Young Winston | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Richard Attenborough |
Written by | Carl Foreman |
Based on | My Early Life: A Roving Commission 1930 book by Sir Winston Churchill |
Produced by | Carl Foreman |
Starring | Simon Ward Robert Shaw Anne Bancroft Anthony Hopkins John Mills |
Cinematography | Gerry Turpin |
Edited by | Kevin Connor |
Music by | Alfred Ralston (includes original music and his arrangements of works by Edward Elgar) [1] |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures (through Columbia-Warner Distributors [2] ) |
Release date |
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Running time | 157 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Box office | $2,150,000 (US/ Canada rentals) [3] |
Young Winston is a 1972 British epic biographical adventure drama war film covering the early years of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, based in particular on his 1930 book, My Early Life . The first part of the film covers Churchill's unhappy schooldays, up to the death of his father. The second half covers his service as a cavalry officer in India and the Sudan, during which he takes part in the cavalry charge at Omdurman, his experiences as a war correspondent in the Second Boer War, during which he is captured and escapes, and his election to Parliament at the age of 26.
Churchill was played by Simon Ward, and the cast included Robert Shaw (as Lord Randolph Churchill), John Mills (as Lord Kitchener), Anthony Hopkins (as David Lloyd George) and Anne Bancroft as Churchill's mother Jennie. Other actors included Patrick Magee, Robert Hardy, Ian Holm, Edward Woodward and Jack Hawkins.
The film was written and produced by Carl Foreman and directed by Richard Attenborough. It was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Screenplay, Best Art Direction (Donald M. Ashton, Geoffrey Drake, John Graysmark, William Hutchinson, Peter James) and Best Costume Design. [4]
Young Winston was released to cinemas on July 28, 1972.
16 September 1897. Churchill is a junior officer in India determined to make a name for himself and to become a member of Parliament. As the older Churchill (voiced by Simon Ward) narrates, events shift back to his childhood. As a boy, Churchill is sent to a preparatory boarding school but is unhappy there and is removed by his parents after a particularly vicious caning by the sadistic headmaster. Later, at the entrance examination to Harrow School, Churchill submits a blank paper; however the headmaster, James Welldon, sees Churchill's potential and accepts him. One evening he recites a long poem of 1000 lines at a Harrow presentation. His nanny comes to listen but his parents do not, despite Churchill's express invitation. Churchill would later describe her as the only person who never let him down.
Meanwhile, Churchill's father Lord Randolph destroys his career by resigning as Chancellor of the Exchequer; George Buckle, editor of The Times, refuses to support his position. Doctors Roose and Buzzard inform Lady Randolph that her husband has an incurable disease, will probably die in five or six years, and that they must never again have "physical relations". [lower-alpha 1]
One morning, Churchill comes down to breakfast but his behaviour infuriates his father. Lord Randolph angrily sends his son up to his room, but after a conversation with his wife he goes to make up with his son, who is playing with his large collection of tin soldiers. Churchill eagerly accepts his father's suggestion that he go into the army; his father later admits to his mother that he feels Winston lacks the brains for university or a career as a barrister. After three attempts, Churchill is finally accepted by Sandhurst but his father is not pleased because he finished seventh from the bottom of the class and is only eligible to enter the cavalry which costs an extra £200 a year for a horse. Lord Randolph - clearly ill and making a number of factual errors about his son - scolds Churchill and warns him to face up to his responsibilities at Sandhurst and that if he does not make something of himself by 21 he will no longer support him.
