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Churchill in Film and Video: Part 1, Dramatizations
- By GWEN THOMPSON, DAVE TURRELL, AND RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
- | February 23, 2024
- Category: Resources
Part 1 of “Churchill in Film and Video” comprises dramatizations featuring Winston Churchill—fictional cinema based on fact, beginning with Young Winston (1972). Some films (which we tend to appreciate) adhere to reality; others do not. Part 2 will list non-fiction documentaries, beginning with Jack Le Vien’s famous series The Valiant Years (1960). Both compilations constitute a work in progress, always subject to amendment and addition. Comments or corrections are most welcome. Please contact us via email.
Our focus is on Churchill-specific productions. We do not include walk-on appearances, such as Robert Hardy’s portrayal of WSC in War and Remembrance. We also exclude films in which a Churchill character does not appear. Two 2017 examples (neither of which we can recommend, except for their cinematography) are reviewed separately: Dunkirk and The Viceroy’s House.
WHERE TO FIND THEM: We have linked films available on the Internet. For others, check your streaming video supplier, starting with Netflix. Excerpts come and go on YouTube, so check there first. Old videotapes may be available on Internet sales sites such as eBay.
Film drama: a retrospective
David Franco, reviewing the 2017 film Churchill, starring Brian Cox, raises thoughtful questions: “Isn’t the ability to accept one’s mistakes part of what makes a person a good leader? To what extent should we rely [on] past experiences in order to minimize mistakes in the future? These are the questions that make a bad movie like Churchill worth seeing.”
A lot of thoughtful readers of its reviews opted to skip that bad film. Described as “perverse fantasy” by historian Andrew Roberts, it joined a recent spate of sloppy Churchill bio-films preferring skewed caricatures and unreality to genuine people and history. Film producers might think it trendy to criticize Churchill, though attacks on his leadership began just after the Second World War. A thriving mini-industry in Churchill revisionism has existed ever since.
It started with books. Alanbrooke’s memoirs (1959) was the first break with the hero image. Reginald Thompson’s The Yankee Marlborough (1963) portrayed Churchill as a man of flesh and blood, who made mistakes, like everybody else. Robert Rhodes James’s Churchill: A Study in Failure (1970) catalogued political missteps, such as supporting Edward VIII in the 1936 Abdication crisis. John Charmley’s Churchill: The End of Glory (1993) rocked Churchillians by arguing that WSC should have backed away from the Hitler war to preserve Britain’s preeminence. More recently, Max Hastings criticized Churchill’s leadership in both World Wars: Catastrophe 1914 and Winston’s War, 1940-45.
Whatever we make of their assessments, those were qualified critics whose arguments merit consideration if not rebuttal. Alas, we cannot say the same about the recent round of Churchill movies, although lately there has been a change for the better.
Early productions
The Churchill film industry began well and was honest for years. Young Winston (1972) was a vivid presentation based on WSC’s autobiography. Its distinguished acting cast was mostly faithful to what historians know of the principals. In one scene Lady Randolph Churchill (Anne Bancroft) says of David Lloyd George (Anthony Hopkins): “He has the most disconcerting way of looking at women.” Lots of women had that opinion of the Welshman.
In 1974, Lee Remick reprised Lady Randolph Churchill in as brilliant a portrayal as ever existed. A Churchill award dinner for the dying Lee, her last public appearance, was attended by Gregory Peck, who praised the great actress’s “depth of womanliness.” Jennie, recently remastered, remains as fine a historical drama as any put on film.
Also in 1974, Richard Burton delivered a believable Churchill in The Gathering Storm, about WSC’s “wilderness years.” Again, it rarely deviated from fact, although Burton spoiled the effect later by denouncing Churchill for fictitious sins against Welsh miners. (Privately, Burton expressed admiration for “the old boy”…but later the cameras were on.)
The 1981 TV production Churchill: The Wilderness Years remains the model Churchill miniseries. Robert Hardy grandly showed us both Churchill’s human frailties and his true greatness. Hardy and his writers partnered with Churchill’s official biographer, Sir Martin Gilbert, to reproduce the anxious politician of the 1930s, out of power, vainly warning of the Nazi menace. Brilliantly cast, the result was a masterpiece.
