On the Black Hill

On the Black Hill (1988)

The story covers eighty years in the lives of a pair of Welsh identical twins with an unusual bond, as they go through war, love affairs, and land disputes.

Date of release
1988-09-12
TMDB
6.4 / 10 (9)
Runtime
1h 57m
Genres
Drama
Director
Andrew Grieve

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Budget: £639K
  • Based on: On the Black Hill

On the Black Hill is a 1987 film directed by Andrew Grieve, based upon the novel of the same name by Bruce Chatwin.

Production

Bob Peck as the gaunt, wild-eyed Amos Jones dominates the early scenes, though he is well matched by Gemma Jones as his wife Mary. With typical thoroughness, Peck immersed himself in the part, learning to ride, plough and pleach hedges.

Although the film was made on a tight budget, the director had time to scout out appropriate locations in the area. "We spent far longer researching the locations than we would normally and it was the quality of the landscape and the discovery of the perfect farmhouse at Llanfihangel Nant Brân near Sennybridge which was critical to its success," said Grieve at a screening of the film at Borderlines Film Festival in 2006.

In fact, locations throughout the Welsh borders were used for the film, notably The Black Mountains, Hay-on-Wye and Crickhowell. Props and furniture for the film were borrowed from people and houses in the area and even the local WI was used to knit garments appropriate to the period. All of this firmly locates the film in its region and, as Grieve says, gives it a strong sense of reality.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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