List of Welsh films - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

1890s

1898: Conway Castle

1898: Blackburn Rovers v West Bromwich Albion, the world's oldest extant soccer film, by Arthur Cheetham

Arthur Cheetham

Arthur Cheetham was an English-born film-maker who became the first of his profession to be based in Wales. His legacy is a collection of eight surviving films, including the oldest extant British football 'short' from 1898...

1910s

1913: The Foreman's Treachery, by Charles Brabin

Charles Brabin

Charles J. Brabin was an American film director and screenwriter. He was active during the silent era, then pursued a short-lived career in talkies....

.

1915: A Welsh Singer

A Welsh Singer

A Welsh Singer is a 1916 British silent drama film directed by Henry Edwards and starring Edwards, Campbell Gullan and Florence Turner. It was based on a novel by Allen Raine. A Welsh shepherd falls in love with a local girl Myfanwy...

, adapted from a novel by Allen Raine

Allen Raine

Allen Raine was the pseudonym of the Welsh novelist Anne Adalisa Beynon Puddicombe .She was born Anne Adalisa Evans in Newcastle Emlyn, Carmarthenshire, the daughter of a lawyer Benjamin and Letitia Grace Evans...

and starring Florence Turner

Florence Turner

Florence Turner was an American actress, who became known as the "Vitagraph Girl" in early silent films.Born in New York City, she was pushed into appearing on the stage at age three by her ambitious mother...

.

1918: The Life Story of David Lloyd George

The Life Story of David Lloyd George

The Life Story of David Lloyd George is a 1918 British silent biopic film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Norman Page, Alma Reville and Ernest Thesiger. The film "is thought to be the first feature length biopic of a contemporary living politician"...

1930s

1935: Y Chwarelwr (The Quarryman), the first Welsh language sound film, directed by Ifan ab Owen Edwards

Ifan ab Owen Edwards

Sir Ifan ab Owen Edwards , was a Welsh academic, writer and film-maker, best known as the founder of Urdd Gobaith Cymru, the Welsh League of Youth....

1940s

1949: Yr Etifeddiaeth (The Heritage), a documentary by journalist John Robert Williams.

1980s

1981: O'r Ddaear Hen, directed by Wil Aaron; scripted by Gwyn Thomas.

1986: Milwr Bychan ("Boy Soldier"), directed by Karl Francis

Karl Francis

Karl Francis is a Welsh film and television director, producer and screenwriter, associated with left-wing political causes. His work is inspired by the likes of Chris Marker and Ken Loach and has included output in both the English and Welsh languages.-Biography:Francis was born in Bedwas in...

.

1986: Rhosyn a Rhith ("Coming Up Roses

Coming Up Roses

Coming Up Roses is a 1986 Welsh language comedy drama film. It was directed by Stephen Bayly and starred Ifan Huw Dafydd, Gillian Elisa and Mari Emlyn...

"), directed by Stephen Bayly

Stephen Bayly

Stephen Bayly is an American born film producer and film director. His film Coming Up Roses was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival.-Selected filmography:* Coming Up Roses...

1990s

1991: Un Nos Ola Leuad, directed by Endaf Emlyn

Endaf Emlyn

Endaf Emlyn is a Welsh musician, film and television director.Emlyn was born in Bangor, Wales. He began his television career as scriptwriter and presenter for HTV Wales, but had a simultaneous career as a musician...

.

1992: Hedd Wyn

Hedd Wyn (film)

Hedd Wyn is a 1992 Welsh anti-war biopic, written by Alan Llwyd and directed by Paul Turner.Based on the life of Ellis Humphrey Evans , killed in the First World War, the cinematography starkly contrasts the lyrical beauty of the poet's native Meirionnydd with the bombed-out horrors of Passchendaele...

- Oscar-nominated for Best Foreign Language Film in 1992. It won a Bafta for the Best Foreign Language Film in the year of its release. Directed by Paul Turner

Paul Turner (director)

Paul Turner is a Welsh film director. His film Hedd Wyn became the first Welsh film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.-External links:...

.

1993: Cwm Hyfryd (My Pretty Valley), also directed by Paul Turner, concerns itself with a critique of Thatcherism

Thatcherism

Thatcherism describes the conviction politics, economic and social policy, and political style of the British Conservative politician Margaret Thatcher, who was leader of her party from 1975 to 1990...

, particularly as it relates to the closing of mines in Wales.

1993: Gadael Lenin (Leaving Lenin), about a group of Welsh students and teachers who take a trip to Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. Directed by Endaf Emlyn

Endaf Emlyn

.

1994: Ymadawiad Arthur (Arthur's Departure), directed by Marc Evans

Marc Evans

Marc Evans is a Welsh-born film director, whose credits include the films House of America, Resurrection Man and My Little Eye.-Biography:Evans was born in 1963 in Carmarthen, Wales...

and starring Llyr Ifans

Llyr Ifans

Llŷr Ifans, is a Welsh actor, born in Ruthin, Wales. He is the younger brother of actor Rhys Ifans.Like his brother, he is a Welsh-language speaker...

.

1995: Y Mapiwr. Directed by Endaf Emlyn

Endaf Emlyn

.

1997: Tylluan Wen

Tylluan Wen

Tylluan Wen is a Welsh language film / television drama produced in Wales in 1997 by Ffilmiau'r Nant and dircted by Alun Ffred Jones. It is set in Llan Ffestiniog, Gwynedd, as an adaptation of Angharad Jones' novel Y Dylluan Wen...

(A White Owl), directed by Alun Ffred Jones

Alun Ffred Jones

Alun Ffred Jones is a Welsh politician and member of Plaid Cymru. Jones was the National Assembly for Wales Member for Caernarfon 2003–07 and for the newly created Arfon constituency since the National Assembly for Wales election, 2007....

.

1998: Pum Cynnig i Gymro (Bride of War), directed by Peter Edwards. Also in English, German and Polish.

1999: Solomon & Gaenor

Solomon & Gaenor

Solomon & Gaenor is a BAFTA Awarded and Academy nominated Welsh film released in 1999 and directed by Paul Morrison. It was filmed twice, once with principal dialogue in English and again in Welsh.-Plot:...

, starring Ioan Gruffudd

Ioan Gruffudd

Ioan Gruffudd is a Welsh actor.Trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he started off in Welsh language film productions, then came to international attention as Fifth Officer Harold Lowe in the film Titanic , and as Lt. John Beales in Black Hawk Down...

. An English-language version was also filmed at the same time. Directed by Paul Morrison

Paul Morrison (director)

Paul Morrison is a British film director and screenwriter. He has mainly directed documentaries and drama films. His movie Solomon and Gaenor was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film....

2000s

2002: Eldra, directed by Timothy Lyn, about a Romani ("Gypsy") family living in North Wales.

2003: Y Mabinogi

Y Mabinogi

Y Mabinogi is a 2003 Welsh film. It is mostly animated, although the very beginning and end sequences are live action...

, also featuring Ioan Gruffudd

Ioan Gruffudd

; this is a combined live-action and animated version of Welsh collection of tales known as The Mabinogion. Directed by Derek W. Hayes.

2005: Y Lleill, directed by Emyr Glyn Williams.

2006: Calon Gaeth ("Small Country"), directed by Ashley Way

Ashley Way

Ashley Way is a film and television director born in Cardiff, Wales, in 1971.-Director:*Filligoggin *Belonging *Hoodlum & Son *Doctor Who...

.

2008: Cwcw, written and directed by Delyth Jones.

1930s

1932: The Old Dark House

The Old Dark House

The Old Dark House is an American comedy horror film directed by James Whale and starring Boris Karloff, produced just one year after their success with Frankenstein, also released by Universal Studios.-Background:...