Still only in his mid forties, Lord Randolph, once a brilliant debater, makes an incoherent speech in Parliament, witnessed by both his wife and Winston. His death spells the end of Churchill's dream of entering Parliament at his side. Churchill graduates from Sandhurst near the top of the class, he becomes a second lieutenant and eventually goes to India and then takes part in the cavalry charge at the Battle of Omdurman in the Sudan. Later, he goes to South Africa to work as a war correspondent during the Anglo-Boer War. While travelling by armoured train, Churchill and soldiers are ambushed by Boers. They try to retreat but crash into a barricade of rocks on the railway track. Churchill courageously organises the soldiers to push the derailed carriage off the track so the train can proceed with the wounded, but the others are captured by the Boers. Churchill escapes, getting help from mine manager Howard, hiding three nights in the mine then riding a goods train into neutral Portuguese territory. He returns to England a hero, stands for the parliamentary seat of Oldham and wins, becoming an MP in a Conservative majority Parliament. With the encouragement of opposition Liberal MP Lloyd George, to the dismay of his mother and annoyance of senior Conservatives, he takes up his father's campaign to limit spending on the military.
The film ends with Sir Winston Churchill narrating events that follow including his marriage to Clementine Hozier seven years later. Newsreel footage shows Churchill appearing on the balcony with the royal family on VE Day, May 1945.
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Carl Foreman was invited to meet Winston Churchill after he had seen and enjoyed Foreman's 1961 production of The Guns of Navarone . At their meeting Churchill suggested that his book My Early Life would make an excellent film. [8]
In 1967 Foreman announced James Fox would play Churchill. [9]
Foreman was impressed by Richard Attenborough's Oh! What a Lovely War and at first wanted him to both direct and play Lord Randolph Churchill; Attenborough declined the latter offer.[ citation needed ]
The film was made in Morocco and the United Kingdom, with several scenes shot at Penwyllt and Coelbren, Powys, on the edge of the Brecon Beacons, and the scene where Churchill learnt to ride at the Cavalry Riding School building at Beaumont Barracks in Aldershot.[ citation needed ]
The film was one of the most popular films in 1972 at the British box office. [10]
The film's U.S. premiere was held at the MacArthur Theatre in Washington, D.C., attended by Ward, members of the British embassy and as well as invited guests from the area, including the symphonic band from Winston Churchill High School in nearby Potomac, Maryland, conducted by Ronald Shurie. The film was premiered in the UK with Susan Hampshire and the youngest Winston of the cast on stage at the time. The band of the Royal Hussars (PWO) played at the screening.
Young Winston received mixed reviews upon its release. On Rotten Tomatoes, it was reported that 50% of critics gave the film a positive review based on 10 reviews, with an average score of 5/10.
As of July 2009, the longest edition available on DVD was Young Winston: Special Edition at 146 minutes, cut from the original U.S. theatrical release which was 157 minutes. VHS tapes cut the film to just 124 minutes. The "Signature Series" edition, released by Sony Entertainment in Australia 2009 (147 minutes) opens with nearly four minutes of black screen accompanied by a medley of English tunes; an "intermission" of three minutes' black screen separates the two sections. The fully unabridged version was released on Blu-ray by British distributor Powerhouse Films in October 2019. Another edition was released on 29 August 2022 by Powerhouse Films. [16]
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and 1951 to 1955. Apart from 1922 to 1924, he was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1900 to 1964 and represented a total of five constituencies. Ideologically an adherent to economic liberalism and imperialism, he was for most of his career a member of the Conservative Party, which he led from 1940 to 1955. He was a member of the Liberal Party from 1904 to 1924.
Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, was a British statesman and Conservative politician who dominated the government of the United Kingdom between the world wars. He was prime minister on three occasions, from May 1923 to January 1924, from November 1924 to June 1929, and from June 1935 to May 1937.
Joseph Chamberlain was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal, then a Liberal Unionist after opposing home rule for Ireland, and eventually was a leading imperialist in coalition with the Conservatives. He split both major British parties in the course of his career. He was the father, by different marriages, of Nobel Peace Prize winner Austen Chamberlain and of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.
The Battle of Omdurman was fought during the Anglo-Egyptian conquest of Sudan between a British–Egyptian expeditionary force commanded by British Commander-in-Chief (sirdar) major general Horatio Herbert Kitchener and a Sudanese army of the Mahdist State, led by Abdallahi ibn Muhammad, the successor to the self-proclaimed Mahdi, Muhammad Ahmad. The battle took place on 2 September 1898, at Kerreri, 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) north of Omdurman.
