Rent Young Winston (1972)

At just over two and a half hours.... - Young Winston review by SB

this stately biopic directed by Richard Attenborough certainly gives you value for money in terms of length (this disc is the full version, rather than the two hour version on sale currently). It is by no means as good a film as the same director's 'Gandhi', in part because the subject matter is less interesting and complex, and the story less complete.

Simon Ward is adequate in the name role and so perhaps is Robert Shaw as the gifted but obnoxious Randolph, Winston's MP father. But Anne Bancroft is woefully miscast as Winston's mother American mother Jenny. This is the woman of whom it was said 'there is more of the panther than of the woman in her look'; but here, we have more of a smug domestic cat.

A whole regiment of well-known actors have cameos - among the more ludicrous being tiny, fussy John Mills as Kitchener, who in reality was 6 feet 2 inches tall and a fierce, terrifying figure.

As well as derring-do by young Churchill on the north-west frontier, in Sudan and South Africa, there are also political interludes, but these are not well explained. They are also heavily biased, although unless you know a lot about the period that isn't obvious.

UK domestic locations tend towards Victorian gloom, but outdoor scenes are well enough, although the South African veldt looks suspiciously like Wales. Musical infelicities include the use of two Elgar pieces composed after the date of the events depicted on screen – never a good idea. At intervals, the Churchill parents are seen in mock interviews conducted by an unseen journalist, in a style which they would never have tolerated. This strains credulity and is a crude method of explaining feelings.

The unwary may be caught out by the fact that the disc opens on a completely black screen for several minutes, with only music audible. It is similar at the 'intermission'. Dr Zhivago at least had a still picture and better music in similar circumstances; but then Attenborough was no David Lean.

Brilliant film about the early years of a Brilliant man and a true British hero Churchill - Young Winston review by PV

This film would and could never be made now - they says a great deal about the flaws of our age, not those of the late 19th century or Churchill.

A truly great biopic, a brilliant cast, true history.

I watched this one Sunday and it was better than any single programme of film on the 200 channels I can access. Says it all.

Watch with Gary Oldman's brilliant DAREST HOUR Oscar-winning performance of the great man Churchill - who, by the way, led the great British Empire to liberate Western Europe in 1944 and free the slaves there.

Since 2017 when Darkest Hour came out, British society has been infected with the mind virus of woke from the USA, and divisive racist mob politics. I hope we get better soon - all polls show 80% Brits want no statues to come down or names changed. SO WHY then are the Woke Taliban and pc gestapo in charge of our clown councils, Brit0hating museums and charities, pc universities etc doing it?

Churchill may well have called it the enemy within or treason. I stand with the great Winston Churchill.

5 stars. A classic, ALL British kids and adults should watch this. to learn the facts of history, not the Brit-hating propaganda on TV 24/7 now. As Churchill says in the film: "British influence is a healthy and kindly influence'. Or was, in the days of the British empire.