, starring Boris Karloff

Boris Karloff

William Henry Pratt , better known by his stage name Boris Karloff, was an English actor.Karloff is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein , Bride of Frankenstein , and Son of Frankenstein...

. Directed by James Whale

James Whale

James Whale was an English film director, theatre director and actor. He is best remembered for his work in the horror film genre, having directed such classics as Frankenstein , The Old Dark House , The Invisible Man and Bride of Frankenstein...

.

1937: Today We Live

Today We Live

Today We Live is a 1933 film starring Joan Crawford, Gary Cooper, Robert Young, and Franchot Tone. The film is based on "Turnabout" by William Faulkner. Faulkner also provided the dialogue for the film, making it the only film version of his work that Faulkner co-wrote. Joan Crawford's character...

, a communist agitprop

Agitprop

Agitprop is derived from agitation and propaganda, and describes stage plays, pamphlets, motion pictures and other art forms with an explicitly political message....

documentary by Ralph Bond concerning unemployed miners in Pentre

Pentre

Pentre is a village and community, near Treorchy in 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 homestead, though Pentre is named after a large farm that dominated the area before the...

, Rhondda

Rhondda

Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley , is a former coal mining valley in Wales, formerly a local government district, consisting of 16 communities built around the River Rhondda. The valley is made up of two valleys, the larger Rhondda Fawr valley and the smaller Rhondda Fach valley...

.

1937: Eastern Valley, by Donald Alexander.

1938: The Citadel

The Citadel (film)

The Citadel is a 1938 film based on the novel of the same name by A. J. Cronin, first published in 1937. The film was directed by King Vidor and produced by Victor Saville.-Plot:...

, set in a Welsh mining town. Directed by King Vidor

King Vidor

King Wallis Vidor was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter whose career spanned nearly seven decades...

1940s

1940: The Proud Valley

The Proud Valley

The Proud Valley is a 1940 Ealing Studios film starring the African-American actor Paul Robeson. Filmed on location in the South Wales coalfield the heart of the main coal mining region of Wales, the film tells the story of a Black American miner and singer who gets a job in a mine and joins a male...

, concerning Welsh coal miners. Directed by Pen Tennyson

Pen Tennyson

Frederick Penrose Tennyson was a British film director whose promising career was cut short when he was killed in a plane crash. Tennyson gained experience as an assistant director to Alfred Hitchcock in several of his British films during the 1930s...

.

1941: How Green Was My Valley

How Green Was My Valley (film)

How Green Was My Valley is a 1941 drama film directed by John Ford. The film, based on the 1939 Richard Llewellyn novel, was produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and written by Philip Dunne. The film stars Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Anna Lee, Donald Crisp, and Roddy McDowall...

, a classic directed by John Ford

John Ford

John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...

; winner of five Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Picture. However, the film is often criticized for the actors having Irish accents, as several of the actors were Irish, and having a scene with an Irish jig instead of a traditional Welsh dance. Ford's response to these criticisms were simply, "It's a Celtic country, isn't it?"

1941: The Wolf Man, featuring Bela Lugosi

Béla Lugosi

Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó , commonly known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen. He was best known for having played Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version, as well as having starred in several of Ed Wood's low budget films in the last years of his...

. Directed by George Waggner

George Waggner

George Waggner was an American film director, producer and actor.Born in New York City, he made his film debut as Yousayef in The Sheik . He later went on to appearances in Western films. The first film he directed was Western Trails and his most well-known directorial effort arguably remains The...

.

1944: The Halfway House

The Halfway House

The Halfway House is a 1944 British drama film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Tom Walls, Mervyn Johns and Glynis Johns. It also features the French actress Françoise Rosay...

, directed by Basil Dearden

Basil Dearden

Basil Dearden was an English film director.-Life and career:Dearden was born at Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex. He graduated from theatre direction to film, working as an assistant to Basil Dean...

.

1945: The Corn Is Green

The Corn Is Green (1945 film)

The Corn Is Green is a 1945 drama film starring Bette Davis as a schoolteacher determined to bring education to a Welsh coal mining town, despite great opposition...

, starring Bette Davis

Bette Davis

Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...

. Directed by Irving Rapper

Irving Rapper

Irving Rapper was a British film director. His most successful body of work is 10 films he made while under contract with Warner Brothers....

.

1949: A Run for Your Money

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...

, directed by Charles Frend

Charles Frend

Charles Frend was an English film director.Charles Frend started his career at British International Pictures in 1931 and after editing Hitchcock's Waltzes from Vienna moved to Gaumont British Pictures in 1933 where he worked as an editor on Alfred Hitchcock's movies Secret Agent , Sabotage and...

.

1949: Blue Scar, by Jill Craigie, about the nationalization of the coal industry in Wales.

1950s

1950: The Undefeated, by Paul Dickson

Paul Dickson

For the football player of the same name see Paul Dickson .Paul Dickson is a freelance writer of more than 50 non-fiction books, mostly on American English language and popular culture. He has written many articles on a wide variety of subjects...

.

1951: David

David

David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...

, by Paul Dickson

Paul Dickson

.

1959: Tiger Bay

Tiger Bay (film)

Tiger Bay is a 1959 British crime drama film directed by J. Lee Thompson and produced and co-written by John Hawkesworth. It stars John Mills as a police superintendent who investigates a murder, his daughter Hayley Mills, in her first major film role, as a girl who witnesses the murder, and Horst...

, takes place in Tiger Bay

Tiger Bay

Tiger Bay was the local name for an area of Cardiff which covered Butetown and Cardiff Docks. It was re-branded as Cardiff Bay following the building of the Cardiff Barrage which dams the tidal rivers Ely and Taff to create a body of water.-History:...

, Cardiff

Cardiff

Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

, Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. Directed by J. Lee Thompson

J. Lee Thompson

John Lee Thompson , better known as J. Lee Thompson, was an English film director, active in England and Hollywood.- Early years :...

1960s

1962: Dylan Thomas

Dylan Thomas (film)

Dylan Thomas is a 1962 short documentary film directed by Jack Howells. It won an Academy Award at the 35th Academy Awards in 1963 for Documentary Short Subject....

, a short documentary on the poet featuring the narration of the Welsh actor Richard Burton

Richard Burton

Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...

. Directed by Jack Howells

Jack Howells

Thomas John "Jack" Howells was a Welsh film-maker, who is best remembered for his documentary Dylan Thomas, the only Welsh film to have won an Academy Award, for Documentary Short Subject in 1963.-Career:...

, it won the 1963 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

1962: Only Two Can Play

Only Two Can Play

Only Two Can Play is a 1962 comedy film based on the novel That Uncertain Feeling by Kingsley Amis. Sidney Gilliat directed the film from a screenplay by Bryan Forbes....

, starring Peter Sellers

Peter Sellers

Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...

as the Welsh character John Lewis and directed by Sidney Gilliat

Sidney Gilliat

Sidney Gilliat was an English film director, producer and writer.He was born in the district of Edgeley in Stockport, Cheshire. In the 1930s he worked as a scriptwriter, most notably with Frank Launder on The Lady Vanishes for Alfred Hitchcock, and its sequel Night Train to Munich , directed by...

.

1967: Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon

Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon

Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon is a 1967 British science fiction comedy film directed by Don Sharp and produced by Harry Alan Towers...

, directed by Don Sharp

Don Sharp

Donald Sharp is a British film director.His most famous films were made for Hammer Studios in the sixties, and included The Kiss of the Vampire and Rasputin, the Mad Monk . Also in 1965 he directed The Face of Fu Manchu, based on the character created by Sax Rohmer, here played by Christopher Lee...

1970s

1972: Under Milk Wood

Under Milk Wood (film)

Under Milk Wood is a 1972 British film directed by Andrew Sinclair and based on the radio play Under Milk Wood by the Welsh writer Dylan Thomas. It starred Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor and Peter O'Toole. Like the book it portrays the inhabitants of a small Welsh village Llareggub....

