Observations About Wales:

first published in   June 2002

Cinematic Cymru: A List of Movies and Television Shows Featuring Wales

To most people in the US (and to many in England) Wales is mysterious bit of land attached to western England. Many will draw a blank when you ask them "what do you think of when you think of Wales?" Yet, the magic of film has revealed more of the Welsh landscape to movie and television fans than they think, if only they'd have paid attention to the closing credits.

Following is a not-by-any-means exhaustive list of titles and commentary on cinematic Cymru. Most of the titles listed are readily available in video shops and libraries. Many, with enough patience, can from time to time be caught on television.

Under Milkwood was shot in Fishguard. Hedd Wyn concentrated on Fishguard's neighboring Preseli Hills. Noted: the costumes were very itchy. The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill But Came Down a Mountain walked the hills of Clwyd. The Dam Busters, notable for its few seconds of a young, uncredited Patrick McGoohan, flew over Lake Vyrnwy, Powys. The Inn of the Sixth Happiness featured rocky Snowdonia locations, which were chosen because of their similarity to certain undulating hills in China. The colors of the landscape, however, are unmistakably those of heavenmost Gwynedd.

August seasoned on the Llyn Peninsula. An American Werewolf in London shot its eerie opening sequence in the Black Mountains; First Knight encamped on the shores of the huge Llyn Trawsfynydd in North Wales and made extensive use of its slate mine-turned-tourist attraction neighbor Chwarel Hen. Other movies offering Welsh locations include Macbeth (1972); Restoration, in which Caerphilly Castle burns; The Corn is Green (Bette Davis version); Solomon and Gaenor; Very Annie Mary; and Happy Now. Merlin is a made-for-TV-movie in which the opening scenes were shot on Ynys Giftan, Gwynedd.

A renowned episode of the television series Dr. Who "The Mask of the Mandragora" made extensive use of Portmeirion, the Italianate resort in North Wales. The television series Danger Man is chiefly known as Secret Agent in the US; two of its episodes "View From The Villa" and "Under The Lake" strongly feature Portmeirion; while "Find and Return" is remarkable for its brief footage of a long-gone and nearly-forgotten variation on the resort Portmeirion as it was in the early 1960s, when its dominating feature was a tennis court taking up the whole center of the Village. 

The ever-mysterious television series The Prisoner is all the more memorable due to its use of Portmeirion to which it is forever spiritual, emotionally and intellectually connected. Other film crews have stepped into Portmeirion over the years. Several music videos (by Supergrass and XTC, for example) were shot there. Mini-series Brideshead Revisted caught a fleeting glimpse of the Hotel Portmeirion as did the feature movie Under Suspicion. Interestingly, a very Welsh looking and sounding movie How Green Was My Valley was not filmed in Wales, but on extremely persuasive sets in Hawaii.

An abridged version of this article appeared in Ninnau.

More Cinematic Cymru

June 16, 2002 -- Two readers have kindly written adding to the list of movies, made wholly or partially in Wales. Colin Gronow writes that Lawrence of Arabia includes scenes filmed on the sand dunes of Merthyr Mawr in South Wales. Judith James reports that Taliesin Jones, introducing John-Paul McCloud, and starring Jonathan Pryce and Ian Bannen, was filmed entirely in South Wales. The latter had a limited run in the US over the winter, but has not yet been spotted on video. Thank you, Colin and Judith.

Colin's information on the Merthry Mawr sand dunes can be found at: www.geocities.com/colinswalesuk/merthyrmawr.html. 

June 17, 2002 -- Because good things should never have to end, the Cinematic Cymru list goes on. The 1968 very politically incorrect parody Carry On Up The Khyber is newly available for home consumption. This film, about the British Raj era 3rd Food and Mouth Regiment, features scenes of Snowdonia standing in for the Khyber Pass. Carry On Up The Khyber is available from Amazon UK in PAL and Region 2 formats. So make sure you have the capability to play the tape or DVD before you order.