Fishguard, Wales, held a few surprises for me. Some came up while I stayed in town, and I learned a few more months after my trip.
Remember how I whined a bit about not going into the Shipman’s Pub in Lower Town? If I’d gone, I could have seen photos of the actors from “Under Milk Wood” and “Moby-Dick,” which was also filmed in Fishguard. It’s funny how you can walk around a place and not realize you’re following in the footsteps of someone like Gregory Peck.
I’m not the kind of person who gets starstruck; I’ve worked for a couple of celebrities. I’ve photographed a few quite famous ones while working as a photographer in Hawaii. I worked on a boat for another. Yet here I am dropping names as if I knew them all, such as an icon of my generation, Dylan Thomas. I couldn’t have known him, as he died at age 38, the year I was born. That said, I enjoyed walking in the footsteps of Gregory Peck, Peter O’Toole, and Richard Burton on my visit to Fishguard.
The film itself, “Moby-Dick,” has no footage of the town, as it was filmed at sea. However, the movie cast and crew took over the town during the filming. If you’ve ever watched a movie filmed where you live, it adds to the experience because you recognize the landmarks throughout. Well, one sea swell looks like the rest, so I don’t know of anything in the film that would mark this town. However, the film put Fishguard on the map and left residents with many stories to tell for generations. I read “Moby-Dick” as required reading in school, so I can appreciate that Fishguard got a piece of this classic fiction to add to its local history.
I looked down at the light in Fishguard Bay, which guides boats safely to harbor, not knowing that some might see an imprint of the sailing vessel that played the Pequod. I remained unaware of its passage at the time.
I plan to watch “Under Milk Wood” soon (Linked below). Now that I know where they filmed, it will be fun to see the area as it looked back in the early 1970s.
I must confess, I watched it. After writing this part about the movie, I decided to watch it after finding it on YouTube. The Quay house appeared early in the film. About 30 minutes in, I decided I couldn’t watch it anymore. Even with well-known actors of the time who, of course, gave great performances, I didn’t care for the story (sorry, Dylan Thomas), so I fast-forwarded to each section that showed the surroundings. When I first arrived in this town, I quickly realized the region felt timeless. The film confirmed that little had changed over the decades, and touring historical places confirmed it even further.
That said, I could hear Dylan Thomas’s voice throughout the narration and dialogue in the portions of the movie I watched, this first-ever film adaptation of his play.
Delighted to know almost every location in the movie, I skipped past the storyline and focused on the sets. It looked like they added the boat-like appendage in the front of O’Toole’s character’s house. I only recognized it because it was attached to other recognizable row houses. Although the row houses were painted in different colors than they are now, I recognized them along the harbor. The film even included some footage in the neighborhood where I stayed.
Because I skipped a good portion of the film, I can’t really review it. Filmed in the 1970s, it had the feel of many movies from that era. I don’t know how to describe them well, except to say many movies left you with no closure, or were so cryptic throughout, or the ending left you unfulfilled. Maybe a good descriptor for that era of filmmaking is that the films spoke more to my parents’ generation? Or, who knows why I didn’t connect with the film. I encourage you to watch it. Especially if you’re a fan of Thomas’s work or classic British cinema.
Below are some clips from the movie and my images rolled into a short video, with Richard Burton’s narration from “Under Milk Wood.” Clips include Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole.
Even though I didn’t enjoy the film, I’m still a fan of Dylan Thomas and his prose, and I do appreciate much of the script’s prose. And of course the connection to my travel there.
I’m not writing this story in order, or all together, as I interrupt with other events, or shiny objects. If you wish to follow just the travel story, click on the “Europe 2026” tag below to connect to this journey of Iceland, Ireland, and Wales.
I would love to see your comments, below!
The full movie “Moby-Dick” on YouTube: https://youtu.be/kf12JIC8jcA?si=FPcbyFiCZA9bXItD
This is one person’s walk around Fishguard talking about the making of the movie “Moby-Dick.”
And here’s the full movie of “Under Milk Wood.”