- a film version of Dylan Thomas

Dylan Thomas

Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...

's "play for voices", starring Pontrhydyfen

Pontrhydyfen

Pontrhydyfen is a small village in the Afan Valley, in Neath Port Talbot county borough in Wales.-Location:It is situated in the Afan Valley at , at the confluence of the River Afan and the smaller Afon Pelenna, 1.8 miles north of the larger village of Cwmafan and not far from the towns of Port...

-born actor Richard Burton

Richard Burton

, then wife Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...

and Peter O'Toole

Peter O'Toole

Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...

. Directed by Andrew Sinclair

Andrew Sinclair

Dr Andrew Sinclair is a prolific British novelist, historian, biographer, critic and film-maker. He was a Founding Member of Churchill College, Cambridge. He directed the film, now regarded as a classic, of Under Milk Wood. His book The Better Half: The Emancipation of the American Woman won the...

.

1973: Hang Up Your Brightest Colours

Hang Up Your Brightest Colours

Hang Up Your Brightest Colours is a 1973 film by Welsh actor and filmmaker Kenneth Griffith, about the life and death of Irish Republican leader Michael Collins...

, a once-banned documentary by Kenneth Griffith

Kenneth Griffith

Kenneth Griffith was a Welsh actor and documentary filmmaker.-Early life:He was born Kenneth Reginald Griffiths in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales. Six months after his birth his parents split up and left Tenby, leaving Kenneth with his paternal grandparents, Emily and Ernest, who immediately adopted...

on Irish Republican Michael Collins

Michael Collins (Irish leader)

Michael "Mick" Collins was an Irish revolutionary leader, Minister for Finance and Teachta Dála for Cork South in the First Dáil of 1919, Director of Intelligence for the IRA, and member of the Irish delegation during the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations. Subsequently, he was both Chairman of the...

.

1976: At the Earth's Core

At the Earth's Core (film)

At the Earth's Core is a 1976 science fiction film produced by Britain's Amicus Productions. It was directed by Kevin Connor and starred Peter Cushing, Caroline Munro, Philippa Herring and Doug McClure. It was filmed in Technicolor...

, directed by Kevin Conner

Kevin Conner

Kevin Conner is a Pentecostal theologian who was formerly the senior minister of Waverley Christian Fellowship in Melbourne, Australia...

, takes place in the Welsh mountains.

1976: Above Us the Earth, by Karl Francis

Karl Francis

.

1977: Curious Journey, a documentary by Kenneth Griffith

Kenneth Griffith

.

1978: Dylan, about Dylan Thomas

Dylan Thomas

's final visit to America, concluding with his death in New York on 9 November 1953. Directed by Richard Lewis.

1978: Grand Slam (1978 film)

Grand Slam (1978 film)

Grand Slam is a 1978 sports comedy film produced by BBC Wales. The film starred Oscar-winning actor Hugh Griffith, Windsor Davies, Dewi "Pws" Morris and Sion Probert...

, a BBC Wales

BBC Wales

BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation for Wales. Based at Broadcasting House in the Llandaff area of Cardiff, it directly employs over 1200 people, and produces a broad range of television, radio and online services in both the Welsh and English languages.Outside...

film about Welsh rugby fans travelling to Paris for the Grand Slam of Wales vs. France.

1979: Black As Hell, Thick As Grass, a documentary by Kenneth Griffith

Kenneth Griffith

1980s

1982: Giro City

Giro City

Giro City is a 1982 British drama film written and directed by Karl Francis and starring Glenda Jackson, Jon Finch and Kenneth Colley. A team of reporters come up against censorship when they pursue a story...

, by Karl Francis

Karl Francis

.

1983: House of the Long Shadows

House of the Long Shadows

House of the Long Shadows is a horror-parody film directed by Pete Walker. The screenplay by Michael Armstrong is based on the novel Seven Keys to Baldpate by Earl Derr Biggers. The original music score is composed by Richard Harvey....

, directed by Pete Walker

Pete Walker

Peter Brian Walker is a former right-handed relief pitcher in Major League Baseball. Walker is a graduate of East Lyme High School in East Lyme, Connecticut. He completed his college degree at Charter Oak State College. He attended the University of Connecticut and was drafted by the New York Mets...

. Comments on nationalism of the Welsh, especially the older generation, who hate the English; the American jokes he should wear a leek to show he's a friend. Vincent Price, who has a Welsh surname, plays a character who describes Wales as his ancestral homeland. His character's family appears to be English, however.

1985: Ms Rhymney Valley, by Karl Francis

Karl Francis

.

1987: Girls' Night Out, an S4C

S4C

S4C , currently branded as S4/C, is a Welsh television channel broadcast from the capital, Cardiff. The first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking audience, it is the fifth oldest British television channel .The channel - initially broadcast on...

film by Joanna Quinn

Joanna Quinn

Joanna Quinn is an English film director and animator. She was born in Birmingham. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Famous Fred in 1998....

.

1987: A Child's Christmas in Wales

A Child's Christmas in Wales

A Child's Christmas in Wales is a prose work by the Welsh writer Dylan Thomas. Originally emerging from a piece written for radio, the poem was recorded by Thomas in 1952. The story is an anecdotal retelling of a Christmas from the view of a young child and is a romanticised version of Christmases...

, a TV-movie based on Dylan Thomas's work of the same name. Starring Denholm Elliott, directed by Don McBrearty

Don McBrearty

-Filmography:*American Nightmare, 1983*Coming Out Alive, 1984*Strange Tales/Ray Bradbury Theatre, 1986 *A Child's Christmas in Wales, 1987...

.

1987: On the Black Hill

On the Black Hill (film)

On the Black Hill is a 1987 film directed by Andrew Grieve and based upon the novel of the same name by Bruce Chatwin.Although Bruce Chatwin initially considered his novel about 80 years of rural family life in the Welsh border country unfilmable, he changed his mind when he saw how keen director...

, about Welsh identical twins. Directed by Andrew Grieve

Andrew Grieve

Andrew Grieve is a Welsh television and film director. Grieve's credits include episodes of Warship and Wire in the Blood. On the Black Hill, the screenplay of which he also wrote, won the Golden Shell at the San Sebastian Film Festival in 1988. He has also directed episodes of Agatha Christie's...

1990s

1990: Dylan Thomas: Return Journey, a one-man show featuring Bob Kingdom as Thomas and directed by Anthony Hopkins

Anthony Hopkins

Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...

.

1992: Elenya, concerning a woman of Italian descent living in Wales

Wales

. Directed by Steve Gough.

1992: Under Milk Wood

Under Milk Wood

Under Milk Wood is a 1954 radio drama by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, adapted later as a stage play. A movie version, Under Milk Wood directed by Andrew Sinclair, was released during 1972....

, an animated adaptation of the Dylan Thomas play.

1994: Second Best (film)

Second Best (film)

Second Best is a 1994 film produced by Sarah Radclyffe and directed by Chris Menges. It closely follows the 1991 novel of the same name by David Cook, who also wrote the screenplay.-Plot:...

, starring William Hurt

William Hurt

William McGill Hurt is an American stage and film actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature Altered States , for which he received a Golden Globe nomination...

, Alan Cumming

Alan Cumming

Alan Cumming, OBE is a Scottish stage, television and film actor, singer, writer, director, producer and author. His roles have included the Emcee in Cabaret, Boris Grishenko in GoldenEye, Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United, Mr. Elton in Emma, and Fegan Floop in the Spy Kids trilogy...

and Chris Cleary Miles. Directed by Chris Menges

Chris Menges

Chris Menges BSC, ASC, is an English cinematographer and film director. He is a member of both the American and British Societies of Cinematographers.-Life and career:...