Turn for the worse
Albert Finney was a solid Churchill in the second Gathering Storm (2002). As skillfully cast as The Wilderness Years, it featured Vanessa Redgrave in a bravura performance as Clementine Churchill. The story line, while not uncritical, did not deviate from fact. Even in the cynical, anti-heroic 21st century, it seemed, filmmakers could still tell his story without reducing Churchill to a flawed burlesque or godlike caricature.
Then came Into the Storm, a 2009 television drama broadcast by the BBC and HBO. Here, in a series set in 1945 with 1940 flashbacks, Brendan Gleeson gave us the most histsorically precise Churchill since Robert Hardy. Things were looking good.
Alas, in the last several years, we’ve had three films which can only be described as “fake history.” The Crown, a Netflix series (2016-23), covered the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. It was well acted but badly scripted. John Lithgow portrayed a senile prime minister who hid his 1953 stroke from The Queen and repeatedly painted his goldfish pond in a muddle of depression. Factually, The Queen knew of Churchill’s stroke three days after it happened. And he was never so dotty as to make repeated paintings of his fishpond. Where do these ideas come from?
Churchill, starring Brian Cox, was built around the myth that Churchill opposed D-Day virtually up to the Normandy landings. In reality, Churchill had sought “a lodgment on the continent” since the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940. His concept of floating “Mulberry Harbours” for landing tanks and equipment dated back to 1917. This didn’t prevent Cox from interviews repeating a host of canards, including the notion that Churchill wanted to invade Germany over the Alps.
Hope ahead?
There is no question that fictitious scenes and conversations are legitimate contrivances in a biographic film. But they must not depart from what we know. And thanks to historians like Martin Gilbert and Andrew Roberts, we know a lot.
There cause for hope. In 2018, Gary Oldman starred as Churchill in a modem classic, Darkest Hour. It focused on Britain’s stand against Hitler’s all-conquering forces in 1940. Oldman fastidiously consulted with qualified historians, striving to find “a way in” to the real Churchill. Despite a few bizarre counterfactuals, added for drama, he produced a classic. Oldman himself was the best Churchill actor since Robert Hardy. The movie was widely praised and rewarded.
Darkest Hour fairly answered David Franco’s questions. Yes, accepting one’s mistakes does make a person a good leader. Yes, Churchill learned from his mistakes. He was a man of quality—a good guide for our own troubled times. And after a long lapse, he deserved a film that did him justice. —RML
Part 1: Dramatizations
1972: Young Winston
Columbia Pictures, 124 mins., starring Simon Ward as WSC. Directed by Richard Attenborough, written by Carl Foreman, based on Churchill’s My Early life. Magnificently filmed, much on location, with fine performances by Ward, Anne Bancroft (Lady Randolph), Anthony Hopkins (Lloyd George), Robert Shaw (Lord Randolph) and Robert Hardy (Young Winston’s head master). It accurately covers the period from birth to entry into Parliament and meeting Clementine Hozier. Complete film on YouTube.
1974: Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill
Thames Television, seven 52 min. episodes, starring Warren Clarke as WSC and Lee Remick as Lady Randolph. Produced by Andrew Brown, directed by James Cellan Jones, written by Julian Mitchell. Despite what strong temptations have tempted others to give a skewed portrait of Winston’s mother, Mitchell proved that the truth is as dramatic as fiction, producing one of the top five Churchill bio-films. Lee Remick was not a Jennie lookalike, wrote critic Stewart Knowles: “What cast the illusion were clothes, wigs, and the talent of a great actress.” Viewable on YouTube starting with Part 1. You will not be satisfied with just one episode.
1974: The Gathering Storm
Clarion Films for BBC and Hallmark Hall of Fame, 72 mins., starring Richard Burton as WSC. Produced by Duane Bogie and Jack LeVien, written by Colin Morris. Covers Churchill’s rise from rejected Cassandra to Prime Minister; the only 1930s drama to include King Edward VIII’s Abdication. Reviewed online. The great war speeches aren’t entirely accurate, but there are excellent performances by Burton, Robert Hardy (Ribbentrop), Virginia McKenna (Clementine) Clive Francis (Randolph) and Robin Bailey (Chamberlain). Munich is dramatically portrayed. Complete film on YouTube.
