The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain (1995)

When an English cartographer must tell a Welsh village that their mountain is only a hill, the offended community sets out to change that.

Director:

Christopher Monger

Writers:

Ivor Monger (story), Christopher Monger

Stars:

Hugh Grant, Tara Fitzgerald, Colm Meaney

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Hugh Grant	...	Reginald Anson
Tara Fitzgerald	...	Elizabeth aka Betty from Cardiff
Colm Meaney	...	Morgan the Goat
Ian McNeice	...	George Garrad
Ian Hart	...	Johnny Shellshocked (Jones)
Kenneth Griffith	...	Reverend Jones
Tudor Vaughan	...	Thomas Twp
Hugh Vaughan	...	Thomas Twp Too
Robert Pugh	...	Williams the Petroleum
Robert Blythe	...	Ivor
Garfield Morgan	...	Davies the School
Lisa Palfrey	...	Blod Jones
Dafydd Wyn Roberts	...	Tommy Twostroke
Ieuan Rhys	...	Sgt. Thomas
Anwen Williams	...	Mavis

Storyline

Two English cartographers visit the small South Wales village of Ffynnon Garw, to measure what is claimed to be the "first mountain inside of Wales". It's 1917, and the war in Europe continues. The villagers are very proud of their "mountain", and are understandably disappointed and furious to find that it is in fact a "hill". Not to be outwitted by a rule (and the Englishmen who enforce it), the villagers set out to make their hill into a mountain, but to do so they must keep the English from leaving, before the job is done.

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Plot Keywords:

mountain | hill | wales | welsh | 1910s | 

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Taglines:

A romantic comedy about a town that wouldn't give up. A man who couldn't get out. And the mountain that brought them together.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for mild language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 May 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Anglez, ki je sel na hrib in se vrnil z gore

Filming Locations:

Gyrn Moelfre, Powys, Wales, UK

Box Office

Gross:

£643,264 (UK) (11 August 1995)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Miramax Films, Parallax Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Almost at the end of the film is an aerial shot, the camera speeding toward six descendants of the villagers standing on Ffynnon Garw, which is just like a shot at the end of Sirens. Both films starred Hugh Grant and Tara Fitzgerald, and Robert Jones was an executive producer on both.

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Goofs

Elevations of climbable mountains weren't then and aren't now determined by triangulation to known landmarks; it would have been done by "spirit levelling," which is, more or less, a local measuring of one's vertical change along a path from an already established elevation which, in turn, is ultimately tied to sea level. Elevations determined by sightings to remote landmarks, as in this film, would be very imprecise because of atmospheric refraction. Indeed, if such a technique could have worked, the hill elevation could already have been determined by measurements from the supposed reference landmarks. A resurvey of a hill that might have turned it into a mountain would have been a differential measurement. The surveyor would only have had to measure the elevation change between a nearby point that he had already passed through on the way to the summit, and the modified summit.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: For some odd reason, lost in the mists of time, there's an extraordinary shortage of last names in Wales. Almost everyone seems to be a Williams, a Jones, or an Evans. To avoid widespread confusion, Welsh people often add an occupation to a name. For example, there was Williams the Petroleum, and Williams the Death. There was Jones the Bottle, and Jones the Prize Cabbage... which described his hobby and his personality. Evans the Bacon, and Evans the End of the World. But one man's...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

Dedicated to the memory of Peter Shaw.

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Connections

Referenced in Who the #$&% Is Jackson Pollock? (2006)

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Soundtracks

"Men of Harlech"
The Gwalia Male Voice Choir, London
(sung in Welsh)

User Reviews

Hugh Grant - A Fine Comedy Actor

The Englishman....has just been shown again here in Cardiff. The cinema was packed yet again. The story is based on a story about a small place north of Cardiff. A lovely film indeed.The type of film I'm sure will be shown on BBC2 on Sunday afternoons for many years. The script was both moving and very funny and Hugh Grant shows that he is indeed a fine comedy actor.Tara Fitzgerald was very sexy as Betty and I also enjoyed the performances of Kenneth Griffith,Robert Pugh,Ieuan Rhys,Lisa Palfrey and Ian Hart. There is so much violence in the cinema these days it was so nice to enjoy a film with all my family. I hope to watch it again soon on video.