The cinema of Wales (
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
: ''Sinema Cymru'') comprises the art of film and creative movies made in
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
or by
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
filmmakers either locally or abroad. Welsh cinema began in the late-19th century, led by Welsh-based director William Haggar. Wales continued to produce film of varying quality throughout the 20th century, in both the
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
and
English language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...
s, though indigenous production was curtailed through a lack of infrastructure and finance, which prevented the growth of the industry nationally. Despite this, Wales has been represented in all fields of the film making process, producing actors and directors of note.
History
Origins and early history
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
has a long film making history, with the first films shot in 1896, just a year after the development of the
Lumières' cinematographe. The first known film to be recorded in Wales was by American
Birt Acres
Birt Acres (23 July 1854 – 27 December 1918) was an American and British photographer and film pioneer. Among his contributions to the early film industry are the first working 35 mm camera in Britain (Wales), and ''Birtac'', the firs ...
featuring a royal visit to
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
by the Prince of Wales, later
Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.
The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...
. The film was later shown at the Great Fine Art, Industrial and Maritime Exhibition in Cardiff's
Cathays Park
Cathays Park ( cy, Parc Cathays) or Cardiff Civic Centre is a civic centre area in the city centre of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, consisting of a number of early 20th century buildings and a central park area, Alexandra Gardens. It i ...
in June 1896.
Indigenous film production began in 1898, when
Rhyl
Rhyl (; cy, Y Rhyl, ) is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire, Wales. The town lies within the historic boundaries of Flintshire, on the north-east coast of Wales at the mouth of the River Clwyd ( Welsh: ''Afon Clwyd'').
To the we ...
based
Arthur Cheetham began recording silent 'short' films of local events. His first film was shown in January 1898 of children playing on Rhyl sands.
![Children playing on Rhyl Sands](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Children_playing_on_Rhyl_Sands.jpg)
The first Wales based film-maker of enduring stature was
William Haggar
William Haggar (10 March 1851 – 4 February 1925) was a British pioneer of the cinema industry. Beginning his career as a travelling entertainer, Haggar, whose large family formed his theatre company, later bought a Bioscope show and earned his ...
, who made over 30 fiction films between 1901 and 1908. Haggar's work received a worldwide audience mainly through the
Gaumont and
Urban
Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to:
* Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas
* Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities
Urban may also refer to:
General
* Urban (name), a list of people ...
companies.
[Davies (2008) p. 282] Haggar's most notable film was ''
Desperate Poaching Affray
''Desperate Poaching Affray'' (known in the United States as ''The Poachers'') is a 1903 British chase film by Wales-based film producer William Haggar. Three minutes long, the film is recognised as an early influence on narrative drama in Ameri ...
'' (1903) which is recognised for its violence, iconoclasm and progressive editing. The film, along with Frank Mottorshaw's ''
A Daring Daylight Burglary
''A Daring Daylight Burglary'' (also known as ''A Daring Daylight Robbery'') is a 1903 British short silent film directed by Frank Mottershaw. The film was produced by the Sheffield Photo Company, and features members from the Sheffield Fire B ...
'' and Edwin Stanton Porter's ''
The Great Train Robbery'', has in the early Twenty-first century, been credited with influencing the chase subgenre of American films.
Other extant pre–Great War films to be shot in Wales were made by film-makers from outside the country. These included the British Biograph Company's film ''Conway Castle'' (1898) and Charles Urban Company's ''Wales, England: Land of Castles and Waterfalls'' (1907).
The
1906 British Home Championship
Nineteen or 19 may refer to:
* 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20
* one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019
Films
* ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film
* ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film
Music ...
encounter between Wales and Ireland at Wrexham was filmed by Blackburn firm Mitchell and Keynon, and is now the oldest surviving film of an international football match.
While the oldest footage of any football match is the 1898 film by Arthur Cheetham, ''Blackburn Rovers v West Bromwich Albion''.
During the first few decades of Welsh cinema Wales was at the height of an industrial revolution, but there is little sense of the industrial landscape or life captured in the early silent movies taken within the country. Visiting companies, such as
Edison and
British and Colonial tended to favour filming in rural Wales.
