Rating: 
Summary: One of the best movies of all time!
Review: A real tear-jerker. The first time I watched this movie, I was about 18 years old. I stumbled upon it by chance, and probably would not have given it a second thought had I come across it in the tv listings. Lucky for me, it was playing on tv instead of some other trash that I was going to watch... and something made me stay tuned. I never expected what was to come... one of the most heartwarming... intriguing... and thought-provoking movies of all-time. For two hours, we ARE Francie Nolan... living the life of a young girl coming of age... in a tiny apartment with her family... dealing with poverty... trying to find herself... and trying desperately to hold on to her dreams... It is truly a masterpiece, a one-of-a-kind original!
Rating:
Summary: Faithful to the book
Review: A Tree Grows In Brooklyn is a beautiful and thoughtful book. The screen version is one of my favorite films of all time. It tells the story of Francie, a poor girl growing up in Brooklyn at the turn of the 20th century. The acting, with Peggy Ann Garner as Francie, James Dunn as her father and Joan Blondell as Francie's aunt, is superb and evocative of that bygone era. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a movie that can be enjoyed again and again. You never get tired of it.
Rating:
Summary: Faithful to the book
Review: Even though this movie has been around for quite a while, one wonders (and worries) how faithful the movie-makers were to the book, especially since the novel made a come-back thanks to Oprah and her gang. What a relief it was to find out that "A Tree Grows" was mostly like the book. One can only hope that McCrae's "The Bark of the Dogwood" will receive similar treatment when it is made into a film--let's hope so. I highly recommend this heart-warming tale of life in Brooklyn, even if it does have its ups and downs.
Rating:
Summary: absolutely amazing
Review: Fans of the book may take issue with the fact that Katie only has one sister here (the brassy Sissy) as opposed to the three with whom she made a veritable force of female strength, but it still works on film. Francie and Neely live in abject poverty in Brooklyn, where their mother is a washerwoman and their father a singing waiter and drunk. The movie centers largely on Katie and her struggle to keep the family together and save money for their future so their kids can be somebody. The children favor their father, who regales them with tales of how great things are going to be for them. Francie, especially, is taken with him. he calls her his "prima donna" and assures her that one night an impresario will hear him singing on the job and they will have fame and fortune. Francie is also admonished to say her father is "sick", and never "drunk".The story includes all the tragedy and life of the book, as the children observe the problems their parents experience from having two very different personalities and views on life. Katie is admonished by her Old-World mother that she is becoming hard, and she takes this to heart. But she doesn't see how she can be otherwise if her family is to survive. There is one telling scene where Katie asks her the time, and it is a minute to four in the afternoon. Katie spills out her heart and then asks the time again. It is now a minute past four. In the space of tow minutes, Francie's understanding of her parents, the world and her place within it all has changed dramatically. This is an excellent film which captures the poverty and spirit of the times for one particular family. It is avery good adaptation and worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully Tragic
Review: Feeling depressed and sad? This movie will certainly induce those feelings, if you're not! A beautiful story on many levels. Want to show your kids about poverty in the city? Here's the movie. A young Dorothy McGuire gives a stunning performance as a bright girl with a too hard-working mother and a good-hearted but alcoholic father, who just can't seem to help himself, despite his love for his family. Everyone in the neighborhood adores the father, he is a nice man, he just drinks too much. And the daughter adores and admires him more than anyone. He's a great story-teller and is the one person who encourages her to dream big. The wife, she loves her husband but despises his weakness for drinking. His drinking also keeps him from steady work and the family constantly stuggles to get by. The bittersweet movie is about how McGuire continues to blossom despite the turmoil surronding her, like a rare tree sprouting up in the city.
Rating:
Summary: What a Great Film !
Review: From the opening scene, this movie hooks you in. It is the story of a little girl, Francie Nolan, and her family. The setting is turn-of-the-century Brooklyn. This film stands up to repeated viewings, something movies seldom accomplish. The basic story line centers around Francie, an intelligent girl filled with wonder. Her father, Johnny Nolan, loves his daughter and does everything he can to support her wishes. The mother is the serious, single-layered breadwinner of the house, and is often more concerned with public perception of her family than with the family itself. Starring Dorothy McGuire, James Dunn, Peggy Ann Garner, Lloyd Nolan and Joan Blondell, it doesn't get much better than this, folks...have some tissues readily available. Elia Kazan's direction makes tear-jerkers out of certain scenes, like when Francie throws her arms around her father and proclaims "I just love you so much, Papa". Another GREAT scene is when Papa is in Francie's room, just before going to look for a job. The piano scene. The tree catching scene....and on and on. A real classic.
Rating: 
Summary: TEARFUL AND TERRIFIC.
