Image copyright © by Marcus Trahan

The Valley of Decision

(1945)

Gregory Peck and Greer Garson in a severely shortened version of what sounds like an epic book. The novel spanned four generations, with Garson figuring in about 75 years of service to the Scott family, steel mill operators in Pittsburgh. She falls in love with the oldest son, Peck, but for a variety of reasons they are unable to consummate their love. This is the story the movie tells, beginning in the 1880s or so, and at the end only about twenty years have passed. It might have made a good TV miniseries, but the movie falls short.