Jeanette "Jennie" Spencer-Churchill, known as Lady Randolph Spencer-Churchill, was an American-born British socialite, the wife of Lord Randolph Churchill, and the mother of British prime minister Winston Churchill.
Lord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill was a British aristocrat and politician. Churchill was a Tory radical and coined the term 'Tory democracy'. He participated in the creation of the National Union of the Conservative Party.
John Winston Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough,, styled Earl of Sunderland from 1822 to 1840 and Marquess of Blandford from 1840 to 1857, was a British Conservative cabinet minister, politician, peer, and nobleman. He was the paternal grandfather of Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill.
Winston Spencer Churchill, generally known as Winston Churchill, was an English Conservative politician and a grandson of British prime minister Winston Churchill. During the period of his prominence as a public figure, he was normally referred to as Winston Churchill, in order to distinguish him from his grandfather. His father Randolph Churchill was also an MP.
Major Randolph Frederick Edward Spencer Churchill was an English journalist, writer and politician.
Brendan Rendall Bracken, 1st Viscount Bracken, PC was an Irish-born businessman, politician and a minister in the British Conservative cabinet. He is best remembered for supporting Winston Churchill during the Second World War. He was also the founder of the modern version of the Financial Times. He was Minister of Information from 1941 to 1945.
Major John Strange Spencer-Churchill, known as Jack Churchill, was the younger son of Lord Randolph Churchill and his wife Jennie, and the brother of former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Sir Winston Churchill.
James Edward Cowell Welldon was an English clergyman and scholar. He was Bishop of Calcutta from 1898 to 1902, Dean of Manchester from 1906 to 1918, and Dean of Durham from 1918 to 1933.
My Early Life, also known in the US as A Roving Commission: My Early Life, is a 1930 book by Winston Churchill. It is an autobiography from his birth in 1874 to around 1902. The book closes with mention of his marriage in 1908, stating that he lived happily ever after.
General Sir Archibald Hunter, was a senior officer in the British Army who distinguished himself during the Boer War. He was Governor of Omdurman, in Sudan, and later of Gibraltar.
Richard George Penn Curzon, 4th Earl Howe,, styled Viscount Curzon between 1876 and 1900, was a British courtier and Conservative politician. He served as Treasurer of the Household between 1896 and 1900 and was Lord Chamberlain to Queen Alexandra.
Winston Churchill, in addition to his careers as a soldier and politician, was a prolific writer under the variant of his full name 'Winston S. Churchill'. After being commissioned into the 4th Queen's Own Hussars in 1895, Churchill gained permission to observe the Cuban War of Independence, and sent war reports to The Daily Graphic. He continued his war journalism in British India, at the Siege of Malakand, then in the Sudan during the Mahdist War and in southern Africa during the Second Boer War.
This article documents the career of Winston Churchill in Parliament from its beginning in 1900 to the start of his term as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in World War II.
Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years is an eight-part 1981 drama serial based on Winston Churchill's years in enforced exile from political position during the 1920s and 1930s. It was made by Southern Television on a budget of £3¼ million and originally broadcast on ITV on Sunday nights at 10 pm. It was written and directed by Ferdinand Fairfax, with historian Martin Gilbert as co-writer. Churchill was played by Robert Hardy, who earned a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor and went on to play him in several other productions.
Churchill is an English surname. The Churchill family lived in Somerset in the town of Curcelle. The name Curcelle, of Norman origin, in England became confused with the name Churchill, which derives from the Old English cyrice, which means "church", and hyll, which means "hill". Notable people with the surname include:
The early life of Winston Churchill covers the period from his birth on 30 November 1874 to 31 May 1904 when he formally crossed the floor of the House of Commons, defecting from the Conservative Party to sit as a member of the Liberal Party.
Footnotes
Citations
parts in British films such as The Bofors Gun, Oh! What a Lovely War and Young Winston.