Flawed but charming
Firstly, I have to say that this video is not of the best quality, which is a pity, because 'Last Days of Dolwyn', aside from being a charming little film in its own right, has the distinction of showing us a very young, very raw and very Welsh Richard Burton taking his first tentative steps onto the big screen.

Written by fellow Welshman Emlyn Williams (who also provided Burton with his first professional stage roles and early television and radio roles), the story follows the struggle of a small Welsh village destined to drown beneath the waters of a dam being constructed to provide a drinking water reservoir for a neighbouring English county. The villagers are torn between the lure of the money offered in exchange for their homes and the promise of nice new homes on a Liverpool estate, and their roots in Dolwyn, which most of them have never left.

The story is a slight one, the ending somewhat improbable (though not altogether unsatisfactory) and the characters never really go beyond caricature, but the film's main claim to fame is that it marks the screen debut of legendary Welsh actor Richard Burton. He delivers a charming, if slightly erratic, performance as the young man Gareth, recently returned to his native village after a stay in Liverpool. He spends much of the film speaking his native Welsh, the only time he ever did so on screen, and his English is still heavily accented at this point. Emlyn Williams wrote the part of Gareth especially for him, and directed him in the role as well as starring opposite him as the villain of the piece. He treated Burton with great generosity, allowing him to stand out in this first role, and seems to have been one of the few directors who actually knew how to harness and guide Burton's talent.

There is one moment in the film, when Andrea Lee, as Burton's love interest, looks up to see him looking at her, which reveals Burton's innate power and presence: he is absolutely riveting in a scene that requires him to do nothing but be absolutely still. This first performance displays all of the qualities that would make Burton such an interesting, compelling performer throughout his career: the ability to be totally still yet totally present on screen, the unexpected explosions of rage, the even more unexpected moments of tenderness, the great chemistry with his co-stars (Edith Evans in this case, who would reprise the role of his foster-mother in 'Look Back In Anger' ten years later, and Emlyn Williams, his friend and mentor), and even the occasional slips into theatricality bordering on hamminess.

All in all, despite the relatively poor quality of the recording, it is a film worth seeing for its own sake but especially because it marked the birth of one of the cinema's greatest and most enigmatic stars.

Revenge and pain
Sad tale of bitter man returning to his Welsh village for the purpose of its destruction. A very young Richard Burton, in his first film, is excellent. Heartbreaking when his mother refuses to leave the cemetery where family is buried when town is flooded for a dam. An excellent look at bitterness and revenge, but also loyalty and committment.