The Englishman Who Went up a Hill But Came down a Mountain Movie Review 1995

Charming if slight tale of town pride based on writer/director Monger's family stories. In 1917 two English cartographers--pompous George (McNeice) and naive Reginald (Grant)--travel into Wales to measure the height of Ffynnon Garw (a running gag has the surveyors struggling with the Welsh language). To the proud locals it is the first mountain in Wales, and without that designation they might as well redraw the maps and be part of England--God forbid. But in order to be designated a mountain Ffynnon Garw must be 1000 feet high, and she measures only 984. Grant stammers boyishly as the Englishman who is not only captivated by the village, but by spirited local lass Betty (Fitzgerald, with whom he starred in "Sirens"). Meaney slyly shines as innkeeper Morgan the Goat, leading the townful of color characters. Wales is shown to great advantage by cinematographer Layton.

Distribution

Buena Vista Home Entertainment, 500 S. Buena Vista St., Burbank, CA 91521-1120, Toll-free: 800-723-4763, URL: http://www.bvhe.com

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 96 minutes.
Originally from British.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Romantic Comedy, Period Piece: 1910s, Great Britain

Screenplay

Christopher Monger

Cast

Hugh Grant, Tara Fitzgerald, Colm Meaney, Ian McNeice, Ian Hart, Kenneth Griffith

Cinematography

Vernon Layton

Director

Christopher Monger

Music

Stephen Endelman

Producer

Sarah Curtis, Robert Jones, Sally Hibbin, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Parallax Pictures, Miramax Films