A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Rating:
Summary: SAD AND HONEST
Review: Just saw it 30 minutes ago. What a show!! I'm over 50 and can't remember seeing all of it before. Don't get out much I guess. To me it was horribly sad; more honest than 95% of the movies showing currently. Made 1940's, excellent acting and marvellous directing. It's a movie you have always heard about, seldom on TV, but to me one of the top 10 ever. Watch it with a lot of Kleenix and tell me how you can't cry over this one.

Poverty in Brooklyn. A father who is a dreamer but who will die for his family, a mother who was sweet and cheerful whose heart becomes callous through struggle and hardships, and two adolescents trying to live and survive in proverty in Brooklyn.
Throw in a half dozen other interesting personalities. It ends with hope but in reality many never receive that hope. It's sad but life can be much sadder. Let me know what you think: lee, bnlovefriend at yahoo.com


Rating:
Summary: Great movie, great acting
Review: This is Elia Kazan's first film, so any flourishes of cinematic style (not something he's particularly known for anyway) are very spare. That allows the acting to shine--and the acting is amazing, supported by a terrific script from a series of newspaper articles that weren't written as a dramatic structure. The sparingness of the environments in the film highlights the stark situation this family is in, and the father and kids (and aunts) optimism provides strong contrast to Dorothy McGuire's BEST performance (and first film!). Her arc in the film is powerful, and is represented visually in a straightforward way that NEVER gets in the way of the story. The emotional release at the end is almost overwhelming.