Review: Having never read the Betty Smith novel, I cannot state how true this 1945 film was to its original source; but I do think it makes for quality heartfelt entertainment. As Francine, Peggy Ann Garner plays her role with an amazing display of natural unaffected intelligence uncommon in child actors of her era; hers is a wonderfully tear-jerking performance. Dorothy McGuire is fine as Francine's long-suffering mother Katie (something about her seemed a bit too classy for her character at times, but nothing to wreck another excellent portrayal). As the illiterate, rather loose-loving - and intensely likeable - Aunt Cissy, Joan Blondell does justice to her role. Blondell later wrote that there was originally a scene where children were playing outside on the street and find a tin full of condoms; curious, they went to Cissy for explainations. Blondell claimed the scene in which she lovingly explained about life and love to the children was the best she ever did - naturally, it was deemed too distasteful for release! As Johnny, the alcoholic singing waiter father whom Francine adores, James Dunn won himself a deserved AA. A poignantly (and fairly realistic) study of a struggling family living in Brooklyn way back when.
Rating:
Summary: The Saddest Story
Review: Hollywood was horrible to poor Peggy Ann Garner, but it provided her with at least one vehicle for the rage and inner torment that eventually destroyed her. As Francie Nolan in Elia Kazan's first film A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, she comes close to tearing up the screen as a young girl trapped in class anxiety with foolish hopes and dreams that get shattered on a regular basis. If you think Margaret O'Brien shows childhood neurosis in the Halloween scene of MEET ME IN ST LOUIS, she's a cold fish compared to the tears shed by Garner in nearly every act of A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN. The wrenching performances Kazan later eked out of Brando, Dean, Clift are here foreshadowed by a child's desperate search for a better way of life.
After the film was released, Peggy Ann was briefly famous and valued, but her grip on reality was never very strong, and she was deeply hurt when prettier, less talented girls were picked for the parts she really wanted, and her life became a vale of tears. Knowing this, it's especially difficult to watch A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN knowing her few smiles, and her joy in the company of her father when sober, are but rare occlusions on a life based in misery.
Rating: 
Summary: Heartbreakingly dissapointing
Review: I read the astonishingly true book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I loved it- and understood it. I expected so much from the movie- but when it was finished, I was just dissapointed. I understand that sometimes parts of books had to be changed to make a movie. And yet... it was probably the small cast of characters, and the MANY alterations. Wherer is the cruel, evil Granpa Rommely? Why do the characters talk so FAST. They need to slow down, and relax. Where's Little Tilly, or Gussie? The movie, as I can call it, is cute. I would give it 2.5 stars. But, it shows a glossed over version of Francie's life. Francie was a child who lived in a world of brutality. She went to a school (from 6-10 anyway) where the teachers were CRUEL, and DIRTY. She wore smudged clothes, ripped, and patched. She never had enough to eat. The most refreshing aspect of the book was that she was able to find magic IN SPITE or all of this. But the movie changes a mature book into a G-Rated film.I will never hear the names Francie, Neely,Sissy and Katie, and see Peggy Ann Garner, Ted Donaldson,Joan Blondell and Dorothy McGuire. I will always see Francie as a skinny, ragged looking child, with wondering eyes, and a timid smile. I will always see Neely as a scruffy, ragged kid, with a little-boy grin on his face. I will always see Sissy as a dark-haired, full-figured ''bad girl'' sensitive beauty, and I will always see Katie as a wide-eyed, unexplainable fighter.The only acotr who captured the essence of the character is James Dunn as Johnny. Now HE deserved his Oscar. They took too much out of the book to make the movie good. Where's Aunt Evy, and Uncle Wille Flitmann? More importantly WHERE'S THE EXPLAINATION OF HOW KATIE AND JOHNNY MET. They just skipped right past that part. I have always read reviews of movies I loved- and seen one person who gives a 5-star movie (atleast 5-star to me) and gives it 2-stars for not following the book, and I feel angry. But in this case- I urge anyone who loved the movie to thoroughly read the book, then watch it again. The movie COULD HAVE BEEN SO GREAT! They should have followed Francie's life until the end of the book. They should have shown Francie and Lee, her true love. A part in the book read, after Katie had heard Francie call her ''mother'' instead of ''mama'': '' Mother! Katie remembered when she had called her mother ''mother'' instead of ''mama''. She had said ''Mother'' when she had been ready to marry Johnny. When she had called her mother ''Mother'' she had finished growing up. She had never said ''mama'' again. Now Francie.... And this is just the problem. The movie never fully ''grows up''. I hope someday, someone takes the time (though it will take a long time) to make a movie TRUE TO THE BOOK.If people loved this movie, wait until they see a movie that follows the book. They will be astonished at the difference!
Rating:
Summary: What a Great Film !
Review: I read the book years ago and loved it. I purchased the video recently an was afraid I'd be disappointed. I was not.
This is a wonderfully done movie about a poor family at the turn of the century. You want to believe that the father, James Dunn, really believes that he is going to make a better life for his family. Dorothy McGuire plays a wonderful part as the mother who keeps the family together. I simply love this movie, it is very well written and very well acted. A must for any classic collection.
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