With a script by Dylan Thomas, John Eldridge's propaganda piece, produced for the Ministry of Information, offers an idealized view of Wales in the immediate aftermath of the Blitz, which affected several Welsh cities including Cardiff and Swansea.
The film offers an image of the people doing what they have always done in spite of the conflict threatening to engulf them: steelworkers keep producing material for military and peacetime use, fueled by coal from the mines. Sheep-farmers produce meat for the people to survive on; scientists cultivate new strains of grass to produce better-fed sheep. The communal symbols of Welsh life, centered around the church, preacher and choir, still operate as a focus for the people's leisure interests; no amount of German bombs will ever be able to destroy that. The railways continue to run, albeit on reduced timetables; while the office-workers charged with administering urban rural life brave difficult conditions in order to fulfill their responsibilities.
All in all, a series of familiar images; but GREEN MOUNTAIN, BLACK MOUNTAIN is suffused with a stirring commentary from Thomas, where the sound of words matters as much as their sense. We understand just how close to the land he actually was, despite being brought up in a middle-class English-speaking household and having to endure elocution lessons to eliminate all traces of his Welsh accent. He had a feeling for Wales that influenced all his creative work.
As a propaganda piece, the film must have worked well, especially for audiences trying to adjust to difficult conditions, making them aware that the struggles they experienced were shared by most people all over Britain. Such ideas helped to forge the kind of community spirit that helped sustain moral during the war's darkest years.
The film offers an image of the people doing what they have always done in spite of the conflict threatening to engulf them: steelworkers keep producing material for military and peacetime use, fueled by coal from the mines. Sheep-farmers produce meat for the people to survive on; scientists cultivate new strains of grass to produce better-fed sheep. The communal symbols of Welsh life, centered around the church, preacher and choir, still operate as a focus for the people's leisure interests; no amount of German bombs will ever be able to destroy that. The railways continue to run, albeit on reduced timetables; while the office-workers charged with administering urban rural life brave difficult conditions in order to fulfill their responsibilities.
All in all, a series of familiar images; but GREEN MOUNTAIN, BLACK MOUNTAIN is suffused with a stirring commentary from Thomas, where the sound of words matters as much as their sense. We understand just how close to the land he actually was, despite being brought up in a middle-class English-speaking household and having to endure elocution lessons to eliminate all traces of his Welsh accent. He had a feeling for Wales that influenced all his creative work.
As a propaganda piece, the film must have worked well, especially for audiences trying to adjust to difficult conditions, making them aware that the struggles they experienced were shared by most people all over Britain. Such ideas helped to forge the kind of community spirit that helped sustain moral during the war's darkest years.