.

1995: The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain

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 film written by Ivor Monger and directed by Christopher Monger. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival....

, starring Hugh Grant

Hugh Grant

Hugh John Mungo Grant is an English actor and film producer. He has received a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA, and an Honorary César. His films have earned more than $2.4 billion from 25 theatrical releases worldwide. Grant achieved international stardom after appearing in Richard Curtis's...

. Directed by Christopher Monger

Christopher monger

Christopher Monger is a Welsh screenwriter, director and editor, best known for writing and directing The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain and writing the HBO biopic 'Temple Grandin'. He has directed eight feature films and written over thirty screenplays.-Early life:Monger...

.

1995: Streetlife, starring Rhys Ifans

Rhys Ifans

Rhys Ifans is a Welsh actor and musician. He is known for his portrayal of characters such as Spike in Notting Hill and Jed Parry in Enduring Love and as a member of the Welsh rock groups Super Furry Animals and The Peth. Ifans also appeared as Xenophilius Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Deathly...

. Directed by Karl Francis

Karl Francis

.

1996: August

August (1996 film)

August is a 1996 film starring Anthony Hopkins as Ieuan Davies, and featuring Rhys Ifans in a small role in one of his earliest films as Griffiths. It is an adaptation of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, with Ieuan taking over the title role...

, directed by Margam

Margam

Margam is a suburb of Port Talbot in the Welsh county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, close to junction 39 of the M4 motorway.- History :...

, Wales

Wales

-born actor/director Anthony Hopkins

Anthony Hopkins

Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...

, is an adaptation of Chekov

Anton Chekhov

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...

's Uncle Vanya

Uncle Vanya

Uncle Vanya is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1897 and received its Moscow première in 1899 in a production by the Moscow Art Theatre, under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski....

set in North Wales

North Wales

North Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...

.

1996: Darklands

Darklands (film)

Darklands is a British horror film written and directed by Julian Richards, starring Craig Fairbrass, Jon Finch, Rowena King and released in 1997....

, concerning druidic cults. Directed by Julian Richards

Julian Richards

Julian Richards FSA, MIFA is a British television and radio presenter, writer and archaeologist with over 30 years experience of fieldwork and publication.-Early career:...

.

1997: Twin Town

Twin Town

Twin Town is a 1997 revenge comedy film made and set in South West Wales. It was directed by Kevin Allen and had a working title of Hot Dog; a hot dog van features in a number of scenes in the film. It stars real-life brothers Rhys Ifans and Llŷr Ifans and also features Dougray Scott...

, starring brothers Rhys Ifans

Rhys Ifans

and Llyr Ifans

Llyr Ifans

Llŷr Ifans, is a Welsh actor, born in Ruthin, Wales. He is the younger brother of actor Rhys Ifans.Like his brother, he is a Welsh-language speaker...

. Directed by Kevin Allen

Kevin Allen (actor)

Kevin Allen is a British screenwriter, film director, film producer and actor. He is best known for writing and directing the cult black comedy feature Twin Town set in Swansea . He also directed the films The Big Tease and Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London and hit UK TV series Benidorm...

.

1997: House of America (film), starring Siân Phillips

Siân Phillips

Jane Elizabeth Ailwên "Siân" Phillips, CBE, is a Welsh actress.-Early life:Phillips was born in Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, Neath Port Talbot, Wales, the daughter of Sally , a teacher, and David Phillips, a steelworker-turned-policeman...

and Matthew Rhys

Matthew Rhys

Matthew Rhys Evans , known professionally as Matthew Rhys, is a Welsh actor, best known as Kevin Walker on the U.S. ABC family drama Brothers & Sisters, and as Dylan Thomas in The Edge of Love.-Early life:...

. Directed by Marc Evans

Marc Evans

Marc Evans is a Welsh-born film director, whose credits include the films House of America, Resurrection Man and My Little Eye.-Biography:Evans was born in 1963 in Carmarthen, Wales...

.

1997: Prince Valiant

Prince Valiant (1997 film)

Prince Valiant is a 1997 independent sword and sorcery film directed by Anthony Hickox. It is based on the long running Prince Valiant comic strip of Hal Foster, some panels of which were used in the movie.-Plot:...

, directed by Anthony Hickox

Anthony Hickox

Anthony Hickox is an English film director, actor, film producer and screenwriter.His works include Waxwork and its sequel, Waxwork II: Lost in Time, Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat, Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth, "Prince Valiant", "Children of the Corn", "Warlock: Armageddon", "Payback",...

. Based on the comic strip series. Partially filmed in Wales, and certain sequences surround the Welsh Princess Ilene (who is Valiant's love interest) are set in Wales. However, King Arthur

King Arthur

King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...

is depicted as leader of the forces of England and ruler of Britain, rather than being in accordance with the original Welsh mythology of Arthur or with the Monty Python

Monty Python

Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...

depiction of Arthur as ruler of the Britons

Britons (historical)

The Britons were the Celtic people culturally dominating Great Britain from the Iron Age through the Early Middle Ages. They spoke the Insular Celtic language known as British or Brythonic...

.

1997: The Proposition

The Proposition

The Proposition is a 2005 western film directed by John Hillcoat and written by screenwriter and musician Nick Cave. It stars Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Emily Watson, John Hurt, Danny Huston and David Wenham. The film's production completed in 2004 and was followed by a wide 2005 release in...

, directed by Strathford Hamilton.

1999: Human Traffic

Human Traffic

Human Traffic is a British independent film written and directed by Welsh filmmaker Justin Kerrigan. The film explores themes of coming of age, drug and club cultures, as well as relationships. It includes scenes provoking social commentary and the use of archive footage to provide political...

. Directed by Justin Kerrigan.

1999: Famous Fred, by Joanna Quinn

Joanna Quinn

Joanna Quinn is an English film director and animator. She was born in Birmingham. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Famous Fred in 1998....

.

1999: Solomon & Gaenor

Solomon & Gaenor

, starring Cardiff

Cardiff

-born actor Ioan Gruffudd

Ioan Gruffudd

. A Welsh-language version was also filmed at the same time. Directed by Paul Morrison

Paul Morrison (director)

.

1999: The Funeral of the Last Gypsy King, a short film directed by Jane Rogoyska.

2000s

2000: The Testimony of Taliesin Jones (aka Small Miracles

Small Miracles

Small Miracles is a series of inspirational books written by Yitta Halberstam and Judith Leventhal. Titles include:*Small miracles : extraordinary coincidences from everyday life...

), starring John-Paul Macleod and Jonathan Pryce

Jonathan Pryce

Jonathan Pryce, CBE is a Welsh stage and film actor and singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and meeting his longtime partner English actress Kate Fahy in 1974, he began his career as a stage actor in the 1970s...

. Directed by Martin Duffy

Martin Duffy

Martin Duffy, is an Irish filmmaker and writer.Starting as a film-editor at Radio Telefís Éireann in the late 1970s, he expanded into writing children's shows in the 1980s with the Lambert Puppet Theatre, Wanderly Wagon, Fortycoats & Co., Bosco and Scratch Saturday...

.

2000: House!

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, known for independent films such as Trainspotting and mainstream releases such as Nanny McPhee.-Plot:...

, about Bingo rivalries in South Wales

South Wales

South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...

, starring Kelly Macdonald

Kelly Macdonald

Kelly Macdonald is a Scottish actress, known for her role in the independent film Trainspotting and mainstream releases such as Nanny McPhee, Gosford Park, Intermission, No Country for Old Men and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2...

. Directed by Julian Kemp.

2001: Very Annie Mary

Very Annie Mary

Very Annie Mary is a 2001 comedy film and musical from the United Kingdom, written and directed by Sara Sugarman and starring Rachel Griffiths and Jonathan Pryce. It is a coming-of-age tale, set in south Wales, about a woman in her 30s who lives with her verbally abusive father...

, starring Rachel Griffiths

Rachel Griffiths

Rachel Anne Griffiths is an Australian film and television actress who came to prominence in the 1994 film Muriel's Wedding and her Academy Award nominated performance in the 1997 film Hilary and Jackie....

, Holywell

Holywell

Holywell is the fifth largest town in Flintshire, North Wales, lying to the west of the estuary of the River Dee.-History:The market town of Holywell takes its name from the St Winefride's Well, a holy well surrounded by a chapel...

-born Jonathan Pryce

Jonathan Pryce

and Ioan Gruffudd

Ioan Gruffudd

. Directed by Sara Sugarman

Sara Sugarman

Sara Sugarman is a Welsh actress and film director whose work includes Disney's Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen and Very Annie Mary...

.

2001: Happy Now, starring Ioan Gruffudd

Ioan Gruffudd

. Directed by Philippa Cousins.

2001: Endgame, directed by Gary Wicks; much of the film takes place at the main character's Welsh cottage.

2002: On All Floors

On All Floors

On All Floors is a 2002 British film directed by Geoff Evans and written by Craig Handley. It is a dark comedy which tells the story of five people who are trapped in a falling elevator...

, directed by Geoff Evans

Geoff Evans

Thomas Geoffrey "Geoff" Evans, is a former Wales international rugby union player. In 1971 he toured New Zealand with the British and Irish Lions as a replacement. Evans played club rugby for London Welsh RFC.-External links:...

and written by Craig Handley

Craig Handley

Craig Handley is a Welsh film writer, director, producer and script editor. He is the creator of the upcoming web-series, Bleedout. Handley was born in Merthyr Tydfil and attended Cyfarthfa High School...

.

2002: Plots with a View

Plots with a View

Plots with a View, released internationally as Undertaking Betty, is a 2002 British dark comedy written by Frederick Ponzlov, directed by Nick Huran, starring Brenda Blethyn, Alfred Molina, Naomi Watts, Lee Evans and Christopher Walken. The film began filming in Caldicott, Monmouthshire, Wales, UK...

(aka: Undertaking Betty), directed by Nick Hurran. Starring Brenda Blethyn, Alfred Molina, Christopher Walken, and Lee Evans. A brilliant, but commercially unsuccessful, black comedy about competing undertakers in the small fictional Welsh village of Wrottin Powys. Won the BAFTA Cymru Award, in 2003. Not yet released in the UK.

2003: Otherworld

Otherworld

Otherworld, or the Celtic Otherworld, is a concept in Celtic mythology that refers to the home of the deities or spirits, or a realm of the dead.Otherworld may also refer to:In film and television:...

, the English-language version of the film Y Mabinogi

Y Mabinogi

Y Mabinogi is a 2003 Welsh film. It is mostly animated, although the very beginning and end sequences are live action...

, listed above in the Welsh-language section.

2003: I'll Be There, written and directed by Scottish comedian Craig Ferguson

Craig Ferguson

Craig Ferguson is a Scottish American television host, stand-up comedian, writer, actor, director, author, and producer. He is the host of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, an Emmy Award-nominated, Peabody Award-winning late-night talk show that airs on CBS...

and featuring Welsh singer Charlotte Church

Charlotte Church

Charlotte Maria Church is a Welsh singer-songwriter, actress and television presenter. She rose to fame in childhood as a classical singer before branching into pop music in 2005. By 2007, she had sold more than 10 million records worldwide including over 5 million in the United States...

.

2005: The Dark

The Dark (film)

The Dark is a 2005 horror film, based on the novel Sheep by Simon Maginn.- Plot :While in Wales visiting her husband James , Adele tries to fix her relationship with her obnoxious and volatile pre-teen daughter Sarah...

, starring Sean Bean

Sean Bean

Shaun Mark "Sean" Bean is an English film and stage actor. Bean is best known for playing Boromir in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and, previously, British Colonel Richard Sharpe in the ITV television series Sharpe...

and Maria Bello

Maria Bello

Maria Elena Bello is an American actress and singer known for her appearances in the movies Coyote Ugly, The Jane Austen Book Club, Permanent Midnight, Thank You for Smoking, A History of Violence, Payback, and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. For television she is known for her role as Dr...

. While taking place in Wales, it reinvisions the Otherworld

Otherworld

(from The Mabinogion) as being a place of hellish torment. Directed by John Fawcett

John Fawcett (director)

John Fawcett is a Canadian director of film and television. His best known films are the 2000 werewolf movie Ginger Snaps and the 2005 horror film The Dark...

.

2005: Evil Aliens

Evil Aliens

Evil Aliens , is a British "splatstick" horror-comedy film directed by Jake West, in the tradition of films such as Braindead, House, and Evil Dead....

takes place on the Welsh island of Scallad. Directed by Jake West

Jake West

-Biography:He directed a movie called "Doghouse", a horror comedy starring Danny Dyer , Noel Clarke and Stephen Graham -Biography:He directed a movie called "Doghouse", a horror comedy starring Danny Dyer (Severance, The Football Factory"), Noel Clarke ("Adulthood", "Kidulthood", "Dr. Who") and...

.

2005: Ramble On

Ramble On

-Cover versions:Train did a cover of the song in early 2001 and released it as a single. Producer Brendan O'Brien heard Train's version and agreed to produce their second album, Drops of Jupiter...

, an animated short directed by Tom Parkinson.

2006: Dirty Sanchez: The Movie. The Welsh equivalent of Jackass, but arguably raunchier. Directed by Jim Hickey.

2006: Little White Lies, directed by Caradog W. James.

2006: Love You, Joseff Hughes, a short directed by Dan Hartley.

2006: In the film adaptation of Stormbreaker

Stormbreaker (film)

Stormbreaker is a 2006 British spy film based on Anthony Horowitz's novel of the same name, the first novel in the Alex Rider series. It stars newcomer Alex Pettyfer as the teenage spy alongside actors Mickey Rourke and Bill Nighy...

, Alex Rider

Alex Rider

Alex Rider is a series of spy novels by British author Anthony Horowitz about a 14-15 year old spy named Alex Rider. The series is aimed primarily at young adults. Nine novels have been published to date, as well as three graphic novels, three short stories and a supplementary book...

receives military training in the Brecon Beacons

Brecon Beacons

The Brecon Beacons is a mountain range in South Wales. In a narrow sense, the name refers to the range of popular peaks south of Brecon, including South Wales' highest mountain, Pen y Fan, and which together form the central section of the Brecon Beacons National Park...

.

2006: The Haunted Airman, starring Robert Pattinson as an injured aviator who convalesces in Wales.

2007: The Baker, AKA Assassin in Love directed by Gareth Lewis, about a hitman who retires to a rural Welsh village as a baker.

2008: The Edge of Love

The Edge of Love

The Edge of Love is a 2008 John Maybury film starring Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Cillian Murphy and Matthew Rhys from a script by Sharman Macdonald, Knightley's mother...

, starring Matthew Rhys

Matthew Rhys

as Thomas, Keira Knightley

Keira Knightley

Keira Christina Knightley born 26 March 1985) is an English actress and model. She began acting as a child and came to international notice in 2002 after co-starring in the film Bend It Like Beckham...

, Sienna Miller

Sienna Miller

Sienna Rose Diana Miller is a British-American actress, model, and fashion designer, best known for her roles in Layer Cake, Alfie, Factory Girl, The Edge of Love and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. In 2007, the London Film Criticsnamed her British Actress of the Year for Interview...

