My Boy Jack (film)

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My Boy Jack
My Boy Jack.jpg
DVD cover
Based on My Boy Jack
by David Haig
Written by David Haig
Directed by Brian Kirk
StarringDavid Haig
Daniel Radcliffe
Kim Cattrall
Carey Mulligan
Julian Wadham
Music by Adrian Johnston
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducerMichael Casey
CinematographyDavid Odd, B.S.C.
EditorTim Murrell
Running time93 minutes
Original release
Network ITV1
Release11 November 2007 (2007-11-11)

My Boy Jack is a 2007 British biographical television film based on David Haig's 1997 play of the same name [1] for ITV. It was filmed in August 2007, with Haig as Rudyard Kipling and Daniel Radcliffe as John Kipling. [2] The American television premiere was on 20 April 2008 on PBS, with primetime rebroadcast on 27 March 2011. [3] The film attracted about 5.7 million viewers on its original ITV broadcast in the UK on Remembrance Day, 11 November 2007. [4]

Contents

Background

My Boy Jack is based on the 1997 play by English actor David Haig. It tells the story of Rudyard Kipling and his grief for his son, John, who died in the First World War. The title comes from Kipling's poem of the same name. [5]

The theatre piece played at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, in 2004. It then toured Oxford, Richmond, Brighton, Norwich, Cardiff and Cambridge, with the newly formed Haig Lang Productions. [6] In America, My Boy Jack has been performed under the title My Son Jack. [7]

Plot

As the Great War (World War I) begins, 17-year-old Jack Kipling (Daniel Radcliffe), the only son of the famous English writer and poet Rudyard Kipling, declares his intention to join the Royal Navy to fight against the Germans. The elder Kipling (Haig), who encourages him in his ambition, arranges several appointments for him to enlist in both the Army and Navy. However, when Jack's poor eyesight prevents him from passing the medical examinations, both he and his father are devastated. Determined, Rudyard uses his influence with the military establishment to eventually secure Jack an officer's commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Irish Guards.

Jack's mother, Carrie (Cattrall), and his sister, Elsie (Carey Mulligan), disapprove of this post, as they do not wish for him to go to the war. Jack, who proves to be a popular officer with his troops, undergoes military training and travels to France within six months. On his 18th birthday, Jack receives orders to lead his platoon into action on the following morning. During the Battle of Loos, Jack is posted missing in action and the Kipling family is informed by telegram. For three years, Jack's parents track down and interview surviving members of his platoon. One eventually confirms that Jack was killed in the Battle of Loos, shot by enemy gunfire, after losing his glasses in the mud during an assault on a German machine-gun post.

Cast

Filming

Filmed on location in Counties Laois and Kildare, Ireland with one scene in the Olympia Theatre, Dublin. Exterior scenes for film were shot at Bateman's, the 17th-century house that was Kipling's home from 1902 to his death in 1936, which is now a National Trust property. [8] [9]

Reviews

Reviews of the film were generally positive. The aggregate Metacritic score was 78/100, with positive reviews from Entertainment Weekly , the Boston Globe , Variety , the Orlando Sentinel , the New York Post , The Hollywood Reporter , the Los Angeles Times , the San Francisco Chronicle and the Chicago Tribune , and with more negative reviews from Philadelphia Daily News , The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal . [10] Several reviews took note of Daniel Radcliffe's starring role as Jack. [11] [12] [13] Both Radcliffe and Haig were generally well-received, [14] though Kim Cattrall received mixed reviews for her performance as Jack's mother. [3] [13] [15] [16]

Awards

It won Silver Magnolia Award for Best Television Film at the 14th Shanghai Television Festival in China.

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My Boy Jack is a 1997 play by English actor David Haig. It tells the story of Rudyard Kipling and his grief for his son, John, who died in the First World War.

