The Prime Minister | |
---|---|
Directed by | Thorold Dickinson |
Written by | |
Produced by | Max Milder |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Basil Emmott |
Edited by | Leslie Norman |
Music by | Jack Beaver |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 94 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | £90,215 [1] |
Box office | £64,661 [1] |
The Prime Minister is a 1941 British historical drama film directed by Thorold Dickinson and starring John Gielgud, Diana Wynyard, Fay Compton and Stephen Murray.
It details the life and times of Benjamin Disraeli, who became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It depicts his long marriage to Mary Disraeli and his relationship with various other public figures of the era including William Gladstone, Lord Melbourne and Queen Victoria. Gielgud would later reprise his role as Disraeli in the ITV television drama Edward the Seventh (1975).
The film was shot at Teddington Studios by the British subsidiary of Warner Brothers. The company had previously made a successful biopic of the Prime Minister as Disraeli in 1929. The film's sets were designed by the art director Norman G. Arnold.
The film is not a remake of the 1929 film Disraeli, which depicted only one incident late in Disraeli's career. Instead, The Prime Minister is an episodic biography of Disraeli from his early career as a novelist through his political triumphs as an elder statesman. The film is almost a hagiography, depicting Disraeli as a lifelong social reformer and a Tory democrat dedicated to "England" and to "democracy". TCM.com describes the film this way—
The Prime Minister (1941) is the legendary Benjamin Disraeli, played by the legendary John Gielgud in a tour-de-force performance that takes Disraeli from a foppish young novelist, to a neophyte member of Parliament, to prime minister of England[ sic ] and confidante of Queen Victoria. Along the way, "Dizzy" woos and weds his wife Mary Anne, who provides shrewd support for his career. He also battles political opponents, helps the poor and working class, buys the Suez Canal, expands the empire, and foils the imperialist plans of the German-Austrian-Russian political alliance. [2]
The Prime Minister opened in the United States in February 1942, eleven months after its British premiere. The American version was cut by 15 minutes— among the scenes removed was one featuring Glynis Johns, then beginning her career. [2]
According to Warner Bros records the film earned the studio $16,000 domestically and $21,000 foreign. [1]
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield was a British statesman, Conservative politician and writer who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation of the modern Conservative Party, defining its policies and its broad outreach. Disraeli is remembered for his influential voice in world affairs, his political battles with the Liberal Party leader William Ewart Gladstone, and his one-nation conservatism or "Tory democracy". He made the Conservatives the party most identified with the British Empire and military action to expand it, both of which were popular among British voters. He is the only British prime minister to have been born Jewish.
Disraeli is a 1929 American pre-Code historical film directed by Alfred E. Green, released by Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc., and adapted by Julien Josephson (screenplay) and De Leon Anthony (titles) from the 1911 play Disraeli by Louis N. Parker.
Mary Anne Disraeli, 1st Viscountess Beaconsfield was a British peeress and society figure who was the wife of the British statesman Benjamin Disraeli.
Earl of Beaconsfield, of Hughenden in the County of Buckingham, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1876 for Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, a favourite of Queen Victoria. Victoria favoured Disraeli's Tory policies over those of his Liberal rival, William Ewart Gladstone. Disraeli had also promoted the Royal Titles Act 1876 that had given Victoria the title of Empress of India. The subsidiary title of the earldom was Viscount Hughenden, of Hughenden in the County of Buckingham, also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 1st Earl of Cranbrook, was a prominent British Conservative politician. He held cabinet office in every Conservative government between 1858 and 1892. He served as Home Secretary from 1867 to 1868, Secretary of State for War from 1874 to 1878, Lord President of the Council from 1885 to 1886 and as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster until 1886. In 1878, he was appointed Secretary of State for India and thereafter was elevated to the peerage, entering the House of Lords as Viscount Cranbrook. He has been described as a moderate, middle-of-the-road Anglican, and a key ally of Disraeli.