1914 to 1980
Much of the cinema of Wales in the later 1910s and 1920s has been lost. In 1920 nine films were shot in Wales, all now lost.
One of the most notable and celebrated of the films from this period is ''A Welsh Singer'' (1915), adapted from a work by Welsh writer
Allen Raine
Allen Raine was the pseudonym of the Welsh novelist Anne Adalisa Beynon Puddicombe (6 October 1836 – 21 June 1908), who was born in Newcastle Emlyn. Her novels had sold more than two million copies by 1912.
Life
She was born Anne Adalisa Evan ...
, which starred
Florence Turner.
Henry Edwards who directed ''A Welsh Singer'', also created the 1930 film ''Aylwin'', from the novel by
Theodore Watts-Dunton
Theodore Watts-Dunton (12 October 1832 – 6 June 1914), from St Ives, Huntingdonshire, was an English poetry critic with major periodicals, and himself a poet. He is remembered particularly as the friend and minder of Algernon Charles Swinbu ...
, drawing into the world of gypsies and a mythical, mystical Wales.
The 1930s saw the first
Welsh language
Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it has ...
film, ''
Y Chwarelwr'' directed by
Ifan ab Owen Edwards
Sir Ifan ab Owen Edwards (25 July 1895 – 23 January 1970) was a Welsh academic, writer and film-maker, best known as the founder of Urdd Gobaith Cymru, the Welsh League of Youth.
He was born at Tremaran, Llanuwchllyn, Merionethshire, the ...
in 1935. The decade also saw two important
agitprop
Agitprop (; from rus, агитпроп, r=agitpróp, portmanteau of ''agitatsiya'', "agitation" and ''propaganda'', " propaganda") refers to an intentional, vigorous promulgation of ideas. The term originated in Soviet Russia where it referred ...
documentaries, ''
Today We Live'' (1937) set among the unemployed miners of the village of
Pentre
Pentre is a village, Community (Wales), community and electoral ward near Treorchy in the Rhondda valley, falling within the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. The village's name is taken from the Welsh word Pentref, which translates as ...
in the
Rhondda Valleys, and
Donald Alexander's ''
Eastern Valley'' (1937). The outbreak of World War II saw the backdrop of a mining valley in Wales being used as the setting for a war propaganda film, ''
The Silent Village
''The Silent Village'' is a 1943 British propaganda short film in the form of a drama documentary, made by the Crown Film Unit and directed by Humphrey Jennings. The film was named one of the top 5 documentaries of 1943 by the National Board of ...
'' (1943). Designed as a tribute to the mining community of
Lidice
Lidice (, german: Liditz) is a municipality and village in Kladno District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 600 inhabitants.
Lidice is built near the site of the previous village of the same name, which was co ...
, Czechoslovakia, which had suffered from Nazi atrocities, ''The Silent Village'' transpose the events to a Wales; and was also used to draw analogies with the oppression of the Welsh language.
![Emlyn Williams](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Emlyn_Williams.jpg)
The coming of the
sound era
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed befor ...
had little impact on Welsh cinema, though 1938's
The Citadel
The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, commonly known simply as The Citadel, is a public senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina. Established in 1842, it is one of six senior military colleges in the United States. ...
an adaptation of
A. J. Cronin
Archibald Joseph Cronin (19 July 1896 – 6 January 1981), known as A. J. Cronin, was a Scottish physician and novelist. His best-known novel is ''The Citadel'' (1937), about a Scottish doctor who serves in a Welsh mining village before achievi ...
's
1937 novel brought Wales to a large audience; though
King Vidor
King Wallis Vidor (; February 8, 1894 – November 1, 1982) was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter whose 67-year film-making career successfully spanned the silent and sound eras. His works are distinguished by a vivid, ...
's interpretation failed to express the novel's political message.
The first Hollywood 'talkie' to be set in Wales was James Whale's ''
The Old Dark House''.
The best known films connected to Wales during this period failed to harness Welsh talents, ''
The Proud Valley
''The Proud Valley'' is a 1940 Ealing Studios film starring Paul Robeson. Filmed in the South Wales coalfield, the principal Welsh coal mining area, the film is about a seaman who joins a mining community. It includes their passion for singing ...
