Grade: C+
Synopsis: A teacher (Bette Davis) struggling to bring education to a Welsh coal mining town finds inspiration in a promising pupil (John Dall).
The Corn Is Green is an uneven melodrama buoyed by Bette Davis’ strong performance, but undone by some weak supporting turns and shoddy production.
Davis carries the film. Not only is she believable playing a woman at least fifteen years her senior, but she’s especially charismatic, commanding attention from her first entrance and holding it until the film’s closing credits. It isn’t as showy a role as some of the supporting parts, but Davis’ measured turn is nonetheless the highlight of the film.
Unfortunately, the supporting cast is a mixed bag. While Nigel Bruce and Rhys Williams are great, John Dall is frustratingly uneven as a coal miner with a promising intellect. He waffles between believable angst and over-the-top emoting, sometimes within the same scene. Even worse is Joan Lorring, whose ham-fisted performance threatens to ruin the entire film, and would have, if Davis weren’t present to rescue the show.
The film also has a problem with time. Not the length, which feels about right, but rather the amount of time that supposedly passes on screen. The characters don’t visibly age, and so aside from an off-hand mention that three years have passed, you lose any sense of the film’s scope. This is all the more pronounced because both Davis and Dall’s characters are at points in their lives where the passing years would show in their respective appearances.
The final problem is the sub-standard production. Any film dealing with a Welsh coal mining town is going to invite comparisons with the excellent production in John Ford’s How Green Was My Valley (1941), yet The Corn Is Green is littered with cheap painted backdrops that only serve as a constant reminder that you’re really watching a Hollywood backlot.
Still, it’s a testament to Davis’ talent that the film works so well despite these missteps. With a few cast adjustments and better production values, The Corn Is Green could have ranked among Davis’ finest films, but as is, it’s still entertaining.
