David Rees Griffiths
Encyclopedia
David Rees Griffiths also known by his bardic name
of Amanwy, was a Welsh
poet, and an older brother of politician Jim Griffiths
.
Griffiths was born in Betws
, Carmarthenshire
, where his father was a blacksmith
. He was the fifth of ten children. He spent his working life as a coal
miner
, beginning work in 1894 at the age of eight, after a brief education at the local primary school.
His father's smithy
remained a gathering point for local intellectuals and political activists. On January 28, 1908, David was badly injured in a colliery explosion
, which killed one of his brothers.
In 1910, Griffiths won his first eisteddfod chair, going on to win a further fifty in local events. In the same year, his wife Margaret died of tuberculosis
. Griffiths also had a career as a journalist, writing for the Amman Valley Chronicle and also for BBC
Radio. In 1927, he travelled to South Africa
along with his son Gwilym, who was suffering from the same disease (from which Gwilym eventually died in 1935). In 1928, Griffiths became caretaker at the local grammar school
. In 1951 a film, David, was made, in which he played himself.
Cast: D.R. Griffiths (Dafydd Rhys). John Davies (Ifor Morgan) Sam Jones (Rev Mr Morgan) Rachel Thomas (Mrs Morgan) Mary Griffiths (Mary Rhys), Gwenyth Petty (Mary Rhys as a young woman) Ieuan Davies (Dafydd Rhys as a young man), Rev. Gomer Roberts (himself) Prysor Williams (north Walian at Eisteddfod) Ieuan Rhys Williams (south Walian at Eisteddfod), Wynford Jones (narrator).
38 mins. U cert.
David is not merely the finest of all short films from Wales and a consummate achievement by Cardiff-born director Paul Dickson. It also ranks, for my money, in the pantheon of finest movies from Welsh directors - alongside, for example Un Nos Ola Leuad/ One Full Moon (Endaf Emlyn), House of America (Marc Evans) and Above Us The Earth (Karl Francis).
The hero of Dickson’s deeply affecting thinly-veiled biopic , made for the 1951 Festival of Britain
is a working man, David Griffiths, known in the film as Dafydd Rhys, a school caretaker for decades and a former miner
. DR’s later years in Ammanford at Amman Valley Grammar School would hardly seem to be the stuff of heroism but Dickson shows how this ordinary man has extraordinary virtues. He attains grandeur in bereavement and his innate dignity is seen here as an inspiration to the film’s narrator Ifor Morgan who recalls in adulthood his experiences as a school pupil under DR’s benign wing.
For the film's David is a friend to all at the grammar school, a stoic
who for the most part masks his suffering and helps inculcate the correct traditional values into his school charges.
The actual David Griffiths – for the film is a thinly-veiled biopic - may never have achieved the fame of his brother, the miners’ leader and first Welsh secretary Jim Griffiths, but here represents a certain kind of honourable traditional Welsh proletarian. DR communicates a strong sense of his community’s worth and retains a fierce loyalty to the memory of his fellow pitmen.
David, impeccably structured and paced, shows or implies what a friend and bulwark DR has been over the years – and we see how his selfless help gave impetus at a vital time to the careers of both Jim Griffiths and a noted Welsh preacher Gomer Roberts.
The film’s most poignant section deals with the impact on DR of the death of his adored son, and the effect on Ifor (John Davies) and his fellow pupils of DR’s temporary estrangement from them as he retreats into himself and his memories.
Dickson handles the set pieces with highly effective restraint. A high angle shot from a balcony shows Dafydd reacting to news of his son’s serious illness, then left alone bracing himself, before resuming mopping the school hall floor with only the slightest pause. The body language in extremis allows us to gauge the depth of feeling.
This sense of loss is reinforced in a moment of great sadness when DR cleans outside windows of the school and Ifor, on the inside, seeking to re-establish the warmth between them, is effectively shut out as water from the cleaning cloth slides down the pane, blurring David’s impassive expression.
The small subtle touches give this film its stature. There’s a pleasing, almost throwaway moment when brother Jim, off to London and bound for miners' college, clasps the hand of a workmate on the platform and smears coaldust over his face as a gesture of comradeship as his train leaves.
This is almost eclipsed by the resonant images of Dafydd leaving the Eisteddfod after his poem, an elegy to his dead son, has contested the coveted Chair award.
