The Corn Is Green (1979 TV Movie) User Reviews

A remake that does not eclipse, nor is eclipsed by, its predecessor.

[Tahhh · 8/10 · 15 May 2006]

This is every bit as sentimental as the earlier film starring Bette Davis, but there are delightful performances, all around, considerable fun, and it is especially enjoyable to compare the Davis film with this "remake." Like Davis, Hepburn never really loses the give-away American accent, but (perhaps because both were actresses of such powerful and forceful stubbornness and drive), they both are utterly convincing as little old spinsters who can transform villages and lives, charm idiot nobility, and single-handedly prepare an ignorant coal-miner for a career at a great university. I found Saynor an engaging and deeply appealing Morgan Evans, and thought that bad little Bessie and her shenanigans were much easier to believe in this version.

My take on it is that if you enjoy a sentimental story like this, and certainly if you enjoy the old Davis film, then you'll have a good time with this one, as well, and you'll find that each version has its charms for you.

If nothing else, it's a remake that neither detracts from, nor is dwarfed by, its predecessor.

The Corn is Green

[tim-764-291856 · 7/10 · 10 February 2012]

As an Englishman who lived and worked in Wales for a decade, I was attracted to this period TV movie, showing on cable TV 33 years after it was made. I haven't seen, or heard of the Bette Davis original, from 1947 and now wish I could see it at some point.

Undoubtedly, it is Katherine Hepburn's spirited and strong-willed performance that makes it so watchable and entertaining. Along with the genuine Welsh locations, nicely filmed and assuredly directed by veteran George Cukor (he was 80). The production values are far above of the typical TV movie of its period, with good colour and brightness.

Hepburn herself was 72 and can hardly conceal her impending Parkinsons disease but despite that, we are reminded of her classic performance in The African Queen as a noble stoic and stubborn woman in the face of ignorance and pettiness. As a head teacher, here she's up against the local gentry and squire as well as the villager's in-bred feelings that the local colliery is the only future for its youngsters.

She takes great pride in nurturing one young man and as such pushes him far beyond what both he and the village ever thought he could attain - but one that his teacher knew he would achieve.

A play for legends

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 8 August 2012]

The Corn Is Green seems to be a play for acting legends only. In America it debuted on Broadway in 1940 with Ethel Barrymore starring as Miss Moffat. Then Warner Brothers bought this property for Bette Davis who delivered a powerful performance and yet free from all the shtick that we've come to know from Bette Davis. Strangely enough she did not get one of her 10 Oscar nominations for it. Finally we have this version that stars Katharine Hepburn done in 1979 when she was close to the age of Ethel Barrymore.

I was not around when Barrymore did The Corn Is Green on Broadway and I would love to have seen what she did with it. I do love what Bette Davis invested in Miss Moffat and I would be hard pressed to say whether Davis or Hepburn, which was the better.

I think those two buddies from Boston, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, might have seen The Corn Is Green and might have come up with Good Will Hunting. Hepburn has been left a nice large house in the Welsh coal mining district and being a person of social conscience she opens a school for the kids who usually go into the mines at the same time they hit puberty. She spots her Good Will Hunting in the person of Ian Saynor and she resolves to make him realize his potential.

It's an uphill battle against cultural conditioning and Saynor's own doubts and fears. And some very human emotions throw up a big roadblock just as he's realizing a scholarship to Oxford.

The Corn Is Green marked the end of a collaboration between actress Hepburn and director George Cukor which began with her big screen debut in A Bill Of Divorcement. For a film director Cukor was far less successful in eliminating the stage origins of the play than Warner Brothers was with Bette Davis. But he and Hepburn after almost 40 years of collaboration were perfectly in tune in her performance.

The Corn Is Green is an autobiographical work from author Emlyn Williams who did lift himself from the Welsh coal mines and gave the world some wonderful writing and acting. It's a timeless story that begs for another remake. I hope Meryl Streep reads this and considers doing yet another revival.

Great acting

[HotToastyRag · 7/10 · 13 November 2017]

If you've seen the 1945 version of The Corn is Green, you haven't really seen it in its full potential. Bette Davis can play a spinster extremely well, but she can't get enthused like Katharine Hepburn can. In Emlyn Williams's story, a strong woman sets up a school in a Welsh mining town. She finds potential in one particular young boy and hopes an education will give him a chance at a different life. When Katharine Hepburn encourages her student, she raises her fists in the air and grins triumphantly. It's a much more understandable interpretation of her character; the woman obviously has passion enough to educate lost-cause mining children, so she should show her passion in her delivery and mannerisms. Kate was nominated for an Emmy that year, but was ironically beat out by Bette Davis for Strangers: The Story of a Mother and a Daughter.

In his first film, Ian Saynor gives a wonderfully emotive performance as the conflicted student. From start to finish, the audience sees his growth and maturity, and we learn to put as much faith and hope in his character as Kate does.

While David Walker's costumes are beautiful, John Barry's music cheapens the quality of the film, making it obvious that it was made for television. If you can get past the soundtrack, though, you're in for a very well-acted and interesting story.