The Peelites were a breakaway political faction of the British Conservative Party from 1846 to 1859. Initially led by Robert Peel, the former Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader in 1846, the Peelites supported free trade whilst the bulk of the Conservative Party remained protectionist. The Peelites later merged with the Whigs and Radicals to form the Liberal Party in 1859.
Virginia Lilian Emmeline Compton-Mackenzie,, known professionally as Fay Compton, was an English actress. She appeared in several films, and made many broadcasts, but was best known for her stage performances. She was known for her versatility, and appeared in Shakespeare, drawing room comedy, pantomime, modern drama, and classics such as Ibsen and Chekhov. In addition to performing in Britain, Compton appeared several times in the US, and toured Australia and New Zealand in a variety of stage plays.
Robert Norman William Blake, Baron Blake,, was an English historian and peer. He is best known for his 1966 biography of Benjamin Disraeli, and for The Conservative Party from Peel to Churchill, which grew out of his 1968 Ford lectures.
The Midlothian campaign of 1878–80 was a series of foreign policy speeches given by William Gladstone, former leader of Britain's Liberal Party. Organised by the Earl of Rosebery as a media event, it is often cited as the first modern political campaign. It also set the stage for Gladstone's comeback as a politician. It takes its name from the Midlothian constituency in Scotland where Gladstone successfully stood in the 1880 election.
The Conservative government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland that began in 1866 and ended in 1868 was led by Lord Derby in the House of Lords and Benjamin Disraeli in the House of Commons.
The article lists the records of prime ministers of the United Kingdom since 1721.
Benjamin Disraeli was appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for a second time by Queen Victoria after William Ewart Gladstone's government was defeated in the 1874 general election. Disraeli's foreign policy was seen as immoral by Gladstone, and following the latter's Midlothian campaign, the government was heavily defeated in the 1880 general election, whereupon Gladstone formed his second government. The ailing Disraeli, by now created Earl of Beaconsfield, died in April 1881.
Disraeli, also called Disraeli: Portrait of a Romantic, is a 1978 four-part British serial about the great statesman and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Benjamin Disraeli. It was produced by Associated Television and aired on ITV.
Victoria the Great is a 1937 British historical film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Anton Walbrook and Walter Rilla. When Laurence Housman's play Victoria Regina was banned by the Lord Chamberlain, its subsequent Broadway success prompted King Edward VIII to commission producer Herbert Wilcox to turn it into a film, commemorating the centenary of Victoria's reign. The film biography of Queen Victoria concentrates initially on the early years of her reign with her marriage to Prince Albert and her subsequent rule after Albert's death in 1861. It was released in the year of Victoria’s great-grandson King George VI's coronation, which was also the centennial of Victoria's own accession to the throne. The movie was so successful that a sequel appeared the following year, Sixty Glorious Years.
Primrose Day marked the anniversary of the death of the British statesman and prime minister Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, on 19 April 1881. The day was marked each year into the 1920s, with arrangements of primroses left at Disraeli's tomb at St Michael and All Angels Church, Hughenden and his statue in Parliament Square and many supporters wearing primroses as buttonholes, garlands, and hat decorations.
The Loves of Mary, Queen of Scots is a 1923 British silent historical film directed by Denison Clift and starring Fay Compton, Gerald Ames and Ivan Samson. The film depicts the life of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her eventual execution. It was one of the final films made by Ideal, one of the leading British studios, before they were hit by the Slump of 1924.
St Michael and All Angels' Church is a Grade: II* listed Anglican church in the Hughenden Valley, Buckinghamshire, England, near to High Wycombe. It is closely associated with the nearby Hughenden Manor and the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Benjamin Disraeli who is buried in the churchyard.
The Queen Victoria Memorial in Lancaster, Lancashire, England, is a Grade II* listed building. It stands in the centre of Dalton Square, facing Lancaster Town Hall. It was erected in 1906, being commissioned and paid for by James Williamson, 1st Baron Ashton.
Portrait of Benjamin Disraeli is an 1881 portrait painting by the English artist John Everett Millais featuring the British politician and Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. Known in his youth as a novelist, Disraeli turned to politics during the Victorian era and twice held the premiership. He was made Earl of Beaconsfield in 1876.