{"id":41852,"date":"2023-11-24T14:57:57","date_gmt":"2023-11-24T19:57:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=41852"},"modified":"2023-11-24T14:57:57","modified_gmt":"2023-11-24T19:57:57","slug":"the-bootleg-files-dylan-thomas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2023\/11\/24\/the-bootleg-files-dylan-thomas\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bootleg Files: Dylan Thomas"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 848:<\/strong> \u201cDylan Thomas\u201d (1962 Oscar-winning documentary short featuring Richard Burton). <\/p>\n

LAST SEEN:<\/strong> On YouTube.
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\nAMERICAN HOME VIDEO:<\/strong> It doesn\u2019t appear to have been released. <\/p>\n

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS:<\/strong> There could be a rights issue preventing its release.<\/p>\n

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE:<\/strong> Not likely.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a question for Academy Award trivia buffs: What is the only Welsh film to win an Oscar? The answer is the subject of this week\u2019s column: \u201cDylan Thomas,\u201d which earned the 1962 Best Documentary Short Subject Award.
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Viewed today, \u201cDylan Thomas\u201d isn\u2019t much of a documentary. Indeed, one comes away from the film with no great insight into the life and literary output of the great Welsh writer, who is barely seen in the film. However, the film is rich in Welsh atmosphere and offers excerpts of Thomas\u2019 writing recited by another grand product of Wales, Richard Burton.<\/p>\n

Having Burton in this film is somewhat surprising, as this was produced when Burton was engaged in the creation of \u201cCleopatra.\u201d It is to filmmaker\u2019s Jack Howell\u2019s credit to snag Burton as an on-screen presence at a time when he was at the center of global attention during the various scandals that engulfed \u201cCleopatra.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDylan Thomas\u201d opens with Burton in a windy field looking at the camera and discussing Thomas\u2019 death (he passed away at the age of 39 in 1953). \u201cWherever it is \u2013 and it can\u2019t be Hades \u2013 you can bet that Dylan has his friends,\u201d Burton declares. \u201cStanding among them, brave and bold, talking with the best, occupying the only true position \u2013 as he said once \u2013 for an artist anywhere: upright.\u201d <\/p>\n

From there, the movie goes to the beginning of Thomas\u2019 life with a montage of twilight photographs of Uplands, the town where Thomas was born. Burton reads from Thomas\u2019 autobiographical writing about the \u201cugly, lovely town\u201d of his origins. This gives way to footage of the Welsh shoreline while Burton reads more of Thomas\u2019 writing and the soundtrack is punctuated with the sounds of seagulls, waves and wind. <\/p>\n

The film detours from Wales to London pubs where Thomas found comfort as his literary career took off. Burton appears on camera again, sitting at a bar while smoking a cigarette and reading from a journal that contains Thomas\u2019 writing of his appearance, which included artistic putdowns of being \u201ca bombastic adolescent provincial Bohemian with a thick-knotted artist\u2019s tie made out of his sister\u2019s scarf, she never knew where it had gone, and a cricket-shirt dyed bottle-green; a gabbing, ambitious, mock-tough, pretentious young man; and mole-y, too.\u201d The camera catches a framed drawing on the wall of a young Thomas, the first time the viewer gets to see what he looked like.<\/p>\n

Burton is then seated in between a bored couple looking at the table in front of them while the actor addresses the camera with more quotes from Dylan\u2019s work. From there, the film switches to views of the Welsh town of Laugharne, where Thomas resided. A framed photograph of Thomas in a pub gives the viewer a more accurate portrait of Thomas than the earlier drawing. Another photo of Thomas, sitting a table in a pub with an unidentified woman, is shown, as well as two brief shadowy views of Thomas that are barely on screen for a few seconds.<\/p>\n

And herein lies the dilemma of \u201cDylan Thomas.\u201d Yes, the writing is brilliant and Burton\u2019s recitation gives it a rich aural dimension that resonates with wickedly poetic flair \u2013 sadly, we never hear Thomas\u2019 voice, even though he made multiple recordings. The montages and footage of the Welsh landscape and residents offers a colorful consideration of the environment that fueled Thomas\u2019 work.<\/p>\n

But for those who expect a documentary to present something in the way of biographical content, \u201cDylan Thomas\u201d is elusive with its subject. Even the most basic data of his death is opaque: \u201cAnd far away in the west, across the sea he loved, he died.\u201d No information on where or when or how.<\/p>\n

One could assume that filmmaker Howell was aware that his primary audience didn\u2019t need to have a regurgitation of data points. The film, originally titled \u201cA Tribute to Dylan Thomas,\u201d was produced by Television Wales and the West \u2013 a Welsh audience was already more than familiar with Thomas\u2019 life and career, and the title makes it clear the film is a tribute and not an encyclopedia article.<\/p>\n

However, the film obviously made an impression outside of Wales. In its Oscar competition, \u201cDylan Thomas\u201d outpaced two intensely American productions \u2013 a profile of astronaut John Glenn and a recalling of the creation of the Berlin Wall \u2013 to win the top prize. <\/p>\n

Over the years, \u201cDylan Thomas\u201d became mostly forgotten. The Academy Film Archive restored the film in 2000, but to date there is no U.S. commercial home entertainment release \u2013 it is unclear why it was never made available, though perhaps there might be rights-related issues tied to Thomas\u2019 writing. A truncated and none-too-pristine version of the film is on YouTube \u2013 this seems to have come from a 16mm print and not the Academy\u2019s restoration. <\/p>\n