This was director Elia Kazan's first attempt in the director's chair and you certainly would not have known it. Thank goodness it was the beginning of a very prestigious career for Mr. Kazan, winning twice for Best Director at the Academy Awards in 1948 for Gentleman's Agreement and again in 1955 for On The Waterfront.This black and white film pulls no punches in the telling of the hardships faced by Katie (Dorothy McGuire) and Johnny Nolan (James Dunn won for best supporting actor) and their two children daughter Francie (Peggy Ann Garner) and son Neeley (Ted Donaldson). The father of the household Johnny, makes a sporadic living as a part time waiter and singer and a full time heavy drinker. To try and make ends meet, the children's mother Katie works washing floors and she makes every penny count in their household. Francie loves her parents and she has a very special bond with her drunkard father as they both dream big. Mother Katie does not have time for the dreams of her husband as someone in their household needs to face the reality of paying the rent and the life insurance payments for a family of four which come due each month, and that responsibility falls directly on the shoulders of mom Katie.Katie Nolan has a sister who the children call Aunt Sissy (Joan Blondell) who is pretty and her looks allow for her to have a steady stream of both suitors and husbands which is in direct contrast with sister Katie's hard working and strict rules for her children.There are fantastic supporting roles such as that of police constable McShane (Lloyd Nolan) who always seems to be around when the Nolan's are having troubles, and troubles they do have. Although the early 1900's were a much simpler time, life's struggles were much more difficult and this film will make us all appreciate how easy we have had it compared to the many families who barely got by each day with the most simplest of requirements like shelter, food and clothing.I loved this film and the message it extends to us the audience. Appreciate what you do have and more importantly appreciate each other because you can pick your friends, but you cannot pick your family.I give the film a 9 out of 10 rating

"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" was adapted from the best selling novel of the same name by Betty Smith. It was also the first feature film to be directed by the legendary Elia Kazan. Boy what a debut and keep the Kleenex handy.The story centers around an early 20th century family living in the run down tenements of Brooklyn. Told through the eyes of Francie Nolan (Peggy Ann Garner) we follow the ups and downs of her family....mother Kate (Dorothy McGuire), dad Johnny (James Dunn), brother Neeley (Ted Donaldson) in their daily lives.Johnny is a happy go lucky Irishman with high ambitions. He has trouble finding and keeping a job. He also has a penchant for a wee nip now and then. Kate is left with the task of running the household on literally pennies a day while working at scrubbing the stairs of their tenement on the side to help with the rent. The children run the errands such as selling junk to the junk man (J. Farrell McDonald), buying 10 cents worth of ground beef and getting in on the distribution of 3 day old bread from the bakeries.Francie is very close to her father and he in turn to her. He manages to get her transferred to a better school and promises her the brighter future that he knows he cannot provide. Kate, becoming despondent over the family's hardships, finds herself becoming hardened despite reassurances from her flighty sister "Aunt Sissy" (Joan Blondell). Local cop on the beat Officer McShane (Lloyd Nolan) takes an interest in the family and secretly worships Kate.Kazan was able to get excellent performances from his ensemble cast. Dorothy McGuire the beauty that she was, is very convincing as the distraught mother with little hope for the future. James Dunn has you rooting for him as the ever down on his luck father. Peggy Ann Garner is superb as the young daughter who has ambitions to become a writer. Both Dunn and Garner received Academy Awards for their performances.Kazan would return to the tenements in Tennesee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire" in 1951.

Possibly only a director with an eye for gritty reality like the great Elia Kazan could come up with a successful adaptation of Betty Smith's classic novel. With the help of screen writers Tess Slesinger and Frank Davis, with some additional dialogue by Anita Loos (uncredited), Kazan manages to capture the atmosphere of the time and the place; he also demonstrates his considerable skill with characterization. The result is a movie that in spite of considerable flaws has the same raw emotional power that has made the book such an essential.The setting is the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn around the turn of the Twentieth Century. The original novel covered a period of about ten years in the lives of the Nolan family, which is the movie's first major gaffe: in having Peggy Ann Garner and Ted Donaldson play Francie and Neeley Nolan for the duration of the picture, he suspends the story in time and thus makes for a rather confusing adaptation of a book that spanned a decade and was about a young girl's coming of age.Be that as it may, Peggy Ann Garner is luminous as Francie; Oscar-winner James Dunn turns in solid support as her beloved father Johnny, and Dorothy McGuire, a brilliant actress who never really received her due in Hollywood, is sensational as matriarch Katie Nolan, a woman who marries a man she is madly in love with only to discover he is a no-good drunk. He is not abusive or anything like that, it's just that married to Johnny, the twin burdens of the household duties and earning enough money to live on fall on Katie's shoulders.This is a beautiful film. As an adaptation of the novel it fails in some key points (read it and you'll see), but overall it is a fine and moving piece of cinematic art, well-deserving of its status as an American classic.

Peggy Ann Garner was just 13 years old when filming "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." Thank you Mr. Turner because I never saw a finer acting performance by any young teen in any film. Peggy died at age 52 , was never a BIG STAR but her performance in this film could have never been matched had she lived and continued in the motion picture industry for a full lifetime. Simply stated: I was stunned by her ability. Incidentally she did win the Academy Juvenile Award in 1945.Dorothy McGuire as Peggy's mom.Enormously gifted. A lifetime of monumental acting achievement which didn't deviate one iota from this role. Then we have James Dunn who played Peggy's dad and for which he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor 1945. Dunn is absolutely superb as the community drunkard and a waiter with big dreams.You will see the hustle and bustle of 1912 Brooklyn. You will hear the calliope filling the streets with the resounding music of that era. You will see hardship and poverty endured as a 13 year old girl comes of age. The interaction of characters of this film is historic...the entire film is legendary and make sure you have a handkerchief handy.