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

"Perhaps it would have been different had there been no war. But this was 1917 - and people were exhausted by loss."So the tale of a small Welsh village is told thru the voice of the last living participant to The Day Ffynnon Garw Built A Mountain.A result of the newly invented airplane entering the battlefield, and by order of his Majesty, a nationwide geographical survey is undertaken. Two-man survey teams are sent out across the land to accurately map the significant features - mountains, hills and valleys.One particular team has been tasked with western England.Way off the beaten track, a rural village lay in the shadow of Mount Ffynnon Garw, the so-called First Mountain Of Wales. A quiet little hamlet whose townsfolk are made up of the ubiquitous mix of funny, sympathetic, and quirky peoples. Country folk for whom hard work is the Lord's work.Understandably curious about the official Crown Survey, lively debate surrounds how big their mountain actually is; congregating at the town pub to discuss the matter, laughter and good cheer abound.Supremely confidant "the English" will find nothing untoward and will quickly move on - the news they deliver comes as shock. The surveyors make the terrible pronouncement that their mountain, their singular claim to Welsh pride, the stone embodiment of their combined hearts and souls - is technically a hill. Their calculations are accurate. At 884 feet, short by sixteen feet, their mountain - isn't. And once recorded into the national charts it will be forever known as Ffynnon Garw Hill.One couldn't have done worse to the already decimated people had they dropped a bomb directly into the center of the village. Already emotionally and physically devastated from supporting the war effort and the omnipresent life-devouring coal mine - the people will brook no further wounds. Especially from two Englishmen.Determined to reclaim their 1,000 foot "mountain" status, the residents embark on a massive collective effort to close the 20 foot gap - by building upon Ffynnon Garw's summit with freshly tilled earth, back-breaking sweat, and even tears. Johnny Shellshock, broken survivor of the French trenches, whose battlefield experiences have left him mute, speaks for the first time in over a year to enjoin his fellows to take on the challenge.The quest becomes a race as the townsfolk have to devise various ploys to prevent the cartographers from leaving before they can bridge the shortfall. Suddenly, the team's automobile breaks down; the broken part cannot be secured for several days. The cheapskate pub proprietor suddenly supplies them with an unending stream of alcohol. And even a comely maiden is secured to entice the handsome Mr. Anson; the young veteran who begins to sense, unlike his drunken disinterested partner, the magnitude surrounding their seemingly simple task.A wonderful light comedy with Hugh Grant at his dry best. Kudos to Colm Meaney who, despite a faltering accent, was enjoyable as the pub proprietor and town "father".Movie Notes:- As pointed out at the beginning of the film, given the few family surnames in their village, sharing a name is both commonplace and confusing. To address that situation, one is given a nickname usually associated with one's profession or significant personality trait. So John Evans might be Evans The Butcher or Evans The Clerk, and so on.Also explaining how one resident was given the longest name in Ffnnon Garw history: The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill, But Came Down A Mountain.- I would be remiss and cursed if I did not highlight the *amazing* performance of late UK actor Kenneth Griffith. A potent delivery of character as Ffnnon Garw's guiding pastor, Reverend Jones. Genuinely hilarious as the overseer and protector of the town's collective soul, and the character who first foresees the horror that will befall the village should their mountain be downgraded.

The storyline was new and fresh. The scenery of the U.K. Coast was amazing! Very enjoyable, surprising sleeper movie. Thoroughly enjoyed!

Nice old movie we wanted to watch after suffering through the Banshees one.

I know, it’s not a blockbuster, it’s never going to be anything but what it is. But it’s full of good actors portraying wonderful characters. Proof that a community with a common goal can set aside differences and make something they can all be proud of.

Very interesting story and lovely welsh scenery. It’s nice to see people pull together for a common goal.

