the leading man is my tpye

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

recommended

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

Based on Marcia Davenport's bestseller, the film obviously omits most of the novel, concentrated on star-crossed lovers Greer Garson and Gregory Peck – Garson is impossibly sweet for most of the film, and Peck too passive, but the last half-hour or so was terrific – Garson showed some 'steel' of her own, Peck found his backbone and told off wife Jessica Tandy. There are some good performances here among the supporting cast – the aforementioned Tandy, who goes from a sweet young woman to a tense, neurotic, demanding wife, and particularly Gladys Cooper and Donald Crisp as Peck's parents, who own the steel mill against which the tale plays out (Crisp's role is sort of a dressed-up version of Mr. Morgan in HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY, which won him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar). Cooper plays the complete opposite of her famous Mrs. Vale-style mother here: she is kind, loving and understanding, and I think the scenes between Cooper and Garson are by far the film's best-acted. There's an outrageously hammy performance by Lionel Barrymore (even for him) as Garson's crippled father that could serve as a textbook example of over-acting – he should definitely have been reigned-in. The exteriors all have that MGM 'soundstage' look to them,and the matte shots of the mill and surrounding city have a particularly artificial appearance.

This is the first time I watched this movie and I was totally absorbed in it. I loved Greer Garson in Mrs. Miniver, and again, in The Valley of Decision she gives another outstanding performance. Gregory Peck turns in his usual excellent performance as Paul Scott, the son of a wealthy steel mill owner (Donald Crisp), who falls in love with Mary (Greer Garson), the hired housekeeper. This romantic story may seem predictable at times, and yet, this held my undivided attention throughout. I found both of them believable as they struggled with their feelings for each other amidst family feuds and class bigotry. Mary unselfishly puts aside her own desires for Paul's sake and turns down his proposal of marriage. As the years go by, Paul marries Louise (Jessica Tandy)an embittered woman who cared nothing for the family or for Paul's devotion to the mill. On the other hand, Mary was a sympathetic and caring woman who was loved by almost everyone. Without revealing too much, I was delighted to see that love and good sense triumphed in the end. It is no surprise that Garson was nominated for her performance and all of the players were well cast for their respective roles. This is a memorable, heartfelt movie and I highly recommend it.

Okay, I'll admit that this movie is a bit heavy-handed at times. Lionel Barrymore's performance as Mary's father is not a subtle performance and the movie is a tad predictable at times. However, despite these minor shortcomings, this is a marvelous romantic flick from Hollywood's heyday and is a great early Gregory Peck vehicle.Mary (Greer Garson) is a lovely poor lass who goes to work as a housekeeper in the home of the wealthy family (the Scotts) who own the local steel mill. This is problematic, as Mary's father was seriously injured in the mill and bears an intense hatred of the Scotts. It becomes even more problematic as, over time, handsome Paul Scott (Peck) falls for her and asks for her hand in marriage! Yikes! However, this is only about half-way through the movie--what happens next you'll need to find out yourself.Great performances (not just from the two leads but from capable supporting actors such as Donald Crisp and Dan Duryea), direction, sets and writing make this one of my personal favorites. Watch it!

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.