"House in America" filmed in Banwen, Vales of Neath?

[Kelly R. Williams]

Hello all,

This past summer I had the opportunity, after a choral tour in England, to
visit the location where my great-great-grandfather (John W. Williams) lived
at the time he emigrated to the US (1853). He was on a farm named
Pantyddrainen, next to a village called Banwen, near Ystradgynlais. I enjoyed
the visit tremendously - the people were delightful, I learned some new things
about a few ancestors, and the area itself is just beautiful! I hope to go
back soon.

Presently in this village is a large former pub called the Pantyddrainen
Hotel. It was empty when I was there and was painted a rather shocking red
and yellow. I was fortunate to meet a local historian named George Evans, who
lives just behind this building. He told me the reason for the paint scheme
was that filming had recently been done there for a film called "House in
America", which included Sian Phillips among its performers.

I have not been able to learn anything further about this film - whether it
was ever completed, where it would be shown, etc. Does anyone have any
information about this production?

Many thanks for anything you can offer,

Kelly Williams
will...@success.net

P.S. I have a wonderful book filled with choral arrangements hand-written by
my G-G-grandfather in 1852. Does anyone know how I might be able to find out
if he was perhaps a leader of singing in that area at that time?

[Wayne Putterill]

Kelly R. Williams wrote:

>He told me the reason for the paint scheme
> was that filming had recently been done there for a film called "House in
> America", which included Sian Phillips among its performers.
>
> I have not been able to learn anything further about this film - whether it
> was ever completed, where it would be shown, etc. Does anyone have any
> information about this production?
>

The world premier is in Cardiff on December 10th, it will be shown on
HTV on friday December 20th at 10.20pm, with general release scheduled
for early '97.