The Internet Movie Database Movie Reviews
From the novel by the same name by Richard Llewellyn
The movie of the quintessential Welsh family novel, bridging the time between “the old days” and modern times.
The movie (starring Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O’Hara and a very young Roddy McDowell), is really good, better than I had expected. We were supposed to watch it as part of our New Year’s Day Videofest (theme: Underground) but the dvd we got from Netflix was broken.
So we watched it when the new disk arrived. And it was very worth seeing, although because it’s only a two hour movie, you never find out as much about the characters as you’d like. It does seem to convey the flavor of life in a small Welsh mining town through the eyes of one family and what happens to all of them as work comes and goes, unions heave into view and the children (except Roddy McDowell, who will be forever young) grow up and marry, not always wisely.
Good filmmaking, beautiful locations, a good balance of happy and sad, and a good script. Well worth seeing.
theotterlimits 