Bridgewater State College

Irish-American Film Series

Fall 2003

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

(1945; dir. Elia Kazan)

Based on the novel by Betty Smith, this film chronicles young Francie Nolan’s coming of age in a poor Irish-American family in turn-of-the century Brooklyn.  Featuring such stock characters as the shiftless, drunken father (James Dunn) and the overworked, suffering mother (Dorothy McGuire), the film depicts the problems of poverty and the tension between “shanty Irish” and “lace-curtain Irish” class identities.  Dunn won the Oscar in 1946 for Best Actor in a Supporting Role; Frank Davis and Tess Slesinger were also nominated for Best Screenplay. – Kathleen Vejvoda

Return to Film Series Home Page