Three Films on Clay County, WV
Since my earliest days in WV, I have had good friends from Clay County, most importantly Happy Leiner, a member of the Stoerts clan. I screened the film in 2005 at The South Charleston Museum to a large audience that included Rebecca and Bill Kimmons. Kate Long and Elaine Purkey are also in the film.
Here are three films that anyone from Clay County should see.
Company Town
25 mins. 1983 16MM/VHS
Jim Rutenbeck began his professional career with this film. He now edits many of The American Experience films produced by WGBH-TV, shown nationally on PBS. His award-winning film, Raise the Dead, ends in War,McDowell County, West Virginia. Clay County) was once a thriving coal mining community. Using interviews, photographs and old film footage, this film recounts the history of Widen and its paternal ruler, coal baron Joseph Gardner Bradley, 1882-1971. It is still considered to be one of the best film portraits of an Appalachian company coal town. Access: Now available on VHS from Jim Rutenbeck, Lost Nation Pictures, 106 Oliver Road, Newton, MA 02468, (617) 969-6533, jrutenbeck@gmail.com $19.95 including public performance rights. WVLC has 16 mm and VHS copies. The Fifth String
81 mins. American Film Partners International
Pocahontas County musician Dwight Diller and Clay County musician John Morris play two brothers who love old time music. Diller, the older brother, is a professor of music and folklore who returns to Appalachia for the funeral of his uncle who raised him. Trapped in the mountains, he embarks on a confrontation with a past he has tried to forget. Filmed on location in Philadelphia, Clay, and Pocahontas Counties. Some locations in Pocahontas County include The Old Log Church, Moore’s Cabins on Jericho Road, the Marlinton Presbyterian Church, the Marlinton home of Wilma Wilson and Jamie Wilson Pitze, places in the Huntersville and Beaver Creek area, the county jail, the high school, and the radio station. A number of local people are included: some of Pam Lund’s students, several local law enforcement deputies, Woody Schoolcraft, and others. Official website for the film – www.thefifthstring.com. Access: Amazon, etc.
second description -
The Fifth String81 mins. 2003 Front Porch Entertainment Traditional mountain music is used as a metaphor for a wide range of personal and cultural issues in this ambitious and highly entertaining movie. Pocahontas County musician Dwight Diller and Clay County musician John Morris play two brothers who love old time music but have a strained relationship with each other. Diller, who plays the older brother, is a professor of music and folklore who returns to Appalachia for the funeral of the uncle who raised him. When he becomes trapped in the mountains, he embarks on a confrontation with a past he has tried to forget. The movie was filmed largely on location in Clay and Pocahontas counties and addresses issues of identity and cultural preservation in a changing world. Diller and Morris turn in convincing acting performances, and their strong musical skills make this an enjoyable and thought-provoking film. The DVD sells for $14.95 and is available on-line from amazon.com or by calling Front Porch Entertainment at (401)751-0014. www.thefifthstringmovie.com
MORRIS FAMILY OLD TIME MUSIC FESTIVAL
30 M. 1972 B&W 16MM/VHS Omnificent Systems
Dave and John Morris held their own music festival at Ivydale, Clay County, from 1969 to 1972. The festival was known for its traditional music, good times, and rain. WV. filmmaker Bob Gates filmed the last festival in exquisite black & white photography. Sight and sound are fused to recreate the happy time everyone had despite the downpour. Access: Frog Creek Books at the Charleston Farmers Market and the Tamarack Center in Beckley. WVLC has a 16 mm and VHS copies.
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My review and some comments on “The Fifth String”
“The Fifth String”
by Steve Fesenmaier
Oct 2004 for Graffiti MagazineJack Phelan has written and directed “The Fifth String”, a wonderful film starring mountain musicians Dwight Diller and John Morris. It was so good I had to watch it twice the first time I previewed it on DVD. Last year Larry Charles directed a vastly inferior film starring Bob Dylan called, “Masked and Anonymous” starring some of our best American actors including Jeff Bridges, John Goodman and Jessica Lange. No film I have ever seen wasted so much talent; including Dylan’s.“The Fifth String” is the complete opposite, utilizing both the acting and musical abilities of two well-known musicians who probably have as many years in music as Bob Dylan but a lot less film time. Made on a shoe-string budget in Philadelphia,
Pocahontas
County and Clay County, West Virginia the story transforms Diller into a University music professor who has spent his life teaching every kind of music but the kind he was taught as a child. Returning home for the funeral of an uncle who raised him, he gets trapped in the mountains, and is forced to face his personal demons. He even ends up in jail, cooling his jets just long enough to realize where he really belongs.
A friend of mine from
Clay
County also previewed the film and showed it to her clan, loving every minute of it. I myself thought that both Diller and Morris did a much better job of acting than Dylan, showing their love for each other and their music. One particularly poignant scene was the digging of the Uncle’s grave by hand on the back of the family farm. Local musicians including Pete Kosky, Bill Kimmons, and Kate Long play the pallbearers.
I immediately suggested to Troy Body, the acting commissioner of Culture & History at the State Capitol that he show the film, and invite the stars and their many friends. John Lilly, the editor of Goldenseal watched the film, and loved it of course. It is a landmark film for anyone who appreciates the human values of
Appalachia and its music. Phelan told me he has found a distributor for the film. I certainly hope so. I know that thousands of people around the country would love to see such a heartwarming, unassuming film. I particularly enjoyed the flashback scenes, showing various Appalachian musicians doing their thing back in the Good Ole’ Days.
Excerpts from other reviews:
“The music and story line of this film are both excellent. Music translates time, location, and memory…I enjoyed the film and would watch it over and over for the music
alone.
–J.D. Waggoner
Director of the West Virginia Library Commission
“Country folk will love this film. Folks who like “Old Timey Music” will eat it up! Most anyone who lives back in the hills and hollers of the eastern mountains, or for that matter, rural
Americana, will find his or her heart gladdened by this film. Simply put, the story and its incredibly wonderful sound track will resonate with all the people who see their grass is greenest not on the other side of the fence but in their country roots.
Hollywood won’t like the film. Critics will say it’s amateurish. Mountain folks will love it.”
—Allen Johnson
Director of the
Pocahontas
County Free Libraries
December 20, 2004