David Griffiths may not have been an actor but here he conveys, impressively, the accumulated experience of a working man and the cadence of his voice, with its careful intonation and slight over-emphasis, lends weight to the sentiments. He suggests rare authority as DR effectively guides schoolboy Ifor through the landmarks of his past, his marriage, and his mining days, cut short by a serious mining accident
juxtaposed here with skill with the almost simultaneous birth of his son. DR imbues Ifor with an appreciation of the weight of the town’s proletarian tradition and the importance of the chapel, and the acknowledgement of the emotional legacy left by previous generations who have sat in those very chapel pews.
David’s climax, meticulously prepared low key drama is all the more effective for its understatement. We can appreciate the discipline and control Dickson exercises, and sense the affinity he feels for his subject, a man whose legacy to his own. and the youthful generation he shelters and by implication empowers, runs deep.
Dickson, in presenting us with familiar iconography - the rugby union game, the pit, the chapel - always skilfully skirts cliché, thanks to the manifest integrity of the images and presentation. Barry composer Grace Williams’s sensitive score registers the right degree of significance and dignity. David is unquestionably a better film than the director’s by no means negligible British Film Academy winning film The Undefeated (1950), a study of paraplegics and their rehabilitation. It also prompts profound regret that Dickson after making various low budget features, drifted into sponsored and industrial documentaries and never again ventured a Welsh subject worthy of his mettle.
Bardic name
A bardic name is a pseudonym, used in Wales, Cornwall and Brittany, by poets and other artists, especially those involved in the eisteddfod movement....
of Amanwy, was a Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
poet, and an older brother of politician Jim Griffiths
Jim Griffiths
James "Jim" Griffiths CH , was a Welsh Labour politician, trade union leader and the first ever Secretary of State for Wales.-Background and education:...
.
Griffiths was born in Betws
Betws
Betws is a small village on the River Amman, some 15 miles north of Swansea, Wales; it is part of the ecclesiastical parish of Betws and Ammanford...
, Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire is a unitary authority in the south west of Wales and one of thirteen historic counties. It is the 3rd largest in Wales. Its three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford...
, where his father was a blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
. He was the fifth of ten children. He spent his working life as a coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
miner
Miner
A miner is a person whose work or business is to extract ore or minerals from the earth. Mining is one of the most dangerous trades in the world. In some countries miners lack social guarantees and in case of injury may be left to cope without assistance....
, beginning work in 1894 at the age of eight, after a brief education at the local primary school.
His father's smithy
Forge
A forge is a hearth used for forging. The term "forge" can also refer to the workplace of a smith or a blacksmith, although the term smithy is then more commonly used.The basic smithy contains a forge, also known as a hearth, for heating metals...
remained a gathering point for local intellectuals and political activists. On January 28, 1908, David was badly injured in a colliery explosion
Mining accident
A mining accident is an accident that occurs during the process of mining minerals.Thousands of miners die from mining accidents each year, especially in the processes of coal mining and hard rock mining...
, which killed one of his brothers.
In 1910, Griffiths won his first eisteddfod chair, going on to win a further fifty in local events. In the same year, his wife Margaret died of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
. Griffiths also had a career as a journalist, writing for the Amman Valley Chronicle and also for BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Radio. In 1927, he travelled to South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
along with his son Gwilym, who was suffering from the same disease (from which Gwilym eventually died in 1935). In 1928, Griffiths became caretaker at the local grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
. In 1951 a film, David, was made, in which he played himself.
David (1951)
Director Paul Dickson, script Paul Dickson, phot Ronald Anscombe, music Grace Williams. Prod co World Wide. Dist Regent.Cast: D.R. Griffiths (Dafydd Rhys). John Davies (Ifor Morgan) Sam Jones (Rev Mr Morgan) Rachel Thomas (Mrs Morgan) Mary Griffiths (Mary Rhys), Gwenyth Petty (Mary Rhys as a young woman) Ieuan Davies (Dafydd Rhys as a young man), Rev. Gomer Roberts (himself) Prysor Williams (north Walian at Eisteddfod) Ieuan Rhys Williams (south Walian at Eisteddfod), Wynford Jones (narrator).
38 mins. U cert.
David is not merely the finest of all short films from Wales and a consummate achievement by Cardiff-born director Paul Dickson. It also ranks, for my money, in the pantheon of finest movies from Welsh directors - alongside, for example Un Nos Ola Leuad/ One Full Moon (Endaf Emlyn), House of America (Marc Evans) and Above Us The Earth (Karl Francis).