(as Dylan's wife, Caitlin Macnamara

Caitlin MacNamara

Caitlin Thomas , née Macnamara, was the wife of poet and writer Dylan Thomas. Their marriage was a stormy affair, fuelled by alcohol and infidelity, though the couple remained together until Dylan's death in 1953. After her husband's death she wrote the book Leftover Life to Kill, an account of her...

) and Cillian Murphy

Cillian Murphy

Cillian Murphy is an Irish film and theatre actor. He is often noted by critics for his chameleonic performances in diverse roles and distinctive blue eyes and general sex appeal....

. Directed by John Maybury

John Maybury

John Maybury is an English filmmaker. In 2005 he was listed as one of the 100 most influential gay and lesbian people in Britain.-Early life:...

, this film is about part of Thomas' life in Swansea

Swansea

Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...

during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

2009: Amelia

Amelia (film)

Amelia is a 2009 English-language biographical film of the life of Amelia Earhart, starring Hilary Swank as Earhart along with a cast that includes Richard Gere, Christopher Eccleston and Ewan McGregor. It is directed by Mira Nair based on a script initially written by Ronald Bass...

, starring Hilary Swank

Hilary Swank

Hilary Ann Swank is an American actress. Swank's film career began with a small part in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and then a major part in The Next Karate Kid , as Julie Pierce, the first female protégé of sensei Mr. Miyagi...

, Richard Gere

Richard Gere

Richard Tiffany Gere is an American actor. He began acting in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and a starring role in Days of Heaven. He came to prominence in 1980 for his role in the film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol...

and Ewan McGregor

Ewan McGregor

Ewan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the...

. As Amelia crosses the Atlantic, she arrives in Wales (thinking it's Ireland), and the locals sing the hymn Calon Lân

Calon Lan

Calon Lân is a Welsh hymn, the words of which were written in the 19th century by Daniel James to a tune by John Hughes ....

.

2009: Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story, mentions that Eddie tried to learn a bit of the Welsh language

Welsh language

Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...

before playing a gig in Pwllheli

Pwllheli

Pwllheli is a community and the main market town of the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, north-western Wales. It has a population of 3,861, of which a large proportion, 81 per cent, are Welsh speaking. Pwllheli is the place where Plaid Cymru was founded. It is the birthplace of Albert Evans-Jones -...

, Wales. He also lived in Skewen

Skewen

Skewen is a village within the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, in Wales.The village is served by Skewen railway station.-History:Skewen was once an industrial village. There were a number of collieries around the village . The Crown and Mines Royal Copper Works and the Cheadle and Neath...

, Wales, for a bit as a child. The documentary also mentions that Eddie is the favorite comedian of Anthony Hopkins

Anthony Hopkins

Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...

Films with Welsh characters (but not set in Wales)

1952: Cosh Boy

Cosh Boy

Cosh Boy is a 1953 British film starring James Kenney, Joan Collins, Hermione Baddeley, Hermione Gingold, Betty Ann Davies and Robert Ayres. It was directed by Lewis Gilbert, and produced by Daniel M...

, a film in which the main character's mother is Welsh. Directed by Lewis Gilbert

Lewis Gilbert

Lewis Gilbert CBE is an English film director, producer and screenwriter.-Early life:He was the son of music hall performers, and spent his early years travelling with his parents, and watching the shows from the side of the stage. He first performed on-stage at the age of 5, when asked to drive a...

.

1956: In The Searchers

The Searchers (film)

The Searchers is a 1956 American Western film directed by John Ford, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May, and set during the Texas–Indian Wars...

, directed by John Ford

John Ford

, the character Martin Pawly claims that he is 1/8 Cherokee, and the rest is English and Welsh.

1958: Look Back in Anger

Look Back in Anger (film)

Look Back in Anger is a 1959 British film starring Richard Burton, Claire Bloom and Mary Ure and directed by Tony Richardson.It is based on John Osborne's play of the same name about a love triangle involving an intelligent but disaffected young man , his upper-middle-class, impassive wife , and...

, starring Welsh actor Richard Burton

Richard Burton

and featuring the Welsh character, Cliff. Directed by Tony Richardson

Tony Richardson

Cecil Antonio "Tony" Richardson was an English theatre and film director and producer.-Early life:Richardson was born in Shipley, Yorkshire in 1928, the son of Elsie Evans and Clarence Albert Richardson, a chemist...

.

1958: The Vikings

The Vikings (film)

The Vikings is an adventure film directed by Richard Fleischer in 1958 Technicolor, produced by and starring Kirk Douglas, and based on the novel The Viking by Edison Marshall, based in its turn on legendary material from the sagas of Ragnar Lodbrok and his sons. Other actors included Tony Curtis,...

. This film has Rhodri Mawr as a character, and his daughter Morgana (played by Janet Leigh

Janet Leigh

Janet Leigh , born Jeanette Helen Morrison, was an American actress. She was the wife of actor Tony Curtis from June 1951 to September 1962 and the mother of Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis....

).

1959: I'm All Right, Jack, starring Peter Sellers

Peter Sellers

and featuring a Welsh worker named Dai. Directed by John Boulting.

1959: Upstairs and Downstairs

Upstairs and Downstairs

Upstairs and Downstairs is a 1959 British comedy drama film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Michael Craig, Anne Heywood, Mylène Demongeot, Claudia Cardinale, James Robertson Justice, Joan Sims, Joan Hickson and Sid James...

features a Welsh female character. Directed by Ralph Thomas

Ralph Thomas

Ralph Thomas was an English film director, born in Hull. He is perhaps best known for directing the Doctor series of films....

.

1964: Zulu

Zulu (film)

Zulu is a 1964 historical war film depicting the Battle of Rorke's Drift between the British Army and the Zulus in January 1879, during the Anglo-Zulu War....

, starring Michael Caine

Michael Caine

Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....

, depicts the struggle of a detachment of a Welsh regiment against Zulu warriors. Directed by Cy Endfield

Cy Endfield

Cyril Raker Endfield was an American screenwriter, film director, theatre director, author, magician and inventor, based in Britain from 1953.- Biography :...

.

1968: Candy

Candy (1968 film)

Candy is a 1968 sex farce film directed by Christian Marquand based on the 1958 novel by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg, from a screenplay by Buck Henry. The film satirizes pornographic stories through the adventures of its naive heroine, Candy, played by Ewa Aulin...

, featuring Richard Burton

Richard Burton

as the Welsh alcoholic poet, MacPhisto.

1970: "The Molly Maguires", directed by Martin Ritt and starring Sean Connery tells the story of the Irish labor troubles in the anthracite coal mines of Schuylkill county, PA. Several of the characters including the police chief Davies (played by an Englishman Frank Finlay) and a miner Jenkins (played by John Alderson, another Englishman) are Welsh.

1971: Two English Girls

Two English Girls

Two English Girls , is a 1971 French romantic drama film directed by François Truffaut and based on a 1956 novel by Henri-Pierre Roché...

(Les Deux anglaises et le continent), directed by François Truffaut

François Truffaut

François Roland Truffaut was an influential film critic and filmmaker and one of the founders of the French New Wave. In a film career lasting over a quarter of a century, he remains an icon of the French film industry. He was also a screenwriter, producer, and actor working on over twenty-five...

. Despite the title, the titular characters are actually both Welsh.

1971: 10 Rillington Place, directed by Richard Fleischer

Richard Fleischer

-Early life:Fleischer was born in Brooklyn, the son of Essie and animator/producer Max Fleischer. He started in motion pictures as director of animated shorts produced by his father including entries in the Betty Boop, Popeye and Superman series.His live-action film career began in 1942 at the RKO...

. Stars John Hurt

John Hurt

John Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York...

as a Welshman living in London.

1977: A Bridge Too Far. One of the final scenes features a minor character nicknamed Taff.

