A Tree grows in Brooklyn

Kazan's initial directorial effort tells the story of an impoverished Irish family living in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn during the first years of the twentieth century. It traces the life of the 12-year-old daughter as she copes with the trials and disappointments of her environment, particularly her bittersweet relationship with an alcoholic father. The tree of the title is the one she observes from her window and which symbolizes her developing maturity. (Circulates)

The film depicts several months in the life of the Nolans, an Irish American family living in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn in 1912. The film covers a much shorter timespan than the book, which ranges from before Francie is born until after she turns 16. Katie Nolan (Dorothy McGuire) is a hard-working housewife who scrubs the floors of her tenement building and collects rags for sale to a scrap fabric dealer in order to provide for her family.