Last Friday night, we traveled down from Aberystwyth to Swansea to show the 1950 comedy film, Valley of Song, at the Taliesin Arts Centre, as part of the National Library’s annual Outreach programme.
The film was preceded by a local archive film, Come With Me Swansea. Made in 1952, it gives viewers an insight into 1950s life in Swansea through the eyes of local people, including Leonard Bruton, a Foreman at the Tinplate works.
Swansea City Council leader, Cllr David Phillips officially welcomed the National Library of Wales to Swansea, before the audience sat back to enjoy the films. 225 people attended the screening, and it’s the largest crowd that’s ever attended a public screening arranged by us.
The reaction of the crowd after the screening was very enthusiastic, with a lot of people showing a lot of interest in forthcoming events organised by the Library in Swansea.
If you’d like to own your own copy of the film, in early 2013, Studio Canal will be releasing Valley of Song on DVD. They will also release the 1949 classic, The Last Days of Dolwyn on DVD. These releases are a collaboration between Studio Canal and The National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales.