Valley Of Song – Review

17th February 2013

I think this film can be described in a single word, quaint. Now hear me out though I’m not talking quintissentially English cups of tea out in the garden whilst watching the bowls. I’m talking about looking back at a time where things seemed to be a lot simpler, communities a lot tighter and life a lot more straightforward.

Now let me be honest with you, It’s a Sunday afternoon and I’m not particularly looking forward to going back to work tomorrow for a number of reasons. The last thing I wanted to do today was review a film that would make me feel any worse about my life, but thankfully this didn’t!

Valley Of Song is a British comedy drama film that was released in 1953 by director Gilbert Gunn with a plethora of British talent starring as the main characters. Based in a tiny Welsh village called Cwmpant (as an English person I have to admit I did have a little giggle at this!) the opening scenes are of Geraint Llewellyn (played by Clifford Evans) returning to Cwmpant from London where he has been based working in insurance. With it being such a small village, the news travels fast and before long he has been appointed as the new Choirmaster and feuds are started. Obviously with it being rural Wales (insert casual racism and stereotypes here) there is only a small selection of surnames within the village and the feud in this one (very Romeo and Juliet like, but with Welsh accents) is between the Lloyd’s and the Davies’s. The choir will be performing Messiah at the National Eisteddfod and Mrs Lloyd (Rachel Thomas) is expecting to take the part of contralto, however Llewellyn opens up a whole can of worms by choosing Mrs Davies (Betty Cooper) to play the part. As you can imagine, this does not go down very well with Mrs Lloyd and she drags her son out of the choir practice and in effect stamps her feet to show her disapproval. To make matters worse her son Clifford (John Fraser) is courting Mrs Davies’s daughter Olwen (Maureen Swanson) and they become lovers caught between the feuding families, stuck in a village which has been split down the middle.

As you can imagine from a black and white film from the 1950’s, the situation is resolved to everyone’s satisfation and it is charming in its conclusion. This film won’t make you laugh until you cry, nor cry until you laugh. However it will make you smile on a Sunday afternoon and reflect on how the trivial things in life always seem to impact on us the hardest. Hurt pride, vanity and selfishness often come before a sense of togetherness, community and selflessness. Of course this film is stereotypical and outdated, but that is waht makes it beautiful! We don’t live in the 1950’s anymore and life and love have become a lot more confusing in the modern world, but we can all take something from this film so I suggest you watch it to see what you learn about yourself.

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