SnoopyStyle A grandfather tells his grandson the story behind the nickname 'The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain'. It's 1917. English cartographers Reginald Anson (Hugh Grant) and George Garrad (Ian McNeice) come to the small Wales village of Ffynnon Garw. The locals consider it the first mountain inside of Wales but it has to be at least 1000ft for it to be called a mountain. Morgan the Goat (Colm Meaney) is the womanizing scheming pub owner. Everybody is shocked at the mountain being calculated as only a hill. Morgan suggests adding 20ft to the mountain, Reverend Jones demands that the soil be taken from their garden and Johnny Shellshocked (Ian Hart) convinces everybody that it can be done. Morgan schemes to keep the cartographers from leaving with the help of Betty from Cardiff (Tara Fitzgerald).It's a light fluffy little comedy. The humor is charming. It needs something with a bit of edge. Tara Fitzgerald could have been that biting edge. She needs to be in the movie right from the beginning. The romance could be much better considering the two actors. It's probably that her character is faking and his character is clueless. They don't have quite the right chemistry. The rest headed by Colm Meaney has a lot of charm and carries the day in the end.

B. Warren I'm pretty much in line with the 'mainstream' reviewers for fav flics; Lawrence, Quai, Dr. Z, 2001, Dr Strangelove, Silence, LA confidential, etc., etc.There are however, many lessor lights, that are so much worth watching. Some are by age and perspective. I loved 'Boat that Rocked', but if you are not of the 60's - 70's R&R era I could see why others would not.This movie 'The Englishman', is rare one. An enjoyable bit of fluff, filled with English humor, fit for all ages, but sharp enough to keep one entertained throughout the movie, which, itself is timeless.If you wish for a lighthearted enjoyable evening with any and all, that you would wish to share a movie night with, this is one. For certain.

robert-temple-1 I just saw this film again after many years, and enjoyed it even more this time. It is so delightful and refreshing, that it is a complete gem. It ranks with the wonderful whimsical comedies made by Sandy Mackendrick, such as WHISKEY GALORE (1949). The film is directed by Christopher Monger, who also wrote the screenplay, based on a story published by his father Ifor David Monger, who in turn heard the story from his own father. It seems that the story is essentially true. Considering how astonishing the story is, that really is remarkable. The film is set in 1917 in South Wales, just north of Cardiff, in a village with a long name which only the Welsh can pronounce. The Mongers were Welsh and so was Kenneth Griffiths, whose performance as the Methodist minister Robert Jones is spectacular and inspired, one of the best-honed comic performances in a British film for decades. He was 73 at the time. The humour of this film is the gentle, gnomic and teasing humour which the English use when they are making films about how charming, but deeply odd, either the Welsh or the Scots are. In this case it's the Welsh. I am very fond of the Welsh and have spent a great deal of time in South Wales, and I love the sing-song accent of the Welsh. I think most English people are fond of the Welsh, looking upon them as a quizzical species inhabiting the far west of the island, whom they wish they could understand. There is nothing the Welsh like better than half-teasing and half-insulting Englishmen, and there is plenty of that in the film, all hilariously funny of course. And when a Welshman gets stuffy, he may have a friend say to him, as happens in this film: 'Stop being so English.' Well, it is wartime and young Hugh Grant has just recovered from shell shock after taking part in the battle of Verdun, and is travelling on an assignment for the Ordnance Survey with a much older man, played by the totally hilarious Ian McKenzie. The humour in this film is all well-judged, and never over-played, though they come near it many a time. The Welsh in this village are very proud of the fact that just beyond their village is 'the first mountain in Wales', after which the mountains continue to rise up and define northern Wales. McKenzie and Grant have come to do an official survey and determine the height of the little mountain. McKenzie announces in the pub that if the mountain is less than 1000 feet high, it will be reclassified on the official maps as a hill. All of the villagers are deeply shocked, and are full of apprehension that their one claim to distinction will be taken away from them. When McKenzie and Grant are able to measure the height they find that it is 984 feet, and the mountain is therefore a hill. The whole village goes into shock, and they determine to take measures to save the reputation of their mountain. So they form chains of people to carry soil up to the top and raise the height of their hill so that it can become a mountain again. All the goings-on are so wonderfully funny and complex that they defy summary, but this film is certainly a chuckle-a-minute, punctuated by one's guffaws. About half way through the film the pretty girl, Betty, enters the story. She is played impishly and naughtily by Tara Fitzgerald. Tara and I were once 'sport champions' together in an episode hilarious enough to be in the Welsh film. My wife and I were staying with our friends the Hitchings for Christmas at Swalcliffe, and Tara was with her friends the Harrises, next door at Swalcliffe, when we all came together for purposes of merriment with a considerable amount of hearty drinking for an evening. Tara was determined to play a game of hockey, despite the fact that it was dark outside and very cold, and insisted on playing hockey on the Harris family's tennis court, which was beside their house. I had never played hockey, but because Tara is very bossy and readily takes charge (even aged 14), she soon set me straight. It was enormous fun playing hockey on a tennis court, lit only by the light that came from the windows, and with wisps of snow drifting across the court. Tara and I won a heroic victory and were much toasted. She is one hell of a gal, and as determined as they come. She always adds a note of piquancy to any film she is in, including this one. Hugh Grant was at his very best in this film, and it was only much later that he irritated everyone by becoming too self-regarding and pompous with his Hacked Off campaign. Who cares if Hugh Grant's phone was bugged? I don't. He probably only talked a load of rubbish anyway. But in this film he is perfectly charming, so all is well, because he was still young and unspoiled. The film really is a marvel. If only there were more like it.

sddavis63 A small village in Wales, relatively close to the boundary separating Wales from England, takes its identity from its proximity to what it considers to be its local mountain. All of a sudden, and quite unexpectedly, two English cartographers from the British Army show up to take a measurement of the hill and - to the horror of the town - the "mountain" is found to be 984 feet tall - 16 feet short of the 1000 feet required to be included on the map as a mountain.Set during the First World War, this movie presents an interesting picture of Welsh nationalism. In today's world, nationalism has acquired something of a bad name. It leads to feelings of superiority, racism, violence, terrorism and wars. The nationalism depicted here seemed to me to be of a more positive type. It wasn't about putting anyone down - it was about these villagers finding something about themselves and their land to take pride in without insulting anyone else - although it's clear that they themselves felt insulted by these two Englishmen having the nerve to question whether "their" mountain was really just a hill, and they set out to do something about it! One of the great lines in the movie was "if this isn't a mountain, we might as well be in England." The movie features good, if not overpowering, performances from pretty much everyone. Hugh Grant as the sympathetic Englishman Anson, and Ian McNeice as his less sympathetic partner - who considers the Welsh to be foreigners - do a fine job, and Colm Meaney has a very significant and well-played role as "Morgan the Goat" (there's some great humour here about Welsh names, that add to an overall wonderful, if somewhat low key, sense of humour throughout.) Tara Fitzgerald was also very good as Betty from Cardiff, who eventually becomes Anson's romantic interest, and also worth noting is Kenneth Griffith as Rev. Jones.Overall, this is a very pleasant journey of self-discovery for almost every character in the movie, and it's immensely enjoyable. 7/10