This has few votes on imdb so I assumed that it was a B movie. But this is an MGM high budget costume drama… with Lana Turner and Donna Reed.
And what costumes!
It was nominated for a handful of technical Oscars as well as Best Cinematography and was apparently quite popular upon release.
That it’s apparently mostly forgotten today isn’t very surprising. It’s… what’s the word… like totally lame?
There’s no rapport between the alleged lovers. Van Heflin is particularly problematic: When he first appeared I thought he was portraying a leering pervert of some sort, but then he turns out to be a hero or something?
The pace is glacial. It goes on for two and a half hours and seems to have enough drama for about half an hour. Were they going for a Gone is the Wind vibe?
I don’t know whether to admire or roll my eyes at the brazenness of the plot contrivance in the middle (involving a drunken letter).
The earthquake effects are really quite impressive.
This is a horrible movie, but I’ll up the dice on account of the earthquake scene. But beware!
Green Dolphin Street. Victor Saville. 1947.
Popular movies in October 1947 according to IMDB:
| Poster | Votes | Rating | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|
 | 5367 | 7.8 | Nightmare Alley |
 | 860 | 7.3 | The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap |
 | 1624 | 7.2 | The Unsuspected |
 | 1030 | 6.9 | Green Dolphin Street |
 | 764 | 6.8 | Song of Love |
 | 341 | 6.7 | The Exile |
 | 890 | 6.7 | Forever Amber |
 | 244 | 6.6 | Bowery Buckaroos |
 | 1059 | 6.5 | Magic Town |
 | 269 | 6.5 | Merton of the Movies |
This blog post is part of the Decade series.