This film has received many positive reviews here at IMDb and I thought it was worthwhile adding a few comments on authenticity. This is a powerful story thanks to the writer Richard Llewellyn and it is beautifully filmed thanks to John Ford. However, this is not Wales.
None of the principle actors are Welsh and they make no attempt to speak with a Welsh accent. Instead we get a mixture of Irish, Scottish, American and unspecified "rural". The external scenes were filmed on a ranch in Malibu Canyon, California - not in a village in South Wales. The interior sets owe more to American "shaker" than Victorian domestic and could well be reused from Ford's cowboy movies. The little "Welsh" cottages look remarkably spacious when you get inside them. The mine owner's house is American colonial - better suited for Scarlett O'Hara than the Evans family and the women's costumes are pure Southern Gothic.
Does this lack of authenticity matter? Well - only to those people who notice and are aware of it. For me it is a constant distraction whereas to most Americans it probably wouldn't be. However, the maudlin music by Alfred Newman would get on anyone's nerves and is only relieved by some excellent Welsh choral singing. Individual scenes are stylishly framed, atmospherically lit and tightly directed but the non-authentic Yoda-like speech patterns just ruin the effect for me.
None of the principle actors are Welsh and they make no attempt to speak with a Welsh accent. Instead we get a mixture of Irish, Scottish, American and unspecified "rural". The external scenes were filmed on a ranch in Malibu Canyon, California - not in a village in South Wales. The interior sets owe more to American "shaker" than Victorian domestic and could well be reused from Ford's cowboy movies. The little "Welsh" cottages look remarkably spacious when you get inside them. The mine owner's house is American colonial - better suited for Scarlett O'Hara than the Evans family and the women's costumes are pure Southern Gothic.
Does this lack of authenticity matter? Well - only to those people who notice and are aware of it. For me it is a constant distraction whereas to most Americans it probably wouldn't be. However, the maudlin music by Alfred Newman would get on anyone's nerves and is only relieved by some excellent Welsh choral singing. Individual scenes are stylishly framed, atmospherically lit and tightly directed but the non-authentic Yoda-like speech patterns just ruin the effect for me.