"My Boy Jack" is a 1916 poem by Rudyard Kipling. Kipling wrote it for Jack Cornwell, the 16-year-old youngest recipient of the Victoria Cross, who stayed by his post on board the light cruiser HMS Chester at the Battle of Jutland until he died. Kipling's son John was never referred to as "Jack". The poem echoes the grief of all parents who lost sons in the First World War. John Kipling was a 2nd Lt in the Irish Guards and disappeared in September 1915 during the Battle of Loos in the First World War. The poem was published as a prelude to a story in his book Sea Warfare written about the Battle of Jutland in 1916. The imagery and theme is maritime in nature and as such it is about a generic nautical Jack, though emotionally affected by the death of Kipling's son.

My Boy Jack can refer to:

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">The King's Pilgrimage</span> 1922 book by Rudyard Kipling

"The King's Pilgrimage" is a poem and book about the journey made by King George V in May 1922 to visit the World War I cemeteries and memorials being constructed at the time in France and Belgium by the Imperial War Graves Commission. This journey was part of the wider pilgrimage movement that saw tens of thousands of bereaved relatives from the United Kingdom and the Empire visit the battlefields of the Great War in the years that followed the Armistice. The poem was written by the British author and poet Rudyard Kipling, while the text in the book is attributed to the Australian journalist and author Frank Fox. Aspects of the pilgrimage were also described by Kipling within the short story "The Debt" (1930).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Kipling</span> Son of Rudyard Kipling

John Kipling was the only son of British author Rudyard Kipling. In the First World War, his father used his influence to get him a commission in the British Army despite being decisively rejected for poor eyesight. His death at the Battle of Loos caused his family immense grief.

<i>The Light That Failed</i> (1923 film) 1923 film by George Melford

The Light That Failed is a 1923 American silent drama film that was directed by George Melford and written by Jack Cunningham and F. McGrew Willis based on the 1891 novelette of the same name by Rudyard Kipling. The film stars Jacqueline Logan, Percy Marmont, David Torrence, Sigrid Holmquist, Mabel Van Buren, Luke Cosgrave, and Peggy Schaffer. The film was released on October 25, 1923, by Paramount Pictures.

"In the Neolithic Age" is a poem by the English writer Rudyard Kipling. It was published in the December 1892 issue of The Idler and in 1896 in his poetry collection The Seven Seas. The poem is the source of the quotation: "There are nine and sixty ways of constructing tribal lays, / And every single one of them is right."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A Death-Bed</span> Rudyard Kipling poem

"A Death-Bed" is a poem by English poet and writer Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936). It was first published in April 1919, in the collection The Years Between. Later publications identified the year of writing as 1918. Kipling's only son, John, had been reported missing in action in 1915, during the Battle of Loos, leaving him grief-stricken. "A Death-Bed" has been variously described as "the most savage poem Kipling ever wrote", "the chilling and pitiless masterpiece" and as "overtly distasteful".

References

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  4. Tryhorn, Chris (12 November 2007). "ITV war drama recruits 5.7m viewers". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
  5. kipling my boy jack Archived 5 March 2002 at the Wayback Machine
  6. The British Theatre Guide : Reviews - My Boy Jack (Theatre Royal, Nottingham, and touring Archived 7 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  7. My Son Jack , a CurtainUp Los Angeles review
  8. "Masterpiece: My Boy Jack". Cast, Production Credits, Web Credits. PBS. 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
  9. "David Haig on My Boy Jack". Memorable TV. 6 June 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2013.[ permanent dead link ]
  10. "My Boy Jack reviews at Metacritic.com". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 13 June 2009. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
  11. "TV War Role for Potter Star". London Evening Standard. London, England. 29 August 2006. Archived from the original on 21 March 2009. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
  12. Lowry, Brian (11 April 2008). "My Boy Jack Review". Variety. Archived from the original on 12 October 2008. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
  13. 1 2 Wiegand, David (19 April 2008). "Son goes to war in 'My Boy Jack'". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
  14. Flynn, Gillian (11 April 2008). "My Boy Jack". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
  15. Vittes, Laurence (18 April 2008). "My Boy Jack". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 20 June 2008. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
  16. Ryan, Maureen (17 April 2008). "Thoughts on the British Empire, both tragic and comic". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 23 August 2009.