Les griffes du lion

This fine film of Richard Attenborough with Simon Ward really does have great legs, just like Ann Bancroft. What a great film with a splendid cast, John Mills, Robert Shaw, Patrick Magee, Tony Hopkins, Ian Holm and the great Jack Hawkins! I had not seen it since its release back in '72 and it was just as delightful seeing it tonight as it was back then.

History buffs may take a few shots at the unevenness of the story line and the flash-backs-- especially, the interviews with Bancroft and Ward-- are a bit distracting but the writing, the script and the film all work together in the hands of a real master, Richard Attenborough. It helps to no end that Ward had the face of the young Winston Churchill and is able to subtly portray the young man burning with ambition. The supporting cast is superb. The events are gloriously Victorian and it leaves not a whit of doubt about the origins of the last of the old imperialists, Sir Winston. The final scenes with Ward giving the speech on the floor of Parliament are wonderful and suggestive of the great oratory that was characteristic of the old British Lion. A great picture of Sir Winnie's rhetoric was given in Harry S. Truman's notes on meeting with him at Potsdam who observed how "[he] spoke in sentences formed into well-formed paragraphs...a master orator." Young, proud, vain, arrogant, ambitious, full of himself and self concerned, and fiercely intolerant of opinions differing from his own,Sir Winston Churchill was indeed one of the controversial albeit great men of our last century. This fine film stands as a fitting tribute to him.

This is a movie worth seeing not because it is a well made one but because Churchill's early life was full of adventures no less than Indiana Jones; and all real! Richard Attenborough has tried to cover them all. Starting from clash with Pathans followed by charge against Sudaneese fakirs and fight against Boers. However, flash back technique has been used. So the viewers are transported from adulthood to childhood and back. This rather diminishes the impact of various events on Churchill's life and gets confusing for the viewers unfamiliar with his life history beforehand. Attenborough's depiction of this remarkable life is often quite dull and any strength in this film is due to Churchill's own writings on which the script is based rather than any effort on the part of director and adaptor writer. The director has failed to elicit thrill and suspense from various scenarios when there were numerous opportunities. Story seems to end abruptly. It should have continued to a certain phase in his career e.g. till when he assumes his duties in admirality in twenties or perhaps when he assumes prime ministership. A touch of romance and some view of his married life would have given some diversification to this movie.

Music, cinematography, costumes and makeup are fine, as is the acting and these with Churchill's own writings save this movie from declining into a very monotonous presentation.

This epic biopic from '71-72 directed by Sir Richard Attenborough with a screenplay adapted by US writer Carl Foreman from Churchill's memoir My Early Life caught the zeitgeist of the early-'70s which were pioneering years - 1972 was that most downbeat of hippy years but many serious and intelligent films were released that year, including Pocket Money, Solaris, The Darwin Adventure, Antony & Cleopatra, Lady Caroline Lamb, The Master Touch etc. Young sandyhaired English actor, Simon Ward became an international star - he looks the part and his aristocratic bearing and Tory patrician style are spot on. The adventure scenes in the North-west Frontier, the Sudan and South Africa are thrilling - Ward shows great flair. The skirmish with the Derviches and the battle of Omdurman were filmed in the deserts of the High Atlas, Morocco in 1971, the scenes showing Churchill's hideout at a South African colliery were filmed at Morlais Colliery, Dyfed, Wales while the battle featuring a military train and Boer soldiers was filmed in Hampshire at Longmoor Military and Railway Camp also in that year. Vis-a-vis the coal-mine scene, ironically the winter of '71-72 featured the renowned UK Miners' Strike led by Yorkshireman Arthur Scargill head of the N.U.M. which occurred a few months before the release of this film.

This was an excellent and engaging film about the early years of Winston Churchill. The acting and writing were superb. The directing was generally good as was the writing, though there were a few moments when the movie was a bit slow or skipped over a little too much of his life--though certainly not in the last half of the movie when he is involved in the Boer War. About my only serious gripe about the movie was that once it was finished, I was left wanting to know more. This would have been a much better mini-series than a movie. That's because I think the movie attempted to do too much in too little time. However, what it did do, it did very well and the movie offers excellent insight into the man's formative years.

From the autobiographical works of the Prime Minister of England comes this remarkable chronology of his life. The Film is called " Young Winston " and was directed by equally famous, Sir Richard Attenborough. The film encapsulates Churchill's early life (Russell Lewis) during his formative school years of which he later recalls both the loving affection given by his nanny (Pat Haywood), a woman he fondly remembers in his memoirs and the brutal education system he was subjected to. It is to his credit he relates his Father's (Robert Shaw) struggle to maintain his conservative political status as well as his parental obligations. All the while, Winston tries to earn approval and become a success. His mother, Lady Jennie Churchhill (Anne Bancroft) is seen as both a proper wife and mother as well as a spirited Representative of her family's social affairs. The audience is also privy to the courageous undertakings of the ambitious Churchill (Simon Ward) as he experiences both the hazards of war and the warnings of the political arena. In this he is scrutinized carefully by both friend (Anthony Hopkins) and adversaries like Lord Salisbury (Laurence Naismith) alike. The movie, like his biography, is creatively smooth and contains both the hurtles and inner doubts. As a result, it becomes an exceptional narrative studded with noted movie icons like Jack Hawkins, Patrick Magee, Edward Woodward and John Mills. In addition the colorful costumes, panoramic scenes and exciting action make for an interesting historical film of one of the world's most respected leaders. Superb Movie and definitely a Classic. ****