Corn is Green, The (DVD)

"Bette Davis gives a sharp, vital interpretation of Miss Moffat (the spinster teacher fighting to educate the poor children of a Welsh mining village) by remaining true to its legitimate stage counterpart," said the Herald Tribune. The story, based on Emlyn Williams' autobiographical play, focuses on the relationship between Miss Moffat and her gifted young prodigy from the mines, Morgan Evans (John Dall). "Consumed by inward fire, by the sheer joy of imparting knowledge" (London Picture Post), she molds him into a legitimate candidate for an Oxford scholarship in the remarkably short span of two years. Despite the disaster of Morgan's seduction by trouble-making Bessie (Joan Lorring), the mutual struggle between teacher and pupil becomes a glorious triumph of the human spirit. "Only Bette Davis could have combated so successfully the obvious intention of the adaptors of the play to make frustrated sex the mainspring of the plot," observed Picture Post.

• drama