Sword of Honour (2001 film)

Last updated

Sword of Honour
Sword of Honour (2001 TV film).jpg
Directed byBill Anderson
Written by Evelyn Waugh (novel)
William Boyd
Produced byGillian McNeill
Starring Daniel Craig
Megan Dodds
Katrin Cartlidge
Music by Nina Humphreys
Release date
  • 2001 (2001)
Running time
3 hrs 11 mins
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Sword of Honour is a 2001 British television film directed by Bill Anderson and starring Daniel Craig. Scripted by William Boyd, it is based on the Sword of Honour trilogy of novels by Evelyn Waugh, [1] [2] which loosely parallel Waugh's own experiences in the Second World War.

Contents

Reception

Commenting in The Daily Telegraph , its Defence Editor, John Keegan, said: "To reduce Waugh's enormous text to a short television treatment presented William Boyd with a daunting challenge. He has met it magnificently... Boyd's compressions improve Waugh's plot. At the literary level, therefore, Boyd passes all the tests. The failure is at the directorial level. Bill Anderson has either simply not grasped or has flinched from depicting how utterly different the Britain of 1939–45 is from Tony Blair's. His lack of grasp or nerve has affected his actors – though some of them may also be guilty of not having immersed themselves in the books, inexcusably, since Waugh is the most readable of novelists. As a result, characters appear either as caricatures or as pale approximations of Waughian realities". [2]

Filming locations

Edinburgh was one of the locations for filming. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh</span> Member of the British royal family (born 1964)

Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, is a member of the British royal family. He is the youngest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the youngest sibling of King Charles III. He was born 3rd in the line of succession to the British throne and is now 14th.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alnwick</span> Town and civil parish in Northumberland, England

Alnwick is a market town in Northumberland, England, of which it is the traditional county town. The population at the 2011 Census was 8,116.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual award ceremonies, BAFTA has an international programme of learning events and initiatives offering access to talent through workshops, masterclasses, scholarships, lectures, and mentoring schemes in the United Kingdom and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angus Calder</span> Scottish writer and historian

Angus Lindsay Ritchie Calder was a Scottish writer, historian, and poet. Initially studying English literature, he became increasingly interested in political history and wrote a landmark study on Britain during the Second World War in 1969 entitled The People's War. He subsequently wrote several other historical works but became increasingly interested in literature and poetry and worked primarily as a writer, though often holding a number of university teaching positions. A socialist, he was a prominent Scottish public intellectual during the 1970s and 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Hoskins</span> English actor (1942–2014)

Robert William Hoskins was an English actor and film director. Known for his intense but sensitive portrayals of "tough guy" characters, he began his career on stage before making his screen breakthrough playing Arthur Parker on the 1978 BBC television serial Pennies from Heaven, which earned him the first of four BAFTA Award nominations. He subsequently played acclaimed lead roles in the films The Long Good Friday (1980), Mona Lisa (1986), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), and Mermaids (1990).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Mendes</span> British stage and film director (born 1965)

Sir Samuel Alexander Mendes is a British film and stage director, producer, and screenwriter. In 2000, Mendes was appointed a CBE for his services to drama, and he was knighted in the 2020 New Years Honours List.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crieff</span> Scottish market town

Crieff is a Scottish market town in Perth and Kinross on the A85 road between Perth and Crianlarich, and the A822 between Greenloaning and Aberfeldy. The A822 joins the A823 to Dunfermline. Crieff has become a hub for tourism, famous for whisky and its history of cattle droving. Attractions include the Caithness Glass Visitor Centre and Glenturret Distillery. The nearby Innerpeffray Library is Scotland's oldest lending library. St Mary's Chapel beside it dates from 1508. Both are open to the public: the library is run by a charitable trust; the chapel is in the care of Historic Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janet Anderson</span> British politician (1949–2023)

Janet Anderson was a British politician from the Labour Party. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Rossendale and Darwen from 1992 until 2010, when she lost her seat. She was the Minister for Tourism from 1998 to 2001, a period which included the 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak. In the 2009 United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal, she was found to have claimed costs for journeys she had not made.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Boyd (writer)</span> Scottish novelist, short story writer, and screen writer

William Andrew Murray Boyd is a Scottish novelist, short story writer and screenwriter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auberon Waugh</span> English journalist and novelist (1939–2001)

Auberon Alexander Waugh was an English journalist and novelist, and eldest son of the novelist Evelyn Waugh. He was widely known by his nickname "Bron".

<i>Scoop</i> (novel) 1938 novel by Evelyn Waugh

Scoop is a 1938 novel by the English writer Evelyn Waugh. It is a satire of sensationalist journalism and foreign correspondents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shotts</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Shotts is a small town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located almost halfway between Glasgow and Edinburgh. The town has a population of about 8,840. A local story has Shotts being named after the legendary giant highwayman Bertram de Shotts, though toponymists give the Anglo-Saxon scēots as the real source of the name. Shotts is the home of the 2015 world champion pipe band, Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia Pipe Band.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strathallan School</span> School in Forgandenny, Perth and Kinross, Scotland

Strathallan School is a private boarding and day school in Scotland for boys and girls aged 5-18. The school has a 153-acre (62-hectare) campus at Forgandenny, a few miles south of Perth.

<i>Men at Arms</i> (Waugh novel) Novel by Evelyn Waugh

Men at Arms is a 1952 novel by the British novelist Evelyn Waugh.

<i>Officers and Gentlemen</i> Novel by Evelyn Waugh

Officers and Gentlemen is a 1955 novel by the British novelist Evelyn Waugh.

The BAFTA Fellowship, or the Academy Fellowship, is a lifetime achievement award presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) in recognition of "outstanding achievement in the art forms of the moving image". The award is the highest honour the Academy can bestow, and has been awarded annually since 1971. Fellowship recipients have mainly been film directors, but some have been awarded to actors, film/television producers, cinematographers, film editors, screenwriters, and contributors to the video game industry. In 2002, Merchant Ivory Productions became the first organisation to win the award. People from the United Kingdom dominate the list, but it includes over a dozen U.S. citizens and several from other countries in Europe, though none of the latter have been recognized since 1996. In 2010, Shigeru Miyamoto became the first citizen of an Asian country to receive the award.

Donald William Robertson Boyd is a Scottish film director, producer, screenwriter and novelist. He was a Governor of the London Film School until 2016 and in 2017 was made an Honorary Professor in the College of Humanities at Exeter University.

Hugh Archibald Nairn Burden was an English actor and playwright.

Sword of Honour is a trilogy of novels by Evelyn Waugh, set during the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Lowden</span> British actor (born 1990)

Jack Andrew Lowden is a Scottish actor. Following a four-year stage career, his first major international onscreen success was in the 2016 BBC miniseries War & Peace, which led to starring roles in feature films.

References

  1. Morris, Mark (2 January 2001). "Declaration of Waugh". The Guardian . Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  2. 1 2 Keegan, John (3 January 2001). "TV adaption of Waugh's war is off target". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  3. "Sword of Honour". Film Edinburgh. Retrieved 7 January 2019.