A Child's Christmas in Wales

During a season when we are treated to wonderful Christmas stories this one stands out. You don't have to be British to appreciate this first rate rendition of a famous story. It has been a regular feature on public TV for many seasons. If you have limited yourself to the customary holiday stories like "A Christmas Carol", "Miracle on 34th Street, "The Bishop's Wife" etc... add this to your collection.

I guarantee you will put it in your DVD player every year... perhaps throughout the year!

This has been my favorite Christmas story for years. Thanks to Denholm Elliott, the magnificent young boy who played Young Geraint and to author Dylan Thomas. And many thanks for the release of the DVD!

I remember watching this every Christmas as a kid with my family. When the cassette was misplaced, of course the tradition subsided, but last Christmas I found it, dusted it off, and my parents, brother and I gathered around.

It was just as I'd remembered it, and better.

Don McBrearty did a really beautiful job of bringing Dylan Thomas' poem to life, and very sensitively, I might add. There is nothing sappy or commercial about it, and the film adaption keeps the same tone as the poem.

Actors, costumes and sets are vibrant and alive. Nothing feels contrived, and you barely notice that the actors are acting-- it's as though you're there, having Christmas with the family. There is this wonderful sense of innocence and warmth to it, and has a feeling that continues to ressonate with you for a long time after watching it.

My favorite part has to be at the end, when at the end of an eventful Christmas day, the young Geraint (Jesse McBrearty) is saying goodnight, taking his time to embrace each family member, as they are all singing that Welsh air, "All Through The Night," and quietly goes upstairs as the sounds of his family follow him. It's quite possibly one of the most moving moments in film that I have experienced, and one to be carried with me.

I am delighted that the tradition of watching this at Christmas has resumed-- it was a part of my childhood, and now is a part of visiting my parents at Christmas. We are all a bit older, but can fall into that innocence and peacefulness for a while...

"One Christmas was so much like another, in those years around the sea-town corner now and out of all sound except the distant speaking of the voices I sometimes hear a moment before sleep..." Heartbreakingly poignant those words are now I have become an 'elder' and so many of my family are gone into their places in history.

Since this filmed version simply is the best, truest film adaptation of Thomas' famous work it also must be considered a standard few could match. My tape wore out but now armed with a lovely new DVD I enjoy it every year played on technology Thomas's narrator could have only dreamed of.

Sweet and intelligently produced, we are fortunate indeed to have this exquisite version to enjoy year after year.

On this, the 20th anniversary of this wonderful production, I hope that more people will have the opportunity to experience it for the first time. I tend to think of it as a reassuring antidote to the constant ills of everyday life. In a time when many new Christmas specials seem to have a somewhat cynical slant, the wonderful "A Child's Christmas in Wales" is something which is most welcome. Denholm Elliot is wonderful in his role as Old Geraint who shares his Christmas memories of his Welsh childhood with his grandson Thomas. A beautiful production which is well acted and directed, it has an ending which will bring a sentimental tear to your eye. It's one of the best.

Dylan Thomas' poem broken up and submitted in pieces for family consumption, "A Child's Christmas in Wales" is actually quite charming. The visual images, combined with Denholm Elliott's superb reading of the poem, is a rich experience. When Thomas (and Elliott) get carried away with words the experience is even better as it all seems to be spiraling out of control.

Beautiful visuals. Plenty of humor. Concepts that relate to adults and children. Anyone who had a family Christmas with uncles and aunts has an immediate connection with the program. You don't have to be Welsh to understand the uncle who tells the same jokes every year or the aunt who sings the same songs.

This is a show families can watch together. The children may wonder what the dickens (no pun) Dylan Thomas is going on about, the antics of the malevolent children will probably carry them safely through.