independant Marianne. Character actors Dame May Whitty, Frank Morgan, Gladys Cooper and of course Edmund Gwenn make perfect casting in their various roles and lent their considerable talents to often small but important parts in the overall story. Gladys Cooper's death bed scene where she talks about the gradual development of her love for her husband over many years is one of the emotional highlights of the story and wont leave a dry eye in the house. Of course "Green Dolphin Street", is perhaps still best known for its stunning Oscar winning visual effects and the scenes depicting the earthquake and tidal wave in New Zealand are unmatched for a film from the 1940's and have a frightening quality to them even after all these years.

Old style melodrama of the first order, "Green Dolphin Street", with its wealth of talent both in front of and behind the cameras makes me lament the state of most Hollywood product nowadays. The production has a rich integrity about it that was typical of the major MGM efforts at this time and despite its great length the film never seems to drag in my belief moving as it does from the tranquil environment of St. Pierre Convent through to the rugged frontier in New Zealand with ease. Try and catch the MGM movie making machine at its refined best in director Victor Saville's "Green Dolphin Street", soon.