Darkest Hour Movie.

[JimInks]

Darkest Hour: I thought it was very well filmed with many exciting shots that did not over dramatize depicted events, but reinforced the emotions of those moments. The acting was superb all the way around. There is some fictionalization mingled in (particularly in the personal scenes surrounding the war), but the historical facts seem mostly correct. I doubt Churchill privately suffered over the decision as much or in the way it was depicted, but the audience seemed gripped by it all, so I would say all of that was very effective. Oldman took center stage in this movie in much the same way George C. Scott did in Patton, and the viewer comes away with positive feelings of both men when those movies end.
On another subject, smoking was cut to a minimum even though the events take place in 1940. There was a pipe in an ashtray at a table, but there wasn't one smoked, and mostly, only Gary Oldman as "Winston Churchill" was smoking. Two people smoked a cigarette.

 

[derekflint]

Looking forward to seeing it ..........

 

[ssjones]

I'm curious to see Oldman's portrayal versus Lithgow's from "The Crown" (which I thought was pretty good).

 

[mikestanley]

First review from Jim I remember without “grassy, hay like or citrus” in it. I enjoyed the movie. Saw it in a theatre with nothing but recliners. Found I prefer the regular seats.

Mike S.

 

[JimInks]

Mike: there were hardly any landscape scenes and no fruit juice! :D

 

[buster]

I thought it was a fantastic movie! I went to see it last weekend with a friend. He didn't know anything about the movie when I invited him but he thoroughly enjoyed it.
On a side note. Netflix has a documentary called Five Came Back. It's about the film directors who filmed the WW2 documentaries and news clips. Lots of pipes spotted in it.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Good documentary, that. And pipes were shown because that's the way it was and no sanitization was enacted.

 

[mso489]

There are about eight movies we want to see right now, and we're very booked so we'll have to squeeze them in. This is one of them. If you are in London, be sure to see the war rooms about a quarter of a mile from Parliament down an inconspicuous entrance, now well known for the museum. This is where Churchill spent many days and nights. He had a small narrow iron frame bed for overnights and naps. The walls are lined with maps and there are period uniforms and other regalia. Of course the overheads are deeply reinforced against heavy bombing. Also if opportunity presents itself, take a trip to Chartwell, Churchill's home outside London. You can see the house, some of his paintings (oils I think), and a brick wall he built, of which it is said workers went behind him when he was out of ear shot because he wasn't much of a bricklayer. There are many wonderful anecdotes about Sir Winston tempting many poor living room actors to impersonate the man, including (I'm afraid) me. Great wit, subtle mind. Also for some of his colleagues a tireless blowhard. A towering figure in history for better and in some cases for worse. From the trailers I'd guess his marriage is depicted as somewhat more tender than it was ... some distance and straying in that sector, if I remember. He was rejected by voters after the war, but this may have prolonged his life and was probably wise; he was a man for the times, and UK needed to move on.

 

[didache]

It is interesting that Churchill so badly lost the election in 1945. He very clearly was the right leader during the war years but as early as 1942 the so-called 'Beveridge Report' which amounted to a comprehensive manifesto of social reform, including social security, a National Health Service, a full employment policy and other advances. As the war came to an end, and people looked to the peace, these ideas took root - hardly surprising in a generation that still remembered the stifling poverty of the 1930s. Many politicians campaigned vociferously for the adoption of the Report.
This was in opposition to the Conservatives, who were accused with some justice of delaying and obstructing it. In fact, Churchill spoke of Beveridge in private as 'a windbag and a dreamer'.
Because of the public desire for social reform, the Labour Party led in the polls as early as 1943 and by 18% as the war ended. Clement Attlee was set up for his landslide victory in July 1945.
Churchill soon recovered his spirits. He reinvented himself as a global statesman and doggedly retained the leadership of the Conservative Party, confidently awaiting what he saw as the inevitable reaction against Socialism - a reaction which never came. A great wartime leader, yes, but also something of a dinosaur still living in the Victorian/Edwardian era.
Mike

 

[anantaandroscoggin]

I remember ages ago seeing "Young Winston" when it first came out. Don't know if it had much in the way of historical accuracy, but it told its story pretty well.

