WOMEN OF DOLWYN

MGM, 1949.  Directed by Emlyn Williams.  Camera:  Winton Hoch.  With Edith Evans, Emlyn Williams, Richard Burton, Anthony James, Alan Aynesworth, Barbara Couper, Andrea Lea, Hugh Griffith, Maurice Browning, Rita Crailey, Eileen Dale, David Davies, Frank Dunlop, Kenneth Evans, Patricia Glyn.

...A Welsh valley is to be flooded to provide a reservoir for mill towns in Lancashire while the entire population are moved to a square mile of terraced houses in Liverpool.

The older members of the village are often bemused at the thought of city folk offering them a 'better life' when they are perfectly happy in Dolwyn. Some of the younger folk are excited by this.

The idea is 'sold' to the town by a young Richard Burton, forcefully playing the man who was once a teenage delinquent forced to leave the town (though, of course, thanks to the passage of time, nobody recognizes him).

The scenario of valleys, etc, being flooded was not uncommon in the early 20th century and this film captures your imagination. You can sense the anticipation of those who see Liverpool as a better life and you feel sad with those who have been told their beautiful village is to be flooded.

The plot largely revolves around one old lady's attempt to foil the flooding and carries an interesting twist in the tail at the end...