Green Dolphin Street

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 flavor of a great novel, and a healthy dose of English, French and New Zealand history. Add Lana Turner, Van Heflin and Donna Reed to all that and you've got a rich treat of a movie.

The film may seem dated and old-fashioned to some younger viewers, but most others with even the slighest bit of open mindedness will find much to be enjoyed. The production values given by MGM are in their high and great tradition. The love stories, plots and adventures are as intense as would be asked of a film that one could enjoy with one's grandmother.

Yet there's nothing sappy about the story at all. Rather, we are given a broad cast of characters that surrounds a mistake that starts a love story with a big wrinkle.

This film 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 memorable visual and sound special effects which bear up to today's hi-tech stuff for straight excitement.

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

When I was 17, I read "Green Dolphin Street" for the first time. The book was one of those that I couldn't put down or forget. The characters became a part of me. Shortly after reading the book, I saw the movie. As with most movies adapted from novels, it fell somewhat short of my expectations, but not as badly as most movies of its time period.

The characters in the movie are well developed with the exception of Lana Turner's, which is unfortunate since she is the central figure. Hollywood did it again, making the rather plain figure Elizabeth Goudge wrote of in her book into a sex symbol, but in all other areas, this movie was well put together and was a real treat.

I was impressed with how well the special effects people created scenes of such magnitude as earthquakes and floods with the technology available in 1947. I believe that anyone who hasn't read the book would find this a riveting movie, full of action, drama, love, all he or she could ask for in a movie. The best part is the lack of smut and unnecessary violence. For those, like me, who read the book first, it will still be a good movie, even if we might long for a better remake one day!

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.

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.

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.