'' (1940) and ''
How Green Was My Valley
''How Green Was My Valley'' is a 1939 novel by Richard Llewellyn, narrated by Huw Morgan, the main character, about his Welsh family and the mining community in which they live. The author had claimed that he based the book on his own persona ...
'' (1940) were neither directed or adapted for the screen by Welsh people.
John Ford
John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and naval officer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. He ...
's How Green Was My Valley is notable for starring just one Welsh actor,
Rhys Williams, and for being shot in the United States. Although John Ford's view of Wales was based on a mythical and romantic view of the industrialised valleys, Jill Cragie's
Blue Scar
''Blue Scar'' is a 1949 British drama film directed by documentary filmmaker Jill Craigie. Set in a Welsh village where the mine has recently been nationalised, it focuses on the relationship between Olwen Williams, a miner's daughter who leaves ...
(1949), part financed by the
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "ve ...
, raised serious and radical questions about the nationalisation of the coal industry and has striking location photography around south Wales.
Another release from 1949 to make an important cultural statement was
Emlyn Williams
George Emlyn Williams, CBE (26 November 1905 – 25 September 1987) was a Welsh writer, dramatist and actor.
Early life
Williams was born into a Welsh-speaking, working class family at 1 Jones Terrace, Pen-y-ffordd, Ffynnongroyw, Flints ...
' ''
The Last Days of Dolwyn
''The Last Days of Dolwyn'' (renamed ''Woman of Dolwyn'' for the American market) is a 1949 Welsh drama film directed by Emlyn Williams and starring Edith Evans, Emlyn Williams, Richard Burton and Anthony James. The screenplay focuses on a Welshm ...
'', the plot of which centred on the flooding of a Welsh village to create a reservoir; a subject that became extremely controversial in Wales in the 1960s.
The 1950s and 1960s saw the output of two of the country's best documentary makers.
Jack Howells and
John Ormond
John Ormond (3 April 1923 – 4 May 1990), also known as John Ormond Thomas, was a Welsh poet and film-maker.
Biography
John Ormond Thomas was born on 3 April 1923 in Wales, at Dunvant, near Swansea. He studied philosophy and English at Swanse ...
dealt primarily with Welsh people and subjects. Howells is best known for his impressionistic, lyrical documentaries that included ''Nye!'' (1965) and ''
Dylan Thomas'' (1962). ''Dylan Thomas'' is the only Welsh film to have won an Oscar (for
best short documentary), it features Richard Burton as narrator, visiting the haunts of
Dylan Thomas. Ormond, a poet foremost, is remembered for his sensitive portrayals of writers and authors, and for documentaries concerned with the working class and with refugees, in particular ''Borrowed Pasture'' (1960) which follows two Polish ex-soldiers struggling to get by on a
Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire ( cy, Sir Gaerfyrddin; or informally ') is a county in the south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. The county is known as ...
smallholding
A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technology ...
.
The period directly following the end of the Second World War saw political and social commentary disappear from Welsh cinema. The first few decades after the war saw few notable Welsh films; stand out exceptions included ''
Tiger Bay
Tiger Bay ( cy, Bae Teigr) was the local name for an area of Cardiff which covered Butetown and Cardiff Docks. Following the building of the Cardiff Barrage, which dams the tidal rivers, Ely and Taff, to create a body of water, it is re ...
'' (1959) and ''
Only Two Can Play
''Only Two Can Play'' is a 1962 British comedy film starring Peter Sellers, based on the 1955 novel '' That Uncertain Feeling'' by Kingsley Amis. Sidney Gilliat directed the film from a screenplay by Bryan Forbes.
The film is set in the fiction ...
'' (1962).
The main problems facing Welsh cinema during this period were a lack of a film production infrastructure, Welsh producers and finance. The fact that Wales was unable to produce films from within its own borders resulted in the stereotyping and common preconceptions of Welsh life formed by 'outside' film-makers.
