Production Company: Twentieth Century Fox
"There is no fence nor hedge around time that is gone; you can go back and have what you like of it, if you can remember." - Huw Morgan
Setting
Cwm Rhondda, South Wales, late 19th century
The Plot
An unseen and much older Huw Morgan reflects on the story of his childhood in a Welsh coal-mining village, which was located (as you might expect) in a valley. It was filmed in black and white, but we can take his word for it that it was indeed green. Things get tough when the miners face a pay-cut and the poverty that ensues from the strike hits them all hard.
The Review
We get to know the Morgan family very quickly and get a taste for the coal-mining lifestyle watching Dad (Donald Crisp) and the boys washing up after they come home. As Huw put it, his father is the head of the family and his mother (Sara Allgood) is the heart.
Huw Morgan is beautifully played by Roddy McDowall whose piercing dark eyes drew me right in, and I have to say he bore an uncanny resemblance to Anna Paquin in The Piano. It is difficult to age a boy in his early teens so he looked the same over the years the film spanned...this did make him hard to take seriously when he hit the workforce, and the insinuated love life was a tad awkward too.
The film flowed nicely overall; though some sub-plots attempted to divert the course, such as an invitation for the choir to sing at Windsor Castle, but they were brushed under the carpet and never mentioned again. Speaking of the choir, the amazing singing interspersed throughout the film in both English and Welsh by the Welsh Singers is well worth a mention.
The film flowed nicely overall; though some sub-plots attempted to divert the course, such as an invitation for the choir to sing at Windsor Castle, but they were brushed under the carpet and never mentioned again. Speaking of the choir, the amazing singing interspersed throughout the film in both English and Welsh by the Welsh Singers is well worth a mention.
The film was also held up by a wonderful supporting cast, Mrs Morgan was every bit the village Mum and as tough as ten miners. The Welsh accents seemed to come and go...enough to show they were Welsh but not so much the audience got utterly confused. Although that lost some of the film's genuineness, those who have heard thick Welsh accents will understand this decision (let's not mention Daffyd Thomas). Maureen O'Hara and Anna Lee brought grace and beauty to the screen as Huw's sister and sister-in-law respectively.
Although we're never entirely sure what happened between the end of the film and Huw leaving 40 years later (curiously without his accent), the film gives us much to think about around love, survival and casting judgement on people we don't know.
The Slap
Mr Jonas, step on down...school bullying is hard enough without your teacher joining in. Snaps to the men who gave Mr Jonas a surprise boxing lesson in front of his class, turns out he's not very good at boxing...now kids, violence is very naughty indeed but don't you just love seeing the oppressor knocked down? Oh yes!
It turns out they're not related!
It turns out they're not related!
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