Dear Mr. Flickinger, I think it was the intent of the filmakers to emphasize Churchill the man; his humanity with all its strengths, weaknesses, failings, mistakes, in addition to his great achievments. Mr. Gleeson, in my view, delineated a better performance than Mr. Finney. A point to consider is the remsemblance of Mr. Gleeson to Churchill was more striking than Mr. Finney. Not to take away much from Mr. Finney as he is a fine actor or suggesting that appearance alone augmented Mr. Gleeson's performance. But I see Mr. Gleesons performance as more nuanced and he better portrayed Churchill's warmth, vulnerablities and, his renowned and incontestable strength.
Moreover, through subtext, I think the supporting cast gave its audience subtle, more historically accurate and realistic depictions of working with and for Churchill. There was an underlying tension delinated by the supporting cast that effectively portrayed their world with Churchill. On the other hand, the points you raised might be well suited to a longer film. On Jun 2, 6:21 pm, "Glenn Flickinger" <[email protected]> wrote: > I was very disappointed with the movie as a movie. Yes, there were lot's > great scenes that us Churchill fans recognized and could guess what the > language in the scene was going to be, e.g. the bathroom scene in the White > House with FDR, the scene with Monty in 1940, the scene with Halifax and the > War Cabinet in May 1940, etc. etc. My complaint was that they covered way > too much time and material in a very superficial manner, they did not > develop any of the other personalities/characters in a meaningful way (I > guess they did OK with the Clemmie character). At times I felt I was > watching a sports highlight film for a football season, just focus on the > key player, the Quarterback and forget the supporting cast. The first movie, > "The Gathering Storm" was clearly superior as a movie because they did > develop several other characters, Desmond Morton, Mrs. P. , Wigram and his > wife, etc. in addition to focusing on Winston. The first movie could be > watched and appreciated by non-Churchill fans (my wife) who by the way could > not at first follow the back and forth shifting of the time frames when they > cut to July, 1945 without any notice of what they were doing. > > This film could have been a winner if they had only focused say on the > Battle of Britain up to Pearl Harbor. They could have developed characters > such as Pug Ismay, FDR and Hopkins, etc. The theme could have been the > Battle of Britain and the devilment of the relationship with FDR to bring > America into the war, lend lease, the invasion of Russia by Hitler, etc > leading up to the real beginning of a WORLD war. All wasted with this effort > that sprinted through 5 years in a superficial way. > > All in all I was disappointed and will note that I fell asleep during the > last 15 minutes. I have the first film on DVD and have watched it 10 times > over the years. This one I will not be buying the DVD. > > Glenn Flickinger > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Keith Thomas Leonard" <[email protected]> > To: "ChurchillChat" <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, June 02, 2009 12:44 PM > Subject: [ChurchillChat] Re: Into the Storm broadcast > > To one and all: After viewing "Into The Storm, any thoughts? > > On May 28, 5:35 pm, John Mather <[email protected]> wrote: > > As you may know, HBO will broadcast the sequel to The Gathering Storm this > > Sunday night at 9 p.m. EST. It’s called Into The Storm and features > > Brendan Gleeson as WSC and Janet McTeer as Clementine. I’ve been told it > > covers the long swath of WWII history and has some reference to the late > > May 1940 debate. > > > I hope it’s terrific. I’m attempting to uncover the UK presentation date, > > the later in this year or early next the better as I believe it will wet > > the appetite of WWII history buffs to our upcoming production. > > > We still await word from Trevor Nunn as to whether he will direct the > > production. > > > Bob Crothers > > > Producer > > > West Ninth Productions Inc. > > > Penthouse D > > > 69 West 9th Street > > > New York, NY 10011 > > > T: 212 673 9343 > > > C: 917 589 4328 > > > F: 212 673 9507 > > > [email protected] > > >www.westninthproductions- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/ChurchillChat?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
