"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" now, TCM

2:30CST. I've never seen this film. I've read the novel dozens of times.

ooops make that 2:45
Della
It's really good. The kind of film that could never be made these days. I just finished watching THE APARTMENT, one of the all time greats. I love when Shirley MacLaine says, "Some people take, and some get took. And they know they're getting took and there's nothing they can do about it." RIP Billy Wilder. He nabbed Oscars for writing, directing and Best Picture for this. And thank God for TCM.
[quote]And thank God for TCM. Yes indeed -- but I thank Ted Turner for TCM.
I envisioned Katie Nolan as much prettier then McGuire.
Della
Thanks for the heads-up Della. Haven't watched it in years.
Its been about twenty years since ive seen it but i remember being impressed by peggy ann garner and james dunn who won an oscar. Both male winners that year (ray milland also) won oscars for playing drunks.
Elia Kazan's first film.
Dunn's performance is breaking my heart. At first I thought he looked too old for Johhny Nolan, but I changed my mind when I realized people aged faster back then. In the novel, Johnny and Neeley Nolan never interact.
Della
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a wonderful film, the kind of immigrant story not made today. The children are wonderful... and Dorothy McGuire working so hard to keep the family together and in an apartment. The first time I saw it was with my mother who cried and points, because her mother lived with a man she remembers as having the same personality and drinking problem as Katie's dad in the movie. Like the father in the film, the man in my grandmother's life died "of drink" as my mother would say. found in an alley during the Depression.
Teary-eyed%20Typist%20**sniffle**
Was Joan Blondell known as a slut in Hollywood?
I think one of the most brilliant choices Kazan made is the casting of Dorothy McGuire. Up until she had only played teenagers and for her to play a very jaded mother of two worked beautifully. It made her seem so much more likable, seeing the little girl inside her grown old before her time. One of my favorite movies.
R10. Don't confuse the actress with roles she played. That's why they call it acting.
I googled the title and think I'll read the original book. While the movie is an interesting distillation of the original, there's so much more that happens in the original. The book is written in five parts and look at what happens! Katie murders a man who tries to rape Francie! Whoa, that's certainly not in the movie, is it? In Book Three, the Nolans settle into their new home and the children (now seven and six) begin to attend the squalid, overcrowded public school next door. Francie enjoys learning even in these dismal surroundings, and with Johnny's support, she gets herself transferred to a better school in a different neighborhood. Johnny's attempts to improve the children's minds fail, but Katie helps Francie grow as a person and saves her life by shooting a child-rapist/murderer who tries to attack Francie shortly before she turns 14. When Johnny learns that Katie is pregnant once again, he falls into a depression that leads to his death from alcoholism-induced pneumonia on Christmas Day 1915. Money from the family's life insurance policies and the children's after-school jobs keeps the Nolans afloat in 1916 until the new baby, Annie Laurie (named after a favorite song of Johnny's), is born in May and Francie graduates from grade school in June. Graduation allows her to finally come to terms with the reality of her father’s death.
Surprise%2C%20surprise%2C%20surprise...
And the nice former cop (now a councilman) comes to the rescue.
Dorothy McGuire (her real name I believe) was just too much of a lady to play the downtrodden immigrant mom. However, the sad eyed weariness worked well in her later films (Friendly Persuasion, Summer Place, Swiss Family Robinson). James Dunn really did die of alcoholism.
Where%20is%20Peggy%20Anne%20Garner%20now%3F
A beautiful film. It wears its heart on its sleeve. Manages to draw you in and make you care. I love it.
Brooklyn%20Boy
Dead for the past 18 years, R15.
r13, and I always thought that the mysterious Mr. Tomony was gay. I'm usually not a fan of remakes but,as a previous poster said, I think the time is right for another film interpretation; not a major theatrical release because it wouldn't make money. Still, even if it was a low budget production I'd watch it. I have no idea who, among contemporary young actors, could play Johnny Nolan.
Della
Like OP, I've never seen the movie. But the book made me cry till I had the hiccups.
The movie is horrible compared to the book, and Katie shoots but does not MURDER the guy who exposes himself to Francie. He doesn't rape the child. At best his "you know" might have touched her arm. The book is pathetic compared to her second novel, "Tomorrow Will Be Better." The bad part about "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" is that the whole premise is false. Francie is supposed to be the "tree." However the tree in the story, the physical tree, actually grows and flourishes in Brooklyn. Francie does not. She always has to leave Brooklyn and/or her piece of it to obtain any growth. So the analogy is unapt.