SoTrumpBelieve Must See Movie...

Lightdeossk Captivating movie !

BallWubba Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Ed-Shullivan Obviously Churchill never stated what I submitted in my above summary header but the following was one of his real quotes: "In politics when you are in doubt what to do, do nothing ... when you are in doubt what to say, say what you really think."So what I REALLY think about this film is the following:1. It was a heavily lob sided self ingratiating image of a well known political figure before he became just another fat pig at the trough spouting now famous boorish quotations.2. Churchill was born into a privileged lifestyle that 99.9 percent of the rest of the worlds (especially) women and men would never have had an inch of opportunity that the privileged young Winston was able to take advantage of.3. Historically even this film depicts that Churchill wanted power and so he self-promoted himself beyond reason through his books and his documented actions in war. Oh my God! Can you imagine if he were a young man today in 2018? I can only imagine what he would do with a high definition IPhone and IPad camera to take an endless stream of selfie portraits and videos sitting atop his glorious white horse. Puh - leeeese!4. His father was also a politician, and shortly after marrying his American born wife Jennie Jerome, was allegedly a cad suffering from syphilis which was the cause of his death while still in his 40's.5. The film reflects how both his American born mother Jennie Jerome (played by Anne Bancroft) and his father Lord Randolph Churchill (played by Robert Shaw) were not engaged in young Winston's upbringing such that they shipped him off to school with little or no visits by either of his parents. Only his nanny was actually close to young Winston.6. The film totally ignores that Winston had a younger brother named Jack and so in my view, Winston ignored his younger brother Jack, similar to the way Winston's parents ignored him. A cold family upbringing for both children.7. The film certainly reflects young Winston's eagerness to gain fame and a position of great power in the British parliament. But what about friendships? The film does nothing to reflect any inkling of simple friendships which most young people would cherish as their fondest memories. Instead Young Winston only reflects he met with senior leadership figures in politics, military and/or royalty and/or wealthy families. Shallow Young Winston to say the least. I give the film a shallow 3 out of 10 rating.

Steffi_P In the second half of the twentieth century the biographical epic came into its own. The past hundred years had thrown up a lot of inspirational figures in politics and war, and as that generation of heroes began to die off, and the big motion picture developed an intimate streak, high-budget biopics became a matter of course. And, like anything that is produced often, there soon becomes a standard way of doing it.The writer of Young Winston was Carl Foreman, of High Noon and Bridge on the River Kwai fame. He had a strong starting point – the writings of Churchill himself, full of the man's sense with words and subtle humour. Foreman structures the first book of Churchill's biography into a coherent and entertaining screenplay – sensibly opening with a burst of action from a period in Churchill's adulthood, which not only hooks the audience but also gives us a promise that this adventuresome time will be returned to later. This is especially important since there are moments in the first hour or so where Young Winston threatens to become a dry, domestic biography. But Foreman makes an error in his striving to get various supporting details across. There are several of these bizarre "interview" segments, where major characters are grilled by an unseen questioner, clunkily breaking up the flow of the story. The revelations in the interviews are important, but a writer of Foreman's calibre should have known better and woven them into the regular narrative.Foreman also produced, and he selected Richard Attenborough on the strength of his debut Oh! What a Lovely War. Attenborough seems perhaps a little overwhelmed by all the gadgetry of a larger production. His work looks pretty, but doesn't seem to have much point to it, especially the many slow zooms which become a little irritating. Still, there is his ability to create memorable and iconic imagery, both of actors and of landscapes. He also takes care to make the final shot of one scene dovetail somehow into the first shot of the next. For example a slow tilt upwards following Anne Bancroft on a staircase cuts to an opposing downward tilt to bring us in on the teenage Churchill's speech in the school hall. Such smooth linking devices are useful in a picture like this that has many sudden changes in place and tone.Attenborough was apparently also chosen for his ability to pick a decent cast. He pushed hard for Simon Ward in the title role, and on the whole made a good choice. The fresh-faced Ward deftly depicts Churchill's transition from eager teen to levelheaded military officer. However his adoption of the real Churchill's famous mannerisms and speech patterns in the final scenes verges on the ridiculous. Anne Bancroft gives a steady performance as his mother, although she is perhaps too good at playing cold-hearted women, and when her character's tenderness begins to sour towards the end of the picture it suddenly appears Lady Churchill is going to turn into Mrs Robinson. The finest turn is that of Robert Shaw as Winston's father. He makes Lord Churchill's descent into syphilis-induced dementia poignantly real – you can see the man he was in there still, disintegrating. There are also plenty of big name cameos, but frankly these are far too brief to be of any note or impact on the picture.So, altogether a mixed-bag of a life story. Everything we need to know is there, it just seems that on all accounts this was not a very cohesive effort, in which script, performances and general production have no particular aim or arc. As such, there are some great set pieces, and considered in bits most of Young Winston is very well done. As a whole however, it has neither the sweep nor the power to give us the impression of a life lived.

george karpouzas When I watched this picture on DVD I had in hand The late Roy Jenkins massive biographical study of Winston Churchill and therefore I could compare the action and story line of the with a written source.Pivotal events of young Churchill's life were described both in book and movie as for example, his difficulties as a young pupil as well as his faultless recitation of Macauley's Ruins of Ancient Rome, when in Harrow. His problematic relationship with his father was also portrayed convincingly.Afterwards his journalistic/military adventures, as his participation in a punitive expedition and mainly his escape from the Boers which catapulