Churchill's Secret
February. 29,2016British Prime Minister Winston Churchill suffers from a stroke in the summer of 1953 that's kept a secret from the rest of the world.
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Am i the only one who thinks........Average?
A Masterpiece!
This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
It is one film who must see it. first - for a form of admirable grace to tell a story in inspird manner. for the images and atmosphere and Michael Gambon work. not the last, for the virtue to not be usefull to compare it with the others films about Churchill. because, scene by scene, it becomes a personal story. about politics, family, duty and time. it has the virtues of a confesion . because it brokes the problems of phsical resemblance, historical accuracy, comparaisons between history book and the vision of Charles Sturrige. it is easy to define as a beautiful TV film. but, if you are real honest, you admit than is more than a beautiful film.
Set in 1953, Charles Sturridge's drama concentrates on one of the major political secrets of the Fifties - the stroke experienced by Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Michael Gambon), the news of which was kept from the public sphere through the machinations of his private secretary Jock Colville (Patrick Kennedy) and the powerful media barons led by Max Aitken, aka Lord Beaverbrook (Matthew Marsh).There is a good story to tell here about politics, and the concept of releasing information on a "need to know" basis, something beloved of Sir Humphrey Appleby and his fellow civil servants in YES MINISTER. Concepts of "truth" and the public interest really do not matter; so long as the wheels of government keep running in the way they have always done, then everyone is happy. It was one of the lessons of this incident that the Conservatives and their civil servants realized that they could govern without Churchill, or his deputy Sir Anthony Eden (Alex Jennings).Unfortunately this production misses just about every opportunity to reflect on past history. Instead Sturridge transforms it into a soupy family melodrama with echoes of THE KING'S SPEECH. Gambon makes a fair stab at Churchill, even though he looks nothing like the Old Man; but Lindsay Duncan, as Clemmie, looks to be impersonating Vanessa Redgrave (who memorably played the same role in THE GATHERING STORM (2002)) rather than developing a performance of her own. Although she protests a lot about her love for Winston, she seems more preoccupied with keeping her errant offspring under control, led by Randolph (Matthew Macfadyen) and Diana (Tara Fitzgerald). None of them, it seems, are very happy with their lives, and take every opportunity to voice their discontents. In the end we feel rather sorry for the old boy, not just because of his desire to continue in power, but because he has to contend with such an appalling family. Stewart Harcourt's script doesn't really know whether to sympathize with Churchill or to criticize him for his self-absorption. Great man he might have been; but he seems to have been neglectful of his family. In the end Harcourt abandons this issue and opts instead for the traditional happy ending where Churchill makes a great recovery from his illness and gives a speech to the party conference in Margate.The script is full of anachronisms; and although Sturridge makes strenuous efforts to hold our interest by using heritage film conventions such as cutaway shots of old vehicles, interior scenes with orange lights focusing on the characters' faces, and exteriors of Chartwell (where much of the production as filmed), the drama as a whole fails to come to life.If viewers want to find out more about Churchill's life from recent films, they would be better advised to dig out THE GATHERING STORM (2002) and its sequel INTO THE STORM (2009).
I mainly know about the former British Prime Minister focused in this TV made film through his work during World War II, and the "V for Victory" sign, so I was interested to see a dramatisation of his later years, directed by Charles Sturridge (FairyTale: A True Story, Lassie). Basically set in June 1953, it has been two years since Sir Winston Churchill (Sir Michael Gambon) has been elected Prime Minister for the second time. Winston and his wife Clemeintine 'Clemmie' (About Time's Lindsay Duncan) are hosting a dinner party at Downing Street, when during his speech he starts slurring, and he eventually collapses. Winston's doctor Lord Moran (Bill Paterson) diagnoses him as having a serious stroke, there are fears he may not survive, he is taken to his country home Chartwell for treatment and recovery, but his illness is kept under wraps. Publicly it is said that Winston is suffering exhaustion, the newspaper owners consent to printing this deception, meanwhile Winston's children arrive to watch over him, Winston's son Randolph (The Three Musketeers' Matthew Macfadyen) is drinking and causes feuds, Winston's daughter Sarah (Detectorist's Rachael Stirling) is struggling with her film career, and Clemmie is reflecting on the loss of their infant daughter. The Cabinet is informed of the events concerning Winston and his health, Lord Moran sends plain-spoken Yorkshire nurse Millie Appleyard (Romola Garai) to look after the great man. With the help of Millie and the devotion of his wife, Churchill survives and recovers to address the Conservative party conference later in the year. Winston Churchill retired two years later, and the country was unaware of Churchill's secret until long after his death on 24th January 1965. Also starring The Elephant Man's John Standing as Lord Camrose, Downton Abbey's Daisy Lewis as Mary Churchill, Matilda Sturridge as Rosie Hopper, Me and Orson Welles' Christian McKay as Christopher Soames, Brassed Off's Tara Fitzgerald as Diana Churchill and The Queen's Alex Jennings as Anthony Eden. Gambon gives a great performance as the well-respected British statesman who suffered a terrible illness that was never known about, and many of the supporting cast members get their moments, I certainly had no idea of this hidden event of history, this is well written, and you are drawn in to see how the great man and his family suffered, a most worthwhile drama. Very good!
Having recently read biographies of Rab Butler, Harold MacMillan and Anthony Eden, I had a degree of foreknowledge about the events depicted in this ITV drama. Did I then or now think it warranted a two hour drama, well, no I didn't and having watched it, I think so even less. I looked forward to a behind-the-scenes insight into the political machinations of the time, which saw the news of the P.M.'s stroke blacked out by the media while he made a slow recovery from his illness. In the wings was his long-time second-in-command, Anthony Eden, itching to get into number 10, but, by an unfortunate coincidence, he was also also a recovering invalid from a botched operation carried out abroad.All I got here though was about two thirds of the time devoted to the Churchill family dynamics as three very different daughters and one hard-drinking son converge on the Churchill country house in Chartwell, with the other third dealing more with the politics culminating in Churchill recovering sufficiently to deliver his party leader speech at the Conservative Party Conference at Margate in 1953. I found the inter-family drama to be boring and uninteresting. The very obvious point is made that Churchill's personality dominated those of his wife and children as they unattractively find ways to bicker amongst themselves even as their father fights death in the same house. As for the political background, Rab Butler is dismissed as a non-entity, Anthony Eden appears only fleetingly and Harold MacMillan doesn't show at all. Just when you think you're being served up a family melodrama, the film does an abrupt about turn to focus on Churchill's return to health and political action.What we also get is the creation of a fictitious nurse who is brought in to provide special care for the great man and predictably becomes a lightning rod between the sometimes difficult relationship of Churchill and his wife Clementine. As a device, I found it an unnecessary distraction. There's also a lot of questionable guff floating about too as the ailing P.M. recalls childhood memories in his distracted state concerning the early death of an infant girl-friend which causes him to sing "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" on occasion.I wasn't impressed with the acting either. Martin Gambon looks nothing like Churchill, a difference highlighted all the more as a portrait of the real Winston is for some reason prominently displayed in some scenes and besides barely tries to reproduce his master's distinctive voice. Lindsay Duncan is similarly unconvincing as the wife / matriarch figure Clemmy Churchill and acts like she's permanently sitting on a very sharp pin, while Nurse Appleyard could have walked off the set of "Call The Midwife" so stereotypical is her character. Did I mention the (in)action was slow and ponderous too?This was thin fare in my opinion and added little to my insight of either the 1950's political situation, the internal workings of the Churchill family or the character of a great man in decline.