The Gathering Storm

TV movies often get a bad rap. Some of them are very good. But there was a slew of really terrible ones to give them such a terrible reputation, and The Gathering Storm was one of them. Richard Burton plays Winston Churchill, but unlike other people who attempt over-the-top Churchill impressions, Burton just sounds like himself.

The script is as boring as the plot, which follows Churchill's political role in the years leading up to WWII. I actually couldn't get through the entire thing. Much of the movie was fast-forwarded, but I didn't escape without suffering through a ridiculously campy temper tantrum from Ian Bannen as Hitler. The movie ends with a very tired sounding "Victory at all costs" speech. I'm pretty sure any other Churchill movie would be better than this one, so take your pick.

Made for television in 1974 but non the less rather well-made and supported by great actors. Richard Burton stars as Sir Winston Churchill in this epic which spans the pre-war years of 1936-40. Following Churchill from being both ignored and ridiculed to the point where he is asked to lead the British nation, The gathering storm is interesting, fascinating and a great document of history. Richard Burton gives a powerful and fully believable performance, one of his better in the 1970s. 6/10

This is no monumental pretentious heroic account of the difficult years that brought Churchill into office, but rather more like a concise documentary, leaving however plenty of space for great acting, mainly on the part of Richard Burton, who uses Churchill well, but also of Robert Hardy as a suave Ribbentrop, Ian Bannen as a monstrous Hitler, Virginia McKenna as lovely as ever as a patient and forbearing Clementine and even Edward Evans giving a striking recreation of the indomitable Lloyd George at the most critical moment of Neville Chamberlain's twilight. The main importance is given to the dialogue, including many of Churchill's own most important words, making the film highly enjoyable as a theatrical drama - everyone is perfect. The whole production is further enhanced and brilliantly orchestrated by the borrowing of Saint-Saëns' Organ Symphony, which matches Burton andf Churchill perfectly.

Burton gets the speeches but it is another case of him going through the motions for the most part and collecting the fee. By 1974 he had been warned to stop drinking but failed to follow doctor's orders. Alcohol rules all his performances after 1974. If you want to see an actor play Churchill watch Albert Finney in 'The Gathering Storm.' He takes the role seriously. Virginia McKenna is the saving grace of this film and the other supporting actors play their parts well. Burton could have given a defining performance here but as usual in his final years all ambition had long gone. Compare this with his performances in his earlier work and it makes for depressing viewing. Robert Hardy who has played the most Churchill roles on TV has a supporting part here. How he must have cringed during the recording!

I'm tempted to put a check mark in the spoilers' box because I suspect the outcome of this historical tale will be news to many Americans, especially the young ones, a substantial percentage of whom believe that World War II teamed up America and Germany in a war against the USSR. One in five of us can't name the country we achieved our independence from. (Wrong answers on that 2011 poll included Mexico and China.) And here we have the story of a man named Winston Churchill (Burton), entangled in a tar baby of crucial decisions involving countries and parts of countries (eg., the Sudetenland) that nobody has ever heard of.

Yes, I think this will be news to many people. If that's the case, it might better have been presented as a documentary with a narration and lots and lots of colorful maps with moving arrows and other glitzy graphics. "Poland? You mean as in Poland Springs Water?" It's unfair to the unknowing to hear Churchill making a brief, one- or two-sentence description of Norway being a passageway for Sweden's steel shipments to Germany, and a cut to Churchill's wife (McKenna) holding a newspaper whose lead says something about an attack on Norway. I just don't know how many of us are ready to make that cognitive leap.

As Churchill, Burton does a pretty good job of imitating Churchill's public voice, although when he becomes angry he brays. He gives us a gruff Churchill, whose only humor is expressed through sarcastic insults toward his fellow pols, the foreign office, and Herr Hitler.

The Germans are no more than stereotypes. Von Ribbentrop (Hardy) is one of those smilers with a knife. I'm afraid Ian Bannen -- a fine, innovative actor -- is lost in the role of Hitler. He looks and sounds like Ian Bannen with a mustache and a funny haircut. Neville Chamberlain is played as a weakling and a fool by Bailey, although Churchill gets to mouth some sensible words in his defense.

Nobody ever claimed that Neville Chamberlain was a tower of strength and resolve, but I've always thought he got a bad rap on Munich. He came home with a treat signed by Herr Hitler promising that no more territory would be bothered by the Nazis, which is exactly what the wary British people wanted. What else could he have done? Would he have prevented World War II by declaring war on the spot? Chamberlain's humiliation when he's replaced as PM is very moving.

In the final scene, Churchill delivers his stirring speech about "blood, toil, tears, and sweat", and it's very effective because Burton has a greater capacity for bombast than Churchill, even though Burton was drunk and Churchill was a politician. Churchill, as much as anything else, was a fine writer and speaker, precise and articulate, and this film captures those qualities well.