Hi, Grimsdyke-- I am definitely a great admirer of Churchill; I have been for as long as I can remember. My earliest recollection of the great man is the documentary series 'The Valiant Years', which I watched as a child. And I also remember watching his funeral service on TV.
Who do you think would have been a better reader of Churchill's words in this particular documentary? I took it for granted that the person knew what he was doing; as an American, I am not as well acquainted with 'Churchill voice-imposters' as many British Churchillians might be. I'm just curious. (And I am opening that question up to everyone here on the board, BTW.) And thanks for your kind words. Pat On Tuesday, September 24, 2013 7:04:01 AM UTC-4, Grimsdyke wrote: > > Pat, I am an unashamed admirer of Churchill - as I guess you are. Whatever > our private stations and the lives we each lead, it surely isn't possible > for us to admire Churchill for too many disparate reasons, and so there > must invariably be - present in all of us who admire him - that deep > respect for courage and the unyielding allegiance to principle and honour > that the great man embodied. So I absolutely respect your observations > here, and thanks to you I have now bought this 3-disc set myself....and > have been watching (and listening) entranced. There is however one thing > about it that degrades the experience for me, and also (I feel) cheapens > the production in spite of all McKellen's gravity and skill in narration: > and that is the person who reads Churchill's words. He made me cringe and > squirm with something very near disgust. He labours so much to reproduce > the tonal qualities of the Original, that he sounded by turns like an > elderly coquette attempting to make himself agreeable, and by turns like > some valetudinarian monk trying to coax a juvenile congregation. His > wheedling voice and abominably exaggerated lilt (done with nauseating > frequency, and usually ridiculously misplaced) made a mockery of the > perfectly-turned prose that he was reading. Nor did he prnounce many of his > words the way Churchill did. One example is the word 'sure', which he > pronounces as "shore"; whereas Churchill always said "shoo-er". There are > many more. > > If one listens to WSC (the real man, that is) on the many recordings > available on http://archive.org/details/Winston_Churchill , one will at > once recognize, I think, what a sorry counterfeit this 'stand-in' is. > Churchill's voice is measured and direct. He doesn't wheedle in the > slightest. And whenever he allows a lilt to shape the last words of a > phrase, its aptness is self-evident, and wraps his words in a profoundness > that seems to come from the Ages. > I wish they'd chosen someone else to read the Great Man's words; or at > least had made him study Churchill's delivery more closely. This fellow > spoils it for me. > > On Wednesday, September 4, 2013 2:55:53 AM UTC+12, PatFinn1940 wrote: >> >> Greetings-- >> >> I'm wondering if any fellow Churchillians have seen the three-part >> documentary *Churchill, *narrated by Sir Ian McKellen? It was shown on >> my local PBS channel the past three Sundays. It featured interviews with >> family members (Mary, Lady Soames, grandson Winston S. Churchill, and >> granddaughter Celia Sandys), colleagues (Anthony Montague Browne, Evan >> Davies), and descendants of colleagues (Lloyd George's great-grandson). I >> noticed it was done back in 2003. >> >> I thought it was *very *well done. The person who read Churchill's >> words was marvelous. It was like the great man had come back to life!! >> >> I must confess that I was very sad at the end, watching Churchill's >> physical decline. There was wonderful clear footage of the funeral >> procession from Parliament up through Whitehall. And when St Paul's >> Cathedral choir was singing *The Battle Hymn of the Republic, *I 'lost >> it'...and the tears really flowed during the procession on the River >> Thames, as the dock cranes were lowered in tribute. >> >> I live not far from where Churchill's American grandfather, Leonard >> Jerome, was born and raised. And that's a real honor to me. >> >> What are your thoughts on this documentary? Thanks. >> >> Patricia Finnegan >> [email protected] >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/churchillchat. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