[Davies (2008) p. 283] One of the few beacons of light for the industry came in the late 1970s with the output of left wing producer and director
Karl Francis; whose controversial portrayal of contemporary life in the south Wales valleys was typified by his 1976 film ''
Above us the Earth''.
Welsh language films were few, notably the films produced in the 1970s by the Bwrdd Ffilmiau Cymraeg (Welsh Film Board).
Before the advent of a dedicated channel,
BBC Wales and its commercial counterpart
HTV produced Welsh language programmes for their viewers in Wales. Although this did not include the creation of feature-length films, in the 1970s HTV undertook a venture to
dub existing movies into Welsh. Their first attempt was George Stevens' 1953 Western, ''
Shane
Shane may refer to:
People
* Shane (actress) (born 1969), American pornographic actress
* Shane (New Zealand singer) (born 1946)
* iamnotshane (born 1995), formerly known as Shane, American singer
* Shane (name)
Shane is mainly a masculine g ...
''. The result was seen as a unintentionally humorous and the experiment was quickly abandoned.
1980 to 1999
1982 saw the launch of
S4C, a Welsh language television channel, which began producing and funding longer dramas and films in the Welsh and English language. Initial output was poor, but after reassessing its responsibilities in 1986, the company produced films of note, including ''Boy Soldier'' (1986) and ''
Rhosyn a Rhith'' (1986), the latter being the first film in the Welsh language to gain a London West End cinema release.
Although the production of Welsh features from S4C was low, it aided the emergence of talented Welsh film-makers, such as
Endaf Emlyn,
Marc Evans
Marc Evans (born 1963) is a Welsh director of film and television, whose credits include the films '' House of America'', '' Resurrection Man'' and '' My Little Eye''.
Biography
Evans was born in 1963 in Cardiff, Wales. He studied for a histor ...
and
Stephen Bayly.
S4C's 1995 policy, to produce up to two feature films a year, to be released to cinemas before television transmission allowed Welsh film-makers new opportunities. Yet the reluctance of London-based distributors to handle Welsh language films make it difficult for Welsh films to reach a wider audience.
The early 1990s began with the release of Welsh language film ''
Hedd Wyn
Hedd Wyn (born Ellis Humphrey Evans, 13 January 188731 July 1917) was a Welsh-language poet who was killed on the first day of the Battle of Passchendaele during World War I. He was posthumously awarded the bard's chair at the 1917 National ...
''. It won the
Royal Television Society Best Drama award and became the first Welsh film to gain a nomination in the
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Despite this it failed to gain a British distributor.
The 1990s also saw two important films from Endaf Emlyn, ''
Un Nos Ola Leuad'' (1991) is seen as one of the finest Welsh films made,
while his ''Gadael Lenin'' (1993) was voted by viewers at the 1993 London Film Festival as the most popular British film.
The later 1990s saw three English language films that found a home in mainstream British cinema. The first of the three was Marc Evans' ''
House of America
''House of America'' is a 1997 British film directed by Marc Evans. The film, set in a depressed Welsh mining town, centres on a dysfunctional family unit of brothers Boyo and Sid, their sister Gwenny and their controlling mother. The film tack ...
'' which drew comparisons to the realism of Karl Francis' work. Then in 1998,
Kevin Allen produced
Twin Town
A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties.
While there are early examples of inter ...
, a bawdy comedy satirising the older cultural traditions of Wales. This though was surpassed at the box office by
Justin Kerrigan
Justin Kerrigan (born 1973) is a British writer and film director from Cardiff, Wales, best known for the 1999 film ''Human Traffic''.
About
Born in Cardiff, Kerrigan attended Cantonian High School and then Newport Film School (formerly part of ...
's ''
Human Traffic
''Human Traffic'' is a 1999 British-Irish-Welsh independent coming of age comedy drama film written and directed by Justin Kerrigan. It is a cult film of the Cool Cymru era of arts in Wales.
The film explores themes of coming of age, drug and ...
'' (1999), a stylised comedy focusing on the club and drug culture of Cardiff.