"Around here, (boys) are only children until they are 12 . . . "

[oscaralbert · 7/10 · 25 February 2017]

" . . . and after one week (working in the coal mines), they are old men," John Goronwy Jones informs newcomer Ms. L.C. Moffat in this made-for-television Warner Bros. DocuExposeWarning from the late 1970s. Even with its TV fare such as THE CORN IS GREEN, Warner could not help being blessed (or cursed, depending on how you look at it) with the gift of prophetic foresight. Though there may be a few casual viewers who'll see this as merely a Corny Period Piece, most astute fans of director George Cukor will find kernels of Truth about West Virginia's Coal Miners, Hillary Clinton, and Forced Birthing popping around in their noggins as they savor CORN. U.S. Industrial Historians teach us that Life's always been Cheap in Coal Country, with 100 American Black Lungers dying underground in sudden "accidents" for every worker perishing down below in a normal mine, because Corrupt People-Killing Fat Cat Capitalists always have controlled BOTH the miners and the coal miners' union (if any). When Hillary tried to disconnect from her life support tubes long enough to save the miners for Posterity in 2016, they rejected her just as harshly as miner "Morgan Evans" turns upon the palsied Ms. Moffat in CORN. Shortly after this betrayal, little Bessie Muffet sits on Morgan's Tuffet. The resulting Forced Birth saddles octogenarian L.C. with a squalling, dirty-diapered baby amid her GOLDEN POND years, which is Warner's Way of warning Today's Seniors that U.S. Strongman Putin plans to soon yank away their Medicare and Social Security, leaving them to die in the traces as the Russian Peasantry always has done.

Wonderful!

[connimac · 10/10 · 4 June 2005]

One of the great Kate's best performances of her later years. I liked the Bette Davis version very much, but Hepburn does so much more in the character. The story is hopeful and the ending not "pat". The characters are fleshed out nicely and the direction is truly fine. I am a big fan of Katherine Hepburn and she truly comes alive in this character. The supporting cast manage not to be overwhelmed by their leading lady's performance and round out their characters as I believe the author intended them to evolve. I find it sad that really good made for television movies are dismissed out of hand and forgotten so easily, there are so very FEW of them, but the GOOD ones deserve a place in film history. This is one of the best I have ever seen! I beg the powers that be to release it on DVD!

Kate's best late career performance

[jjnxn-1 · 10/10 · 10 May 2013]

A late career triumph for both Kate and Cukor this marvelous TV version of the play Ethel Barrymore made famous years before feels like it was written with Hepburn in mind so well does the part fit her. High production values give it the feeling of a feature film and the performances are most enjoyable from all. A wonderful story of the value of learning and the quest for knowledge along with the need to temper it with caring and human interest this is a reminder of the superior quality that used to be offered on American television and rarely is today. Beautiful location filming in Wales completes the charm of this fine offering. Well worth seeking out for anyone looking for superior entertainment.

Overlooked Gem

[Ron-223 · 9/10 · 3 February 2012]

I remember watching this many years ago and to this day I am quite taken by the performances given. While it was a "Made for TV" movie, to this day it still leaves an impression. The musical score by John Barry was quite good and added to the film in a superb way as well.

Kate Hepburn is surely missed as she was a great actress. She led up an overall fine cast of actors that provided a lasting impression. The young man who she tutored out of an otherwise menial existence was a great actor too.

I only wish that more such productions were still made today.

I guess that the only thing that gets the green light are reality shows that are soon forgotten.

I wish I hadn't waited so long to see this.

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 21 July 2023]

I usually hate remakes...particularly of movies that were well done in the first place. This is why I resisted watching the 1979 version of "The Corn is Green" for many years. After all, the Bette Davis version is terrific. However, in hindsight, I am thrilled I saw both films...and both are about equally exceptional.

Lilly Moffat (Hepburn) has just inherited her uncle's home in rural Wales. After witnessing the hard life of a typical resident, she feels a burning passion to educate these illiterate folk. So, she turns her home into a school and soon kids come flooding to the school. However, she soon meets an adult who, despite no formal schooling, shows lots of promise.

The rest of the story is about their relationship and her drive to get Morgan to strive for something more out of life.

The acting is THE major reason to see this film. Like Bette Davis, Hepburn is a treasure to watch and the lovely Welsh countryside (something not in the original film) is a major plus. Well worth seeing and a truly unique story that is really something special.

The best of human race's feelings in an outstanding story !!!

[elo-equipamentos · 8/10 · 15 September 2020]

A enlightened story that began with Bette Davis's 1945 first version in a near masterpiece in my point of view, this remake with the classy Katherine Hepburn as TV movie stays few steps behind, but it isn't necessarily far away from of his predecessor at all, Kathy overcame fulsomely a putative weak points, with a masterful performance, she plays an unmarried wise old woman who moved to north Wales and decided open a small school for miners boys who were send to coal mines at tender age without any kind of study or future at sight on those hard times, Mrs. Moffat (Hepburn) realizes that a rough teenage Morgan Evans (Ian Saynor) has a special gift to write prodigal poems, she foresees on the boy a glittering future if her coax him an extensive study, Morgan under a extreme pressure stays drained and willing to quit, Mrs. Moffat doesn't give up and she gets to him run for a scholarship at Oxford University, somehow Mrs. Moffat being a spinster, wager all her hopes in this orphan gift boy as was your own son, moreover although she treats Morgan harshly ,actually she intents that him has a opportunity to be someone, that it's her main target, if he got, she made something for yourself, a movie that letting us to think that nothing was lost for mankind in this vale of tears!!

Resume:

First watch: 2020 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8.25