10 Huge Oscar-Winning Movies That Nobody Really Likes

6. How Green Was My Valley (1941)

Oscar Wins: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction (5)

How Green Was My Valley has no edge; it's one of those Best Pictures that, even in 1941, probably had the feel of a "safe bet."

Directed by John Ford and based on the novel of the same name, the film tells the tale of a family called the Morgans, who - in 19th century Wales - struggle to cope as coal miners. To say it's sentimental would be a major understatement: this is "misty-eyed" defined.

How Green Was My Valley isn't a bad movie, but it isn't a memorable one - a fact proven by the very idea that nobody ever mentions it, even in passing. It is a wholly workmanlike picture that provides you with something to passively watch, like, say, the news or the weather, but to go ahead and say you actually like this? That you'd choose to sit down and actively watch it after you've already seen it once? Very doubtful, that.

Also: it beat Citizen Kane at the 1941 Academy Awards, which is kind of disgusting.