2000 to present
2000 saw the release of
Paul Morrison's ''
Solomon & Gaenor
''Solomon & Gaenor'' ( cy, Solomon a Gaenor) is a 1999 Welsh film written and directed by Paul Morrison. It stars Ioan Gruffudd as an Orthodox Jewish man named Solomon Levinsky who falls in love with a gentile woman named Gaenor Rees, played by ...
'', the second film to be nominated for the foreign language Academy Award.
Films of note in the early twenty-first century set in Wales include comedies ''
House!
''House!'' is a 2000 British comedy film written by Eric Styles and Jason Sutton and directed by Julian Kemp. The film stars Kelly Macdonald, Freddie Jones, Miriam Margolyes and Jason Hughes.
Plot
The aging "La Scala" bingo hall is administere ...
'' (2000) and ''
Very Annie Mary'' (2000), and horror films ''
The Dark'' (2005) and ''
Evil Aliens'' (2006). In 2009 a biopic of the early relationship between Welsh poet
Dylan Thomas and his wife
Caitlin Macnamara
Caitlin Thomas (née Macnamara; 8 December 1913 – 31 July 1994) was an author and the wife of the poet and writer Dylan Thomas. Their marriage was a stormy affair, fuelled by alcohol and infidelity, though the couple remained together until D ...
was released entitled ''
The Edge of Love
''The Edge of Love'' is a 2008 British biographical romantic drama film directed by John Maybury and starring Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Cillian Murphy and Matthew Rhys. The script was written by Knightley's mother, Sharman Macdonald. Orig ...
''.
Film production and development
Despite an improvement in film production in Wales, finance is still an issue, with very few films being created without external funding. ''House of America'' took its funding from six different sources while multinationals funded both ''Twin Town'' (
PolyGram) and ''
The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain
''The Englishman who Went up a Hill but Came down a Mountain'' is a 1995 romantic comedy film with a story by Ifor David Monger and Ivor Monger, written and directed by Christopher Monger. It was entered into the 19th Moscow International Film F ...
'' (
Miramax).
Ffilm Cymru Wales is the development agency for Welsh film. It provides funding and training to emerging and established Welsh filmmakers, as well as hosting events that showcase Welsh films.
BAFTA Cymru, established in 1987, is the Welsh branch of the
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
. Bafta Cymru has held an annual awards ceremony since 1991 to recognise achievements in Welsh cinema.
Animation
Prior to the formation of S4C in 1982, there was very little work produced in the field of
animation in Wales. The one notable exception being Sid Griffiths' ''
Jerry the Tyke'' (1925-1927), a mischievous dog who was used for Pathé cinema news magazines. Production increased after 1982, with S4C producing the popular children's animation
SuperTed
''SuperTed'' is a Welsh superhero animated television series about an anthropomorphic teddy bear with superpowers, created by writer and animator Mike Young. Originally created by Young as a series of stories to help his son overcome his fear o ...
made by
Siriol Productions
Calon (Welsh for 'heart') is the trading name of Mount Stuart Media Ltd., a British animation television production company based in Cardiff, the capital of Wales, which primarily produced animation series in Welsh for S4C. The company was form ...
. Siriol eventually branched into making feature length animations, including an adaptation of Dylan Thomas'
Under Milk Wood
''Under Milk Wood'' is a 1954 radio drama by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, commissioned by the BBC and later adapted for the stage. A film version, ''Under Milk Wood'' directed by Andrew Sinclair, was released in 1972, and another adaptation of ...
(1992) and a joint venture with Hungarian company
PannóniaFilm
Pannonia Film Studio (also known as MAFILM Pannónia Filmstúdió) was the largest animation studio in Hungary, based in the capital of Budapest. It was formed in 1951, becoming independent in 1957. The studio is said to have closed sometime arou ...
,
The Princess and the Goblin
''The Princess and the Goblin'' is a children's fantasy novel by George MacDonald. It was published in 1872 by Strahan & Co., with black-and-white illustrations by Arthur Hughes. Strahan had published the story and illustrations as a serial in ...
(1992).
The opportunities afforded by S4C's animation unit encouraged an influx of talented British artists into Wales. The best known of this group of animators was
Joanna Quinn
Joanna Lisa Quinn is an English independent film director and animator.
Early life
Quinn was born in Birmingham, England and grew up in North London. She went to school at Highgate Wood Secondary School and completed a foundation course in art ...
, who gained an
Oscar nomination in 1998 for ''
Famous Fred'', and produced one of the segments of ''The Canterbury Tales'', which was
Oscar nominated the year after.
Welsh film directors
Wales has produced film directors of quality throughout its history, though those that have found success have more often needed to leave Wales to gain recognition. Although based in Wales neither Cheetham or Haggar were Welsh born, similar for
Sidney Northcote who in 1912 produced a number of short films shot on location in Wales and Cornwall, based on Welsh and Cornish myths and tales, including ''The Pedlar of Penmaenmawr'', ''The Witch of the Welsh Mountains'' and ''The Belle of Bettwys-y-Coed''.
Welsh-born directors who have gained international recognition include
Richard Marquand
Richard Alfred Marquand (22 September 1937 – 4 September 1987) was a British film and television director active in both US and UK film productions, best known for directing 1983's ''Return of the Jedi''. He also directed the critically accla ...
, (''
Return of the Jedi
''Return of the Jedi'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi'' is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand. The screenplay is by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas from a story by Lucas, who ...
''),
Peter Greenaway
Peter Greenaway, (born 5 April 1942) is a Welsh film director, screenwriter and artist. His films are noted for the distinct influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting, and Flemish painting in particular. Common traits in his films are th ...
(''
Drowning by Numbers
''Drowning by Numbers'' is a 1988 British-Dutch film directed by Peter Greenaway. It won the award for Best Artistic Contribution at the Cannes Film Festival of 1988.
Plot
The film's plot centres on three married women — a grandmother, her d ...
'') and
Terry Jones
Terence Graham Parry Jones (1 February 1942 – 21 January 2020) was a Welsh comedian, director, historian, actor, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy team.
After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Jones and ...
(''
Erik the Viking
''Erik the Viking'' is a 1989 British comedy- fantasy film written and directed by Terry Jones. The film was inspired by Jones's children's book ''The Saga of Erik the Viking'' (1983), but the plot is completely different. Jones also appears i ...
''). Two of the more notable directors from Wales who have retained a strong connection with the culture of Wales are Karl Francis, who for two decades was the most powerful, distinctive and combative voice in Welsh film-making; and
Stephen Weeks whose commercial features look back to a medieval or imperialist past, or a misty Celtic world. Francis' work is embedded in a realistic exploration of Wales, its language and identity, in films such as ''Milwr Bychan'' (Boy Soldier) and ''The Mouse and the Women''. Weeks came to prominence after directing
I, Monster
''I, Monster'' is a 1971 British horror film directed by Stephen Weeks (his feature debut) for Amicus Productions. It is an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella ''Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'', with the main charact ...
, an adaptation of ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Weeks would later film two versions of the
Arthurian
King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...
myth of ''
Gawain and the Green Knight
''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' is a late 14th-century chivalric romance in Middle English. The author is unknown; the title was given centuries later. It is one of the best-known Arthurian stories, with its plot combining two types of f ...
''. First as ''
Gawain and the Green Knight
''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' is a late 14th-century chivalric romance in Middle English. The author is unknown; the title was given centuries later. It is one of the best-known Arthurian stories, with its plot combining two types of f ...
'' (1973) featuring
Murray Head
Murray Seafield St George Head (born 5 March 1946) is an English actor and singer. Head has appeared in a number of films, including a starring role as the character Bob Elkin in the Oscar-nominated 1971 film ''Sunday Bloody Sunday''. As a mus ...
in the lead role and again as ''
Sword of the Valiant'' in 1984.
[Berry (1996) pp. 404-407]
Later Welsh directors, such as
Sara Sugarman
Sara Sugarman (born 13 October 1962) is a Welsh actress and filmmaker whose work includes Disney's '' Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen'' (2004) and '' Very Annie Mary'' (2001). She has also appeared in films including '' Dealers'' (1989) and ...
and Marc Evans made films set in Wales. Welsh director
Gareth Evans lived from 2009 to 2015 in Indonesia, where he made such action movies as
The Raid.
Welsh movie actors
Wales has a long tradition of producing film-actors who have made an impact on the world stage. During the silent period Welsh actors of note included
Jonah Benford, who came to prominence through cinema after starring in ''
The Lodger'' (1927) and ''
Downhill
Downhill may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Downhill'' (1927 film), a British film by Alfred Hitchcock
* ''Downhill'' (2014 film), a British comedy directed by James Rouse
* ''Downhill'' (2016 film), a Chilean thriller directed by Patrici ...
'' (1927);
Gareth Hughes
Gareth Hughes (23 August 1894 – 1 October 1965) was a Welsh stage and silent screen actor. Usually cast as a callow, sensitive hero in Hollywood silent films, Hughes got his start on stage during childhood and continued to play youthful lead ...
, often cast as a youthful charmer, gained excellent notices for the now-lost ''
Sentimental Tommy'' (1921) and
Lyn Harding
David Llewellyn Harding (12 October 1867 – 26 December 1952), known professionally as Lyn Harding, was a Welsh actor who spent 40 years on the stage before entering British made silent films, talkies and radio. He had an imposing and menac ...
, whose stature and presence made him a sought after villain playing
Moriarty in several early
Sherlock Holmes films
The stories of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle have been very popular as adaptations for the stage, and later film, and still later television. The four volumes of the ''Universal Sherlock Holmes'' (1995) compiled by Ronald B. De Waal li ...
.
![AnthonyHopkins10TIFF](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/AnthonyHopkins10TIFF.jpg)
The 1940s saw
Rhondda
Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley ( cy, Cwm Rhondda ), is a former coal mining, coalmining area in South Wales, historically in the county of Glamorgan. It takes its name from the River Rhondda, and embraces two valleys – the larger Rhondda Fa ...
's
Donald Houston
Donald Daniel Houston (6 November 1923 – 13 October 1991) was a Welsh actor whose first two films—'' The Blue Lagoon'' (1949) with Jean Simmons, and '' A Run for Your Money'' (1949) with Alec Guinness—were highly successful. Later in ...
breakthrough in his first two features ''
The Blue Lagoon'' (1949) and ''
A Run for Your Money
''A Run for Your Money'' is a 1949 Ealing Studios comedy film starring Donald Houston and Meredith Edwards as two Welshmen visiting London for the first time. The supporting cast includes Alec Guinness, Moira Lister and Hugh Griffith.
Plot
T ...
'' (1949). In 1945
Ray Milland became the first Welsh actor to win the
Academy Award for Best Actor, for his role as an alcoholic writer in ''
The Lost Weekend''.
The most significant period for Welsh actors came during the 1950s and 1960s. A new wave of realism entered British acting, and at the forefront came Welsh actors
Richard Burton
Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable pe ...
,
Stanley Baker
Sir William Stanley Baker (28 February 192828 June 1976) was a Welsh actor and film producer. Known for his rugged appearance and intense, grounded screen persona, he was one of the top British male film stars of the late 1950s, and later a pro ...
and
Rachel Roberts. The period also saw Welsh character actors such as
Hugh Griffith
Hugh Emrys Griffith (30 May 1912 – 14 May 1980) was a Welsh film, stage, and television actor. He is best remembered for his role in the film '' Ben-Hur'' (1959), which earned him critical acclaim and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Acto ...
, who won the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his role in the 1959 version of ''
Ben Hur''.
Another famous Welsh actor is
Timothy Dalton
Timothy Leonard Dalton Leggett (; born 21 March 1946) is a British actor. Beginning his career on stage, he made his film debut as Philip II of France in the 1968 historical drama '' The Lion in Winter''. He gained international prominence a ...
who portrayed famous secret agent
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
twice at the end of the eighties.
The most distinctive Welsh actor of the 1990s through to the 2000s was
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor, director, and producer. One of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actors, he is known for his performances on the screen and stage. Hopkins has received many accolad ...
. Hopkins has appeared in film since the 1960s, starring in Hollywood costume dramas such as ''
The Lion in Winter
''The Lion in Winter'' is a 1966 play by James Goldman, depicting the personal and political conflicts of Henry II of England, his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, their children and their guests during Christmas 1183. It premiered on Broadway at the ...
''. Starring in films as diverse as
Richard Attenborough's ''
Magic
Magic or Magick most commonly refers to:
* Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces
* Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic
* Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...
'' and
David Lynch's ''
The Elephant Man
Joseph Carey Merrick (5 August 1862 – 11 April 1890), often erroneously called John Merrick, was an English man known for having severe deformities. He was first exhibited at a freak show under the stage name "the Elephant Man" and then we ...
'', Hopkins became a Hollywood star after his Academy Award winning performance as
Hannibal Lecter
Dr. Hannibal Lecter is a Character (arts), fictional character created by the novelist Thomas Harris. Lecter is a serial killer who Human cannibalism, eats his victims. Before his capture, he was a respected Forensic psychiatry, forensic psychi ...
in ''
The Silence of the Lambs'' (1992). Hopkins continued to impress throughout the 1990s with critically acclaimed performances in ''
Shadowlands'' and ''
Remains of the Day''.
The 1990s produced an abrasive group of Welsh actors, including
Rhys Ifans
Rhys Ifans (; born Rhys Owain Evans; 22 July 1967) is a Welsh actor and musician. He was the frontman of Welsh rock music bands the Peth and Super Furry Animals. As an actor, he is best known for his roles in ''Notting Hill'' (1999), ''Kevin & ...
and
Matthew Rhys
Matthew Rhys Evans ( ; born 8 November 1974) is a Welsh actor.
He is known for playing Kevin Walker in '' Brothers & Sisters'' (2006–2011) and Philip Jennings in ''The Americans'' (2013–2018), for which he received two Golden Globe Awar ...
. The 1990s also saw the success of
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones (; born 25 September 1969) is a Welsh actress. Known for her versatility, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Tony Award. In 2010, she was appointed C ...
, who became one of Hollywood's highest paid stars, appearing alongside
Antonio Banderas and Anthony Hopkins in ''
The Mask of Zorro
''The Mask of Zorro'' is a 1998 American swashbuckler film based on the character of the masked vigilante Zorro created by Johnston McCulley. It was directed by Martin Campbell and stars Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-J ...
'' and won the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for ''
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, coordinates =
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, subdivision_name ...
''. The 2000s are most notable for the emergence of
Ioan Gruffudd
Ioan Gruffudd (; (born 6 October 1973) is a Welsh actor. He first came to public attention as Fifth Officer Harold Lowe in ''Titanic'' (1997), and then for his portrayal of Horatio Hornblower in the ''Hornblower (TV series), Hornblower'' seri ...
, who took the lead role in the 2006 historical drama ''
Amazing Grace
"Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn published in 1779 with words written in 1772 by English Anglican clergyman and poet John Newton (1725–1807). It is an immensely popular hymn, particularly in the United States, where it is used for both ...
'', and
Michael Sheen
Michael Christopher Sheen OBE (born 5 February 1969) is a Welsh actor, television producer and political activist. After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s with stage rol ...
who appeared as
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
in
Peter Morgan's ''Blair Trilogy'' and played
David Frost in ''
Frost/Nixon''.
See also
*
List of Welsh films
*
List of cinema of the world
This is a list of cinema of the world by continent and country.
By continent
*Cinema of Africa
*Cinema of Asia
** South Asian cinema
**Southeast Asian cinema
* Cinema of North America
* Cinema of Latin America
* Cinema of Europe
* Cinema of Ocean ...
**
Cinema of Europe
Cinema of Europe refers to the film industries and films produced in the continent of Europe.
Europeans were the pioneers of the motion picture industry, with several innovative engineers and artists making an impact especially at the end of ...
***
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a significant film industry for over a century. While film production reached an all-time high in 1936, the "golden age" of British cinema is usually thought to have occurred in the 1940s, during which the directors D ...
*
Wales One World Film Festival
Notes
Bibliography
*
*
External links
The National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales*https://player.bfi.org.uk/britain-on-film
{{Wales topics