When I visited Wales, I spent some time in the village where this movie was filmed and where some of the locals had worked as extras in the film. Knowing that there is a kind of love-hate relationship between the Welsh and the English, made the plot of this movie even more interesting to me. Two English fellows working as cartographers measuring hills and mountains in Wales during the period of WW-I figuratively step on the toes of the locals when they discuss with the Welsh that the nearby "mountain" that they hold so dear, may not be a mountain at all, but is only a hill (a mountain had to be at least 1,000 feet elevation above sea level to appear on His Majesty's maps -- and this one is just short of that elevation.. The younger surveyor (Hugh Grant falls for a local girl (Tara Fitzgerald). There is much humor, Welsh-style throughout the movie. some subtle and some that provokes guffaws. The villagers decide that no one, especially an Englishman, is going to tell that their beloved mountain is only a hill and won't appear on the map. The whole village arises en masse and starts making the hill taller, using buckets and wheelbarrows full of good Welsh soil -- much of it taken from the village's previous carefully manicured soccer field. Colm Meany plays the role of the village pub keeper who seems to have a way with the village lasses. Movie gives the viewer a tiny peek at ancient Welsh history, Welsh informal naming customs, Welsh countryside, and justifiable Welsh pride. Funny movie.

This movie is advertised as being 2.35 to 1 wide screen. Do not buy this dvd unless your television is just too large and you really want to watch a postage stamp sized movie which fills only a quarter of the area of your screen. It is formatted for obsolete 3 by 4 televisions. This results in a picture which is letterboxed all the way around. While the tiny image is technically wide screen it is in completely the wrong format for modern televisions. The zoom function of some televisions could force the image to fill the whole screen from side to side but this would yield an image with the resolution of VHS tape. Do not buy this deceptively advertised crap transfer. One can only hope that someday a proper blu-ray copy of this delightful movie will become available.

I Love this film! It is in my top 5 favourites. Along with Jean de Florette/Manon de Sources, and King Arthur! (The Clive Owen one, dreadful as it is)It draws on all the gentle humour of the Ealing comedies and some scenes are clearly total homage. Apparently the story has been around a long time and was touted as true, but sadly is not. But is a delight and if you want some fuzzy feel good during covid this is a contender.During WW1 a young officer on recuperation and a grouchy drunk surveyor are sent to measure all the mountains in Wales, for the War Effort. The first 'Official mountain' in Wales proves to be sadly lacking, so the local villagers, incensed, set out to Make it a mountain. The film then goes off into Ealing/Hamish McBeth land, mixing wily villagers, subtle humour and pure heartbreaking scenes of utter courage in the face of total fear that bring healing to a soul damaged by the horrors of WW1.There is of course a romance. But it is underplayed, which is perfect.If you are looking for some feelgood during covid and like understated Brit humour ,this could be itIf you want something

Buying European versions of various Blu-rays is often the cheapest or the only way, as in this case, of getting a Blu-ray region B of various films. That even applies to films that one would assume would have a ready market for and English edition.However, this Spanish version of this very popular and amusing film is easy to access even for those who are not fluent Spanish speakers. The key is to locate the English subtitle option and the easiest way to do this is to use the handset. This is not always thought of and will save working out what is meant by the Italian option on screen. The handset option will produce the off and language options on the top left of the screen. For English viewers choose the 'off' option as the film is in English like the American edition.Otherwise ......For all of those who are keen supporters of this film and who have bought the previous DVD version of this disc, the only issue of vital importance will be whether the Blu-ray offers an improvement technically sufficient to justify the additional expense.For this reviewer the answer is a clear affirmative. The upgrade offers a clear advance on both image and audio quality with the imaging being a marked improvement. The colours are firmer and there is an increase to the perceived depth of the imaging. The whole film simply becomes more 'real.'The degree of improvement will also depend on the replay equipment used. In this case the audio could be described as markedly 'high-end' both in hardware terms and in connecting cabling. The television, a more important factor in this case, is of moderate dimensions being a 40 inch screen. It is a high performing 4K unit though which will also have had a positive effect. (Larger screens become increasingly compromised in delivering sharp DVD imaging unless larger viewing distances are available. Sharpness is achieved at much closer distances for Blu-ray discs).Readers with alternative equipment will have to interpret this review bearing in mind their own equipment and its comparative advantages and disadvantages.The Blu-ray disc offers purchasers with suitable replay equipment a significant improvement over the previous DVD version.

