The Corn Is Green
Directed by Irving Rapper
Written by Frank Cavett and Casey Robinson from a play by Emlyn Williams
1945/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Miss Lilly Moffat: That man is so stupid, it sits on him like a halo.[/box]
Bette Davis gives a solid, restrained performance as a teacher in a backward Welsh mining village who dreams of sending a gifted young miner to Oxford.
When locals get a letter from a mysterious L. Moffat M.A., they believe a colonel is coming to occupy a local establishment.  Instead they get Miss Lily Moffat, a bicycle-riding strong-willed spinster, who has inherited the place and some money and intends to set up a school.  It is clearly needed because the postmistress is virtually the only Welsh-speaker that can read or write, most of the inhabitants do not speak English, and boys go to work in the mine at age 12.  With Miss Moffat are her slightly dippy Salvation Army sergeant  housekeeper, Mrs. Watty (Rosalind Ivan), and the housekeeper’s minx of a daughter, Bessie (Joan Lorring).
Moffat enlists the help of another unmarried lady and a religious zealot as teachers. Virtually every other person of authority is against the idea, especially the Squire (Nigel Bruce). Â She presses on anyway and spots a badly spelled but poetic essay on “how I would spend my holiday” from one of the miners. Â This is Morgan Evans (John Dall). Â Now Moffat has a new mission, to prepare the boy to win a scholarship at Oxford.
Evans proves to be a prodigious student but eventually buckles under Moffat’s strict regime. Â When he has reached the end of his rope, Evans takes refuge in the bottle and becomes easy prey to the advances of Bessie, who has a bone of her own to pick with Moffat. Â Moffat and Evans eventually make it up but Bessie is ever in the background to put a spanner in the works at the least opportune moment.
The highlight of the film for me was Joan Lorring’s charmingly malicious portrayal of Bessie. Â The rest of the acting is very solid. Â Davis is very good when she has a character of substance to play and is not allowed to ham it up. Â This is a bit too predictable to become a real favorite but it is an entertaining way to spend a couple of hours.
John Dall was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and Joan Lorring received a nod for Best Supporting Actress.
Clip
