The Last Days of Dolwyn
| The Last Days of Dolwyn | |
|---|---|
| Directed by |
Russell Lloyd Emlyn Williams |
| Produced by | Anatole de Grunwald |
| Written by | Emlyn Williams |
| Starring |
Edith Evans Emlyn Williams Richard Burton Anthony James |
| Music by | John Greenwood |
| Cinematography | Otto Heller |
| Edited by |
Russell Lloyd Maurice Rootes |
| Distributed by | British Lion Films |
|
Release date
|
13 April 1949 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Box office | £96,772 (UK) |
The Last Days of Dolwyn (renamed Women of Dolwyn for the American market) is a 1949 British drama film directed by Russell Lloyd and Emlyn Williams and starring Edith Evans, Emlyn Williams, Richard Burton and Anthony James. The screenplay focuses on a Welshman, who has done well in London, who returns home planning to flood the village he grew up in—setting up a conflict between residents who are spiritually attached to the place and the values of the majority for whom money is a more persuasive force.
The film marked the first film appearance of Burton, the first film appearance of Edith Evans since 1916, and the sole film to be directed by Emlyn Williams, who also wrote the screenplay.
The story is set in 1892 in and around the small peaceful (fictional) farming village of Dolwyn in Mid-Wales.
A massive dam and reservoir to supply water to Liverpool has been constructed at the head of the valley above Dolwyn, but construction has stopped because of geological difficulties; what was thought to be limestone is actually granite. Realising that a cheaper and easier scheme would involve the flooding of the village (but unaware that the village was inhabited), Lord Lancashire, the scheme's promoter, dispatches an agent, Rob, to visit the village and buy the land.
Rob persuades a reluctant, and debt-ridden, Lady Dolwyn to sell the land, and also offers the leaseholders large sums for their leases. They are also offered new houses in a Liverpool suburb and jobs in a cotton mill for those who want them. Rob has his own reasons for wanting the village flooded; he is a native of Dolwyn, but was stoned out of it twenty years before for thievery. He therefore hates and despises the villagers, who are actually oblivious to his shameful past and bear him no ill will.
Whilst preparing to pack up and leave, Gareth (played by Richard Burton), who has also lived in England and is more conversant with the language, discovers documents that prove his foster-mother, Merri (who has very little English), has a right to own her land in perpetuity. A solicitor confirms this title.
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Wikipedia