1978: The Hound of the Baskervilles

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978 film)

The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 1978 British comedy film spoofing The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It starred Peter Cook as Sherlock Holmes and Dudley Moore as Dr. Watson...

features Dudley Moore

Dudley Moore

Dudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...

portraying a Welsh Doctor Watson, reusing a version of his Welsh accent from the 1967 film Bedazzled

Bedazzled (1967 film)

Bedazzled is a 1967 British comedy film directed and produced by Stanley Donen. It was written by and stars Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. It is a comic retelling of the Faust legend, set in the Swinging London of the 1960s...

.

1979: The Life of Brian, a film by Monty Python

Monty Python

, features a character named Judith (played by Sue Jones-Davies

Sue Jones-Davies

Sue Jones-Davies is a Welsh actress and singer, who appeared as Judith in the 1979 film Monty Python's Life of Brian. Mayor of Aberystwyth from 2008–2009, she now serves as town councillor.-Early life and education:Sue Jones-Davies was born in Wales...

) who is referred to by Brian's mother as a "Welsh tart." Several other references to Welsh characters can be gleaned from the screenplay.

1980: The Falls

The Falls

The Falls is a 1980 film directed by Peter Greenaway. It was Greenaway's first feature-length film after many years making shorts. It does not have a traditional dramatic narrative; it takes the form of a mock documentary in 92 short parts.-Plot:...

, directed by Welsh-born filmmaker Peter Greenaway, references the Welsh-born character Tulse Luper.

1983: Taking Tiger Mountain; Militant feminist scientists brainwash a research subject to assassinate the Welsh Minister of Prostitution. Directed by Tom Huckabee, with a story by William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs

William Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th...

.

1991: Old Scores

Old Scores

Old Scores is a 1991 film jointly produced by New Zealand and Wales, based around the two countries' mutual national sport of rugby union. It is notable for the appearance of a large number of legendary Welsh and New Zealand international rugby players in supporting roles...

, a film set in New Zealand about a former Welsh rugby star. Directed by Alan Clayton.

1994: Au Pair

Au Pair (film)

Au Pair is a 1999 telefilm starring Gregory Harrison and Heidi Noelle Lenhart.-Plot:Jennifer Morgan is an MBA looking for a job as an executive at Oliver Caldwell’s company...

, directed by Angelika Weber; the main character and her boyfriend are Welsh.

1997: The Replacements

The Replacements (film)

The Replacements is a 2000 American film directed by Howard Deutch. It stars Keanu Reeves, Gene Hackman, Brooke Langton and Orlando Jones.-Plot:...

, featuring Rhys Ifans

Rhys Ifans

as a Welsh soccer player who gets recruited to play American football. When called a "Mick" by fellow teammates, he asserts that his is Welsh, not Irish. Directed by Howard Deutch

Howard Deutch

Howard Deutch is an American film director. His most recent theatrical release was My Best Friend's Girl, starring Jason Biggs, Kate Hudson, Dane Cook, and Alec Baldwin...

.

1999: Notting Hill

Notting Hill

Notting Hill is an area in London, England, close to the north-western corner of Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...

, featuring Rhys Ifans

Rhys Ifans

as a Welsh character called Spike

2000: The Man Who Cried

The Man Who Cried

The Man Who Cried is an 2000 Anglo-French film, written and directed by Sally Potter. The film stars Christina Ricci, Cate Blanchett, Johnny Depp, Harry Dean Stanton, and John Turturro....

, about a Jewish girl who leaves the Soviet Union to be raised in England, utilizes a Welsh music teacher to help aid in the girl's assimilation to English culture; as he was not allowed to speak Welsh but succeeded professionally after learning English, so will she succeed if she abandons her native tongue.

2003 and following: The Tulse Luper Suitcases

The Tulse Luper Suitcases

The Tulse Luper Suitcases is a multimedia project by Peter Greenaway, initially intended to comprise three "source" and one feature films, a 16-episode TV series, and 92 DVDs, as well as Web sites, CD-ROMs and books...

, a multimedia project by Welsh-born filmmaker Peter Greenaway concerning the Welsh-born character Tulse Luper.

2004: Heights, starring Glenn Close

Glenn Close

Glenn Close is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and...

. Features Andrew Howard as the Welsh character, Ian. Directed by Chris Terrio

Chris Terrio

Chris Terrio is an American film director and writer based in New York City. After joining the film festival circuit, his short film Book of Kings was shown on IFC in 2004....

.

2004: Patrick

Patrick (film)

Patrick is a 1978 Australian horror film directed by Richard Franklin and written by Everett De Roche. It is the pivotal movie of respected Australian director Richard Franklin's career.-Plot summary:...

, a documentary about the Welsh St. Patrick who became the patron saint of Ireland. Directed by Pamela Mason Wagner.

Filmed on location in Wales, but set elsewhere

1958: The Inn of the Sixth Happiness

The Inn of the Sixth Happiness

The Inn of the Sixth Happiness is a 1958 American 20th Century Fox film based on the true story of Gladys Aylward, a tenacious British maid, who became a missionary in China during the tumultuous years leading up to World War II...

, featuring Ingrid Bergman

Ingrid Bergman

Ingrid Bergman was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of American cinema of all time by the American Film Institute...

, Curd Jurgens

Curd Jürgens

Curd Gustav Andreas Gottlieb Franz Jürgens was a German-Austrian stage and film actor. He was usually billed in English-speaking films as Curt Jurgens.-Early life:...

, and Robert Donat was filmed on location in Wales in Gwynedd

Gwynedd

Gwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although the second biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...

and Beddgelert

Beddgelert

Beddgelert, or in older English spelling often Bedgellert, is a village and community in the Snowdonia area of Gwynedd, Wales. It is reputed to be named after the legendary hound Gelert. Population 617.- History:...

but is set in China.

1968: The Lion in Winter

The Lion in Winter (1968 film)

The Lion in Winter is a 1968 historical drama made by Avco Embassy Pictures, based on the Broadway play by James Goldman. It was directed by Anthony Harvey and produced by Joseph E...

, featuring Welsh actors Anthony Hopkins

Anthony Hopkins

Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...

and Timothy Dalton

Timothy Dalton

Timothy Peter Dalton ) is a Welsh actor of film and television. He is known for portraying James Bond in The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill , as well as Rhett Butler in the television miniseries Scarlett , an original sequel to Gone with the Wind...

in their first feature films, was filmed on location in Wales but is set in France.

1969: Carry on up the Khyber

Carry On up the Khyber

Carry On Up the Khyber is the sixteenth Carry On film, released in 1968. It stars Carry On regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Bernard Bresslaw and Peter Butterworth. Roy Castle makes his only Carry On appearance in the "romantic male lead" part usually played by Jim...

is the sixteenth Carry On film

Carry On films

The Carry On films are a series of low-budget British comedy films, directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers. They are an energetic mix of parody, farce, slapstick and double entendres....

, released in 1968. It stars Carry On regulars Sid James

Sid James

Sid James was an English-based South African actor and comedian. He made his name as Tony Hancock's co-star in Hancock's Half Hour and also starred in the popular Carry On films. He was known for his trademark "dirty laugh" and lascivious persona...

, Kenneth Williams

Kenneth Williams

Kenneth Charles Williams was an English comic actor and comedian. He was one of the main ensemble in 26 of the Carry On films, and appeared in numerous British television shows, and radio comedies with Tony Hancock and Kenneth Horne.-Life and career:Kenneth Charles Williams was born on 22 February...

, Charles Hawtrey

Charles Hawtrey (film actor)

George Frederick Joffre Hartree , known as Charles Hawtrey, was an English comedy actor and musician.Beginning at a young age as a boy soprano, he made several records before moving on to the radio...