 

[wyfbane]

confidently awaiting what he saw as the inevitable reaction against Socialism - a reaction which never came

He wasn't the first to underestimate the stupidity of man, nor shall he be the last.

 

[mso489]

People in the U.S., even those who know some history, forget that the post WWII scarcity went on for years in U.K. after the war. Some American school children were still sending care packages to pen pals in U.K. well into the 1950's, so it is not surprising that voters were inclined toward a different political track after all their sacrifices. Also, we forget that U.K. was deeply scared earlier by WWI and lost much of a generation that fought in that war. So Churchill's full throated war cry, so necessarily for a few years, became unwanted and uninspiring after war-making was not the remedy needed.

 

[elpfeife]

A personal look at the shortages is conveyed in the film "84 Charing Cross Rd" with Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft. Interestingly some foodstuffs Bancroft supplies to her English friends is from Denmark (and I believe other continental countries). In his fine book "Postwar" historian Tony Judt (a democratic socialist himself) indicates that the shortages were prolonged by Labor Party policies. Policians love to get in the way! However, the point remains that the general populace wanted and needed a different approach and the welfare policies were welcomed especially by the working class. Churchill became PM again in 1951 and focused on domestic concerns.

 

[tennsmoker]

Some years back, the University of Tennessee conducted a symposium on Winston Churchill. I was fortunate enough to be assigned to cover the event for my newspaper.

It was just astonishing. I, of course, read a great deal about Churchill prior to the symposium and have been enamored of him ever since. I continue to read about the man who "weaponized" the English language.

I saw the movie, "Darkest Hour," a few days ago and think Oldman deserves every award the movie industry has to offer. In my estimation, he was just surreal in channeling Sir Winston.

And, I read that Oldman smoked more than 400 cigars during the movie at a cost of $20,000.

Yes, the article reported, they were Cubans.

 

[didache]

This thread reminded me that back in 2002 the BBC did a major poll and TV series to determine the 100 greatest Britons. Winston came top of the poll!
For the record, the top 12 were:
BBC Poll 100 Greatest Britons
Sir Winston Churchill

Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Diana, Princess of Wales

Charles Darwin

William Shakespeare

Sir Isaac Newton

Elizabeth I

John Lennon

Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson

Oliver Cromwell

Sir Ernest Shackleton

Captain James Cook
Mike

 

[perdurabo]

History Buff I know, says this is pretty accurate. I can't wait to see it. I would take "pretty accurate" to mean done as well as could be done.

 

[ssjones]

We just finished watching it and enjoyed it. I'm still favoring Lithgows portrayal from The Crown, but he had many more time to inject the character's traits than Oldham did in a 2 hour movie. I also may feel this way because Lithgow's portrayal is a bit closer to what I THINK might be Churchill. Now, we need to watch Dunkirk.
My wife and I talked a lot about his cigar habits during the film. Cigar Aficionado has this interesting and lengthy article on Churchhill's cigar habits.

https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/a-gentleman-of-history-6006

 

[JimInks]

The wit of Winston Churchill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvKryvIPvVc

 

[mso489]

A whole category of cigar is named after Churchill. That's a tribute. I guess most know, his mother was American and married into a well established family, but the English class structure is really intricate. He was an ardent royalist, but I don't think he had any "royal blood," and I don't think his father was at the top of the aristocracy, though Winston grew up in a house far larger than the one where he lived as an adult and a prime minister. Has there been sociology done on this? I would guess there are about twenty distinct classes. The British comedy "Are You Being Served" had an episode in which the department store staff was discussing how many gnomes they had in their yards as indices of where they fit in the British middle classes. The Brits have a sense of humor about it, but based on a reality. Michael Caine the actor is a Cockney, a working class Londoner, if I have it right. Richard Burton was from a family of Welch miners.

 

[dochudson]

IMO, very good. I hope they come back and do a movie from where they off.