'The Life Story of David Lloyd George' now on DVD

Fri, 06 Mar 09 11:36:00

 

Decades after being lost, the Library has published its remarkable long-lost silent feature film, The Life Story of David Lloyd George, on DVD.

 

The film has an astonishing and murky history. Mysteriously suppressed in 1918, it disappeared for 76 years before its rediscovery by the Wales Film and Television Archive, now the Library’s National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales. There followed a painstaking restoration, leading to the film's 'premiere' in Cardiff in 1996, and other screenings in Britain and around the world.

 

Made by the prolific director Maurice Elvey, the film maps the life of Lloyd George from childhood to the end of the Great War, using actors and hundreds of extras in studio and evocative location scenes. Norman Page delivers a masterly performance as Lloyd George as he moves from the intimate settings of his early domestic, school and working life towards the pinnacle of his political career. On his journey from social legislator to war leader Lloyd George finds himself in a world of riots, reform and recruitment, depicted in breathtaking crowd scenes and bold narrative innovations such as coloured flashbacks and prophetic visions.

 

The DVD ‘extras’ include especially composed music by Neil Brand, the world-renowned silent film pianist, an introduction by actor Philip Madoc, an interview with the film historian Kevin Brownlow and a 16-page booklet.

 

 

The Life Story of David Lloyd George, 152’ (plus 47’ extras) is available from the Library shop priced £18.99.

Phone: 01970 632 548

 

Press Office

Medi Jones-Jackson

medi.jones-jackson@llgc.org.uk

01970 632 534