1981: Churchill and the Generals
Le Vien Films and BBC, three 60 min. episodes, starring Timothy West as WSC. Produced by Jack Le Vien, directed by Alan Gibson, written by Ian Curteis. A television series covering 1940-45 and Churchill’s relations with Allied commanders. West’s WSC is “impetuous, erratic, destructive, widely distrusted” (The New York Times). Eric Porter (Chamberlain in The Wilderness Years) is Alanbrooke. In a dramatic clip, Eisenhower (Richard Dysart) accuses Churchill of foot-dragging over the Normandy invasion. Interspersed black and white archival footage adds a documentary flavor.
1981: Churchill: The Wilderness Years
Southern Television, eight-part television miniseries, 390 mins., starring Robert Hardy as WSC. Reviewed by Hillsdale with clips from four episodes: Hitler, 1932; Air Power, 1935; Appeasement, 1937-38; War, 1939. By far the most accurate and riveting Churchill drama, portraying his true finest hours: his lonely struggle to warn the nation, from 1932 to his return to the Admiralty in 1939. Extensively filmed at Chartwell and Blenheim Palace. Brilliantly cast with outstanding lookalike actors, it is faithful to history thanks to the fastidious editing of Sir Martin Gilbert. Received nine award nominations including Best Actor (BAFTA and Press Guild), won by Hardy. Siân Phillips (Clementine) and Nigel Havers (Randolph Churchill) earned seven nominations and six awards between them. A true classic.
1986: Leaders: Churchill
PBS, 90 mins., starring Robert Hardy as WSC. Produced by David Susskind in a multi-part series. A short excerpt on Socialism, with minor misquotes, is available on YouTube. A one-man show couples Hardy’s unmatched impersonation to an error-laden script full of misinformation and misquotes. The characterization is simply wrong. Set in 1946, when WSC embarks on fictitious lecture tour. Churchill never criticized his colleagues when abroad. Here he appears as a stand-up comic, delivering one-liners about “sheep in sheep’s clothing” (a fictitious crack about Attlee). An online review recaps the cornucopia of errors.
1994: World War II: When Lions Roared
NBC, originally four 60 min. episodes, later in two parts totaling 194 mins., starring Bob Hoskins as WSC. Produced by David W. Rintels. Covers wartime allies Churchill, Stalin (Michael Caine) and Roosevelt (John Lithgow, who later played WSC in The Crown). Split-screens show them reacting to each other’s telegrams. Hoskins, a believable Churchill, subsequently denounced WSC as a drunken megalomaniac. Stalin is too much of a cuddly bear; Roosevelt looks right but his speech lacks FDR’s unique lilt. Received six Emmy nominations, winning one for Best Lighting. Complete film on YouTube: Part 1; Part 2.
2002: The Gathering Storm
HBO, 96 mins., starring Albert Finney as WSC. Directed by Richard Loncraine, written by Larry Ramin and Hugh Whitemore. Reviewed online. With a $12 million budget, the film covered Churchill’s attempts to warn of the Nazi menace with secret information provided by Ralph Wigram. More accurate than the Richard Burton film by the same name. Finney avoids reducing WSC to a flawed burlesque or godlike caricature. Except for huge gap in the story (Chamberlain and Munich), it honestly covers events from 1934 to Churchill’s 1939 arrival at the Admiralty. Outstanding performances by Vanessa Redgrave (Clementine), Lena Headey (Ava Wigram) and Hugh Bonneville (“Ivor Pettifer,” based on Walter Runciman). Viewed by 4.5 million in the UK alone, the film won over a dozen awards and citations. Complete film on YouTube.
2004: Churchill: The Hollywood Years
Pathé Distribution, 84 mins., with Christian Slater as WSC. Produced by Jonathan Cavendish, directed by Peter Richardson, written by Richardson, Pete Richens and Marcel Theroux. A parody-satire on Hollywood’s tendency to rewrite history: WSC is actually a dashing U.S. Marine spy. Together with “Denzel Eisenhower” he steals an Enigma machine, wins a battle for Britain and stops Hitler (Anthony Sher) from marrying Princess Elizabeth (Neve Campbell). Eva Braun is played by Miranda Richardson, who portrayed Clementine Churchill in the 2017 Brian Cox production. The film received only gag awards.
2004: Dunkirk
BBC2, three 60 min. episodes, with Sir Simon Russell Beale as WSC. Directed by Alex Holmes, written by Holmes, Neil McKay and Lisa Osborne. A “dramatized documentary” on the Dunkirk evacuation. Unlike the 2017 production by the same name, includes a Churchill character. Drawing upon testimony and interviews from 100 survivors, the miniseries won a BAFTA award for “specialist factual” productions and received four other nominations. Over five million watched, making it the BBC’s most popular program since The Office.
2009: Into the Storm (or Churchill at War)
BBC and HBO, 99 mins., starring Brendan Gleeson as WSC. Directed by Thaddeus O’Sullivan, written by Hugh Whitemore (a sequel to Whitemore’s The Gathering Storm 2). Reviewed online. The Prime Minister leads Britain through its greatest crisis, only to be dismissed in the moment of triumph. Several quotations are out of time and context. Brendan Gleeson accurately portrays Churchill in Britain’s last great world leadership role, long after “the palmy days of Queen Victoria.” Janet McTeer portrays an unconvincing Clementine. Trailer on YouTube.
2011: Allegiance
Third Man Films, 90 mins., starring Mel Smith as WSC. Directed by Brian Gilbert, written by Mary Kenny. This 2005 play-become-film received larger notices as a play than as a film. It covers a fictitious meeting between Irish Republican Army leader Michael Collins and Churchill at Chartwell, WSC’s home. They form an unlikely friendship which resulted in important decisions leading to Irish Treaty and Irish independence. It also led in time to Collins’ assassination.
2016: Churchill’s Secret
BBC and PBS, 100 mins., starring Michael Gambon as WSC. Directed by Charles Sturridge, written by Jonathan Smith and Stewart Harcourt, filmed partly at Chartwell. Based on Jonathan Smith’s The Churchill Secret: KBO, this drama covers Churchill’s 1953 stroke, fears for his life, and efforts to keep it quiet. Michael Gambon (Dumbledore in Harry Potter) is an acceptable WSC. Overindulges in family arguments—we have it on good authority that this is exaggerated. Nominated for six film and television awards.
2016: The Crown
Left Bank and Sony Pictures for Netflix, six seasons comprised sixty 60 min. episodes, starring John Lithgow as WSC in season 1. Created by Peter Morgan; many directors. Reviewed online. The Queen (Claire Foy) and WSC were well cast, but their imaginary conversations are historically unlikely. Outrageous suggestions include Churchill’s unconcern over the 1952 Great Smog, and not informing The Queen about his 1953 stroke. Prince Philip (Matt Smith) also comes in for disparaging mischaracterization. In productions like this, truth and accuracy matter far less than and perception, and reality bends to fit the creator’s mindset.
2017: Churchill
Lionsgate Films, 104 mins., starring Brian Cox as WSC. Directed by Jonathan Teplitzky, written by Alex von Tunzelmann. Reviewed by Hillsdale. Covers the forty-eight hours before D-Day, highlighting WSC’s relations with Clementine (Miranda Richardson). Well-acted by Cox and Richardson, but the script is broadly inaccurate, utterly misrepresenting Churchill’s attitude toward D-Day. The PM is petulant, ill-tempered, sarcastic, unpleasant, oafish and drunk. Many details are off: wrong garb and uniforms, even wrong locations, like a top-secret Chiefs of Staff meeting on a country house lawn; yet it won a production design award. Trailer on YouTube.
2018: Darkest Hour
Universal Films, 125 mins., starring Gary Oldman as WSC. Directed by Joe Wright, written and produced by Anthony McCarten. Reviewed by Hillsdale. The finest Churchill performance since Robert Hardy’s in the Wilderness Years series, covering the Dunkirk, the Fall of France and how Britain fought on. Exciting throughout, it captures the true essence of the man. Some fictional episodes actually support the reality of the moment. Lily James portrays secretary Elizabeth Layton; Kristin Scott Thomas is a believable Clementine. Won two Oscars including Best Actor for Oldman, two BAFTAs, a Golden Globe and several other important awards. Video review by Dr. Larry Arnn.
Spot on assessment of Churchillian related filmdom. I remember enjoying When Lions Roared, but, yes, Stalin was too “cuddly,” plus I kept expecting Roger Rabbit to pop up as a foil to Hoskin’s Churchill! The Crown is well acted, but while I am a huge fan of John Lithgow, not so much of his Churchill. I also never thought Timothy West was a very good Churchill, though I absolutely love Gary Oldman in Darkest Hour. However, the focus group tube (subway) scene was certainly a silly interlude in an otherwise excellent film.