Blue Scar
| Blue Scar | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Jill Craigie |
| Produced by | William MacQuitty |
| Written by | Jill Craigie |
| Starring |
Emrys Jones Gwyneth Vaughan Rachel Thomas Anthony Pendrell Prysor Williams |
| Music by | Grace Williams |
| Cinematography | Jo Jago |
| Edited by | Kenneth Hume |
|
Production
company |
Outlook Films
|
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
90 mins. |
| Country | UK |
| Language | English |
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 the village to live in London, and Tom Thomas, who dedicates his life to working in the mine. With Craigie's background in documentary films with a social message, Blue Scar was designed to raise questions about the value of nationalising the coal industry. It was the only non-documentary film Craigie directed.
Olwen Williams (Gwyneth Vaughan) is a miner's daughter from a mining town in South Wales, where the mine has recently been nationalised. She is keen to move on from her impoverished upbringing to a more fulfilling lifestyle. An opportunity is presented to her when she wins a singing scholarship to a music college in Cardiff. She decides to leave her hometown to take up this opportunity, which means being away from Tom Thomas (Emrys Jones), a local miner who is in love with her.
While Olwen is away from home, an industrial psychologist from London named Alfred Collins (Anthony Pendrell) proposes to her, and she accepts. She announces this news to Tom while attending her father's funeral following a mining accident. Olwen moves to London with Alfred, but is disillusioned by her new life there.
Meanwhile, Tom is injured in a mining accident and spends time at Talygarn, a convalescent home. Here he is looked after by Glynis (Dilys Jones), a physiotherapist and friend of Olwen. Tom and Glynis fall in love. Tom also encounters success at work, rising to the position of manager. After his promotion, he visits Olwen in London, in a vain attempt to persuade her to return to Wales. Tom later dies of a mining-related condition. The film ends with Olwen singing "Home! Sweet Home!" in a radio broadcast.
Blue Scar was produced by Outlook Films, an independent production company established in 1948 by director Jill Craigie and managed in partnership with producer William MacQuitty. Craigie was a socialist documentary filmmaker, and Blue Scar was the first and only non-documentary film she directed; after Blue Scar, she concluded that documentary was the best film genre for social criticism.
The film was conceived as a critical commentary on the nationalisation of the coal industry, especially in terms of safety, working conditions and the treatment of miners. The title, Blue Scar, is a reference to the blue colour that characterises wounded skin when affected by coal dust. Half of the funding came from the National Coal Board, although there is disagreement about the total cost of production: according to Craigie, the film cost £80,000, whereas MacQuitty placed the figure in his autobiography as £45,000.
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