What an excellent cast. Anybody who was anybody in the British acting world in 1972 was in this film. In addition, there was the little known Simon Ward doing a fantastic, difficult, turn as Churchill. The one thing lacking here - and it is due to the script - is Churchill's impish and often self-deprecating humour, which he brilliantly used to counterbalance the overweening ambition he was rightly accused of.
The trouble is the poorish script and the plodding direction. Richard Attenborough had many great moments as a director, but this wasn't one of them. The pace is often slow and exciting moments are somehow rendered almost dull. Read Churchill's own account of his imprisonment and escape and compare it to this lame version.
It has dated more than Churchill's true story and his own writings. The thing that has dated most is Anne Bancroft's ludicrous thick early 1970s makeup. If she had worn that makeup in 1900, she would have been for ever shunned as a harlot.
I wish someone would have another go at this subject.
The trouble is the poorish script and the plodding direction. Richard Attenborough had many great moments as a director, but this wasn't one of them. The pace is often slow and exciting moments are somehow rendered almost dull. Read Churchill's own account of his imprisonment and escape and compare it to this lame version.
It has dated more than Churchill's true story and his own writings. The thing that has dated most is Anne Bancroft's ludicrous thick early 1970s makeup. If she had worn that makeup in 1900, she would have been for ever shunned as a harlot.
I wish someone would have another go at this subject.