, Joan Sims

Joan Sims

Joan Sims was an English actress best remembered for her roles in the Carry On films, and latterly for playing Madge Hardcastle in As Time Goes By.-Early life:...

, Bernard Bresslaw

Bernard Bresslaw

Bernard Bresslaw was an English actor. He is best remembered for his comedy work, especially as a member of the Carry On team.-Biography:...

and Peter Butterworth

Peter Butterworth

Peter William Shorrocks Butterworth was an English comedy actor and comedian, best known for his appearances in the Carry On series of films. He was also a regular on children's television and radio and appeared in seven early episodes of Doctor Who in 1965 as the 'The Meddling Monk'...

. The film is, in part, a spoof of "Kiplingesque

Rudyard Kipling

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...

" movies and television series about life in the British Empire

British Empire

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...

, both contemporary and from earlier, Hollywood, periods.The film is, in part, a spoof of "Kiplingesque

Rudyard Kipling

" movies and television series about life in the British Empire

British Empire

, both contemporary and from earlier, Hollywood, periods. Scenes on the North West Frontier were filmed beneath the summit of Snowdon

Snowdon

Snowdon is the highest mountain in Wales, at an altitude of above sea level, and the highest point in the British Isles outside Scotland. It is located in Snowdonia National Park in Gwynedd, and has been described as "probably the busiest mountain in Britain"...

in North Wales

North Wales

1992: The Princess and the Goblin

The Princess and the Goblin (film)

The Princess and the Goblin is a 1992 European animated fantasy film directed by József Gémes. It is an adaptation of 1872 novel of the same name by George MacDonald....

was the first animated featured produced in Wales. It was jointly a Hungarian animated film.

2000: The Miracle Maker, starring Ralph Fiennes

Ralph Fiennes

Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor and film director. He has appeared in such films as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, The Duchess and Schindler's List....

as Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

, was filmed in Cardiff

Cardiff

, Wales

Wales

. Directed by Derek W. Hayes and Stanislav Sokolov

Stanislav Sokolov

Stanislav Mihaylovich Sokolov is a Russian stop-motion animation director. He graduated from VGIK in 1971 and has since then worked with Studios Soyuzmultfilm, DEFA, Christmasfilms and S4C. He was awarded a number of prizes for his films, most notably an Emmy in 1992 for his contribution to The...

.

2006: Half Light

Half Light

Half Light is a 2006 Mystery/Horror Film starring Demi Moore and Henry Ian Cusick in the lead role. It was directed by Craig Rosenberg, who also penned the screenplay.The score was composed by Craig's brother, Brett Rosenberg.-Plot:...

, starring Demi Moore

Demi Moore

Demi Guynes Kutcher , known professionally as Demi Moore, is an American actress. After minor roles in film and a role in the soap opera General Hospital, Moore established her career in films such as St...

and directed by Craig Rosenberg, is set in Scotland but was shot on location in Wales

Wales

.

2003: Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life is a 2003 action film directed by Jan de Bont, and starring Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft. It is a sequel to the 2001 film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider...

, starring Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie is noted for promoting humanitarian causes as a Goodwill Ambassador for the...

as Lara Croft, Shot on location in the mountains of Snowdonia

Snowdonia

Snowdonia is a region in north Wales and a national park of in area. It was the first to be designated of the three National Parks in Wales, in 1951.-Name and extent:...

but set in China.

Miscellaneous

1967: In Bedazzled

Bedazzled (1967 film)

, when Dudley Moore

Dudley Moore

's character wishes for intellectualism, he develops a Welsh accent.

1968: In the film Barbarella

Barbarella (film)

Barbarella is a 1968 Franco-Italian science fiction film based on Jean-Claude Forrest's French Barbarella comics. The film was directed by Roger Vadim and stars Jane Fonda, who was Vadim's wife at the time.-Plot:...

, a few characters use Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch as a password.

1971: Straw Dogs, directed by Sam Peckinpah. A Cornish

Cornish people

The Cornish are a people associated with Cornwall, a county and Duchy in the south-west of the United Kingdom that is seen in some respects as distinct from England, having more in common with the other Celtic parts of the United Kingdom such as Wales, as well as with other Celtic nations in Europe...

vicar uses the Welsh place name Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch as the magic word in a magic trick he performs.

1986: In Back To School, directed by Alan Metter, Rodney Dangerfield

Rodney Dangerfield

Rodney Dangerfield , was an American comedian, and actor, known for the catchphrases "I don't get no respect!," "No respect, no respect at all... that's the story of my life" or "I get no respect, I tell ya" and his monologues on that theme...

's character recites Do not go gentle into that good night

Do not go gentle into that good night

Do not go gentle into that good night, a villanelle, is considered to be among the finest works by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas . Originally published in the journal Botteghe Oscure in 1951, it also appeared as part of the collection "In Country Sleep." Written for his dying father, it is one of...

for his oral exam.

1995: In Before Sunrise

Before Sunrise

Before Sunrise is a 1995 romantic drama film directed by Richard Linklater and written by Linklater and Kim Krizan. The film follows Jesse , a young American, and Céline , a young French woman, who meet on a train and disembark in Vienna, where they spend the night walking around the city and...

, directed by Richard Linklater

Richard Linklater

-Early life:Linklater was born in Houston, Texas. He studied at Sam Houston State University and left midway through his stint in college to work on an off-shore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. While working on the rig he read a lot of literature, but on land he developed a love of film through...

, Ethan Hawke

Ethan Hawke

Ethan Green Hawke is an American actor, writer and director. He made his feature film debut in 1985 with the science fiction movie Explorers, before making a supporting appearance in the 1989 drama Dead Poets Society which is considered his breakthrough role...

's character mimics Dylan Thomas's voice, reading a fragment from As I Walked Out One Evening wrote by W.H. Auden

W. H. Auden

Wystan Hugh Auden , who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet,The first definition of "Anglo-American" in the OED is: "Of, belonging to, or involving both England and America." See also the definition "English in origin or birth, American by settlement or citizenship" in See also...

.

2000: The Weight of Water

The Weight of Water

The Weight of Water is a 1997 bestselling novel by Anita Shreve. Half of the novel is historical fiction that speculates about the true events of the Smuttynose Island murders of 1873.-Plot summary:...

, directed by Kathryn Bigelow

Kathryn Bigelow

Kathryn Ann Bigelow is an American film director. Her best-known films are the cult horror film Near Dark , the surfer/bank robbery action picture Point Break , the science fiction/film noir Strange Days , the historical/mystery film The Weight of Water and the war drama The Hurt Locker...

, features the Dylan Thomas

Dylan Thomas

poem And death shall have no dominion

And death shall have no dominion

And death shall have no dominion is a poem written by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas .-Publication history:On 10 September 1936, two years after the release of his first volume of poetry, Twenty-five Poems was published. Twenty-five Poems revealed Thomas’ personal philosophies pertaining to religion and...

.

2002: Solaris

Solaris (2002 film)

Solaris is a 2002 science fiction film and psychological drama directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring George Clooney and Natascha McElhone...

. This Steven Soderbergh

Steven Soderbergh

Steven Andrew Soderbergh is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. He is best known for directing commercial Hollywood films like Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the remake of Ocean's Eleven, but he has also directed smaller less...

remake

Remake

A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...

also features the Dylan Thomas

Dylan Thomas

poem And death shall have no dominion

And death shall have no dominion

, as George Clooney

George Clooney

George Timothy Clooney is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. For his work as an actor, he has received two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award...

's character reads the first stanza of the poem.

2004: Crash, movie features the Welsh-language folk song Lisa Lân sung by Carol Ensley.

Scholarly Resources

Wales on Screen, edited by Steve Blandford
Wales and Cinema: The First Hundred Years, by Dave Berry

External links

The National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales

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