A Child's Christmas in Wales

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.

This re-telling of the classic story "A Child's Christmas in Wales" is almost the cinematic equivalent of hearing Dylan Thomas reading his own story. In the film, Denholm Eliot is the narrator and tells the story to his grandson as they celebrate a family Christmas together.

As in the story, the movie is mostly flashback images of Christmases long past - cats, opening the presents, a fire at Mrs. Prothero's house, aunts and uncles celebrating and snow falling on the town making it whiter than Lapland. We think what rich memories for a child to carry into adulthood. Most of us have our own images of Christmas past and these are etched in our memory for life. This film gives us a glimpse of the wonder of Christmas through the eyes of one child and how he responds to the pictures he sees as his grandfather tells the story.

I once heard that when Dylan Thomas recorded this story, it was at a session in New York City and he didn't show up for the first one. He did show up the second time but there was only enough material to fill one side of an old record album. Someone went out and found a recent copy of Harper's Bazaar and Thomas read the story to complete the record. Without this accidental recording, we might have never come to appreciate this great story, which in turn gave rise to this beautiful, little film.

"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.

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...

A Child's Christmas in Wales is a timeless classic. In fact I watch it, without fail, every Christmas Eve. To me this movie allows me to once again look at Christmas through the eyes of a child. Dylan Thomas's lush description of a Welsh Christmas is both a beautiful and poignant work that translates masterfully to the small screen. The inclusion of beloved British actor Denholm Elliott, as the wistful grandfather, eagerly telling his grandson of the great, snowbound Christmases of his childhood, only adds to the nostalgic air of this masterpiece. What makes this movie so amazing is its appeal to both young and old alike. When I first saw it on the Disney Channel as a young boy, I instantly loved it's simple story, vivid photography, and heart-warming humor. Now as an adult I appreciate even more the message it so wonderfully sends.

It is the endearing story of Thomas (Mathonway Reeves), a young Welsh boy, and the night of Christmas Eve. Denholm Elliott deftly portrays his loving, poetic grandfather, Geraint. His kind parents are played by the talented Michael Fawkes and Glynis Davies. The story begins on the night of Father Christmas' great journey. Thomas, as any young boy his age, is already planning to stay awake until the patter of hooves can be heard on the shingles and a pair of slick, black boots can be seen emerging from the hearth. According to Welsh tradition, one gift may be selected on Christmas Eve to be opened before all of the others. This year Thomas has chosen to open the present from his grandfather. It turns out to be a richly crafted snow globe. This, of course sparks Geraint's narration on how, the rainy Christmases of today, were nothing, no nothing when compared to the Christmases of his youth. When all the white Christmas rolled down toward the Welch-speaking sea like a snowball rolling whiter and bigger and rounder. And where the snow was not only shaken from whitewash buckets out of the sky, but seemed to come out of the ground itself.

The majority of the movie is a flashback, to one typical Christmas in Geraint's childhood. The flashback scenes are lovingly constructed, with wonderful narration, by Elliot, and heartfelt humor from Dylan Thomas's original story. What Christmas after-after all, would be complete without the fattened uncles resting after dinner by the fire, examining their cigars? Or the busy aunts bustling in the kitchen? It will most surely remind older generations of the way Christmases were, but younger generations can easily relate to both. Seeing a magical wonder in the winters of old, and a new found miracle in the modern Christmas. With great cinematography, acting, and an unforgettable ending, A Child's Christmas in Wales is a story for all ages. It is the perfect film to watch on Christmas Eve and establish a family tradition for years to come.