The hero of Dickson’s deeply affecting thinly-veiled biopic , made for the 1951 Festival of Britain
Festival of Britain
The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition in Britain in the summer of 1951. It was organised by the government to give Britons a feeling of recovery in the aftermath of war and to promote good quality design in the rebuilding of British towns and cities. The Festival's centrepiece was in...
is a working man, David Griffiths, known in the film as Dafydd Rhys, a school caretaker for decades and a former miner
Miner
A miner is a person whose work or business is to extract ore or minerals from the earth. Mining is one of the most dangerous trades in the world. In some countries miners lack social guarantees and in case of injury may be left to cope without assistance....
. DR’s later years in Ammanford at Amman Valley Grammar School would hardly seem to be the stuff of heroism but Dickson shows how this ordinary man has extraordinary virtues. He attains grandeur in bereavement and his innate dignity is seen here as an inspiration to the film’s narrator Ifor Morgan who recalls in adulthood his experiences as a school pupil under DR’s benign wing.
For the film's David is a friend to all at the grammar school, a stoic
STOIC
STOIC was a variant of Forth.It started out at the MIT and Harvard Biomedical Engineering Centre in Boston, and was written in the mid 1970s by Jonathan Sachs...
who for the most part masks his suffering and helps inculcate the correct traditional values into his school charges.
The actual David Griffiths – for the film is a thinly-veiled biopic - may never have achieved the fame of his brother, the miners’ leader and first Welsh secretary Jim Griffiths, but here represents a certain kind of honourable traditional Welsh proletarian. DR communicates a strong sense of his community’s worth and retains a fierce loyalty to the memory of his fellow pitmen.
David, impeccably structured and paced, shows or implies what a friend and bulwark DR has been over the years – and we see how his selfless help gave impetus at a vital time to the careers of both Jim Griffiths and a noted Welsh preacher Gomer Roberts.
The film’s most poignant section deals with the impact on DR of the death of his adored son, and the effect on Ifor (John Davies) and his fellow pupils of DR’s temporary estrangement from them as he retreats into himself and his memories.
Dickson handles the set pieces with highly effective restraint. A high angle shot from a balcony shows Dafydd reacting to news of his son’s serious illness, then left alone bracing himself, before resuming mopping the school hall floor with only the slightest pause. The body language in extremis allows us to gauge the depth of feeling.
This sense of loss is reinforced in a moment of great sadness when DR cleans outside windows of the school and Ifor, on the inside, seeking to re-establish the warmth between them, is effectively shut out as water from the cleaning cloth slides down the pane, blurring David’s impassive expression.
The small subtle touches give this film its stature. There’s a pleasing, almost throwaway moment when brother Jim, off to London and bound for miners' college, clasps the hand of a workmate on the platform and smears coaldust over his face as a gesture of comradeship as his train leaves.
This is almost eclipsed by the resonant images of Dafydd leaving the Eisteddfod after his poem, an elegy to his dead son, has contested the coveted Chair award.
David Griffiths may not have been an actor but here he conveys, impressively, the accumulated experience of a working man and the cadence of his voice, with its careful intonation and slight over-emphasis, lends weight to the sentiments. He suggests rare authority as DR effectively guides schoolboy Ifor through the landmarks of his past, his marriage, and his mining days, cut short by a serious mining accident
Mining accident
A mining accident is an accident that occurs during the process of mining minerals.Thousands of miners die from mining accidents each year, especially in the processes of coal mining and hard rock mining...
juxtaposed here with skill with the almost simultaneous birth of his son. DR imbues Ifor with an appreciation of the weight of the town’s proletarian tradition and the importance of the chapel, and the acknowledgement of the emotional legacy left by previous generations who have sat in those very chapel pews.
David’s climax, meticulously prepared low key drama is all the more effective for its understatement. We can appreciate the discipline and control Dickson exercises, and sense the affinity he feels for his subject, a man whose legacy to his own. and the youthful generation he shelters and by implication empowers, runs deep.
Dickson, in presenting us with familiar iconography - the rugby union game, the pit, the chapel - always skilfully skirts cliché, thanks to the manifest integrity of the images and presentation. Barry composer Grace Williams’s sensitive score registers the right degree of significance and dignity. David is unquestionably a better film than the director’s by no means negligible British Film Academy winning film The Undefeated (1950), a study of paraplegics and their rehabilitation. It also prompts profound regret that Dickson after making various low budget features, drifted into sponsored and industrial documentaries and never again ventured a Welsh subject worthy of his mettle.