Buying European versions of various Blu-rays is often the cheapest or the only way, as in this case, of getting a Blu-ray region B of various films. That even applies to films that one would assume would have a ready market for and English edition.However, this Spanish version of this very popular and amusing film is easy to access even for those who are not fluent Spanish speakers. The key is to locate the English subtitle option and the easiest way to do this is to use the handset. This is not always thought of and will save working out what is meant by the Italian option on screen. The handset option will produce the off and language options on the top left of the screen. For English viewers choose the 'off' option as the film is in English like the American edition.Otherwise ......For all of those who are keen supporters of this film and who have bought the previous DVD version of this disc, the only issue of vital importance will be whether the Blu-ray offers an improvement technically sufficient to justify the additional expense.For this reviewer the answer is a clear affirmative. The upgrade offers a clear advance on both image and audio quality with the imaging being a marked improvement. The colours are firmer and there is an increase to the perceived depth of the imaging. The whole film simply becomes more 'real.'The degree of improvement will also depend on the replay equipment used. In this case the audio could be described as markedly 'high-end' both in hardware terms and in connecting cabling. The television, a more important factor in this case, is of moderate dimensions being a 40 inch screen. It is a high performing 4K unit though which will also have had a positive effect. (Larger screens become increasingly compromised in delivering sharp DVD imaging unless larger viewing distances are available. Sharpness is achieved at much closer distances for Blu-ray discs).Readers with alternative equipment will have to interpret this review bearing in mind their own equipment and its comparative advantages and disadvantages.The Blu-ray disc offers purchasers with suitable replay equipment a significant improvement over the previous DVD version.

The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain is directed by Christopher Monger and written by Ivor Monger. It stars Hugh Grant, Ian McNeice, Tara Fitzgerald, Colm Meaney and Kenneth Griffith. Music is by Stephen Endelman and cinematography by Vernon Layton.Set in 1917, plot finds Grant and McNeice as two English cartographers who arrive in the Welsh village of Ffynnon Garw to measure what the locals proudly proclaim to be Wales' first mountain. However, it turns out that the "mountain" is 16 feet below the required 1000 feet requisite so therefore can only be classed as a hill. This news causes disgust amongst the locals, who then set about stopping the cartographers going home whilst they attempt to build atop of the hill to make it over 1000 feet.A film with a big title that is matched by the size of its heart, Monger's film owes much to those fun community based pictures that filed out of Ealing Studios back in the 40s and 50s, Re: Whisky Galore! and The Titfield Thunderbolt. We can also safely place it the whimsy category where something as wonderful as Local Hero sits, while the old British comedy staple that encompasses an obsession with size (The Mouse That Roared) watches over the film like an approving British cinematic angel.Homespun humour marries up with the utterly engaging view of quirky village life to provide us with just under 100 minutes of entertainment. Although clearly simple in plot and structure, to simply dismiss it as such does not do justice to the fine work of the ensemble cast and the writing of Ivor and Chris Monger. With Grant doing what he does best, the amiable nervous fop, picture has a lead actor fully comfortable with the tone and texture of the production, while around him there are a number of fine character actors putting delightful meat on the comedy bones of oddball characters with names such as Morgan the Goat, Johny Shellshock, William the Petroleum and Betty from Cardiff! Best of the bunch is Griffith as Reverend Jones, a grumpy, stubborn eccentric who underpins everything so wonderfully skew-whiff about life in Ffynnon Garw.As for the writing? The screenplay has a wonderful ear for small village dialogue, while in amongst the value of community spirit theme, sits a near sombre observation of the effects of war on such a community. The production design is appealing, with Layton's photography around the Powys locations a visual treat, and Endelman's music has a suitably warming and jaunty feel; even if it starts to get a touch repetitive later in the piece. It doesn't have widespread appeal, it's clearly a film aimed at a small portion of film fans that love those films mentioned earlier. But in an era when film is being smothered by CGI and visual gimmickry, revisiting something like The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain offers up a most refreshing and diverting experience. 8/10

Well being welsh i suppose i would be expected to give this movie a good write up and im afraid im guilty as charged in that respect lol. And certainly it shows off the wonderful welsh landscapes from mid wales where it was filmed. But really you dont have to be welsh to enjoy this gentle sweet movie or indeed have any connections with wales at all.For me it has all the best traditions of the wonderful ealing comedies of the 1950s - even tho it was made in 1995, and in that sense it has a timeless quality about it. I know a critcism of the film is that for a film set in wales - and based on real events - there arent that many welsh actors in the cast but the memorable performance of kenneth griffith throughout the film more than makes up for that i think.Amazingly as i type there's a story on the welsh news that some of our mountains in wales are shrinking and face being downgraded to hills - time for reverend jones and co to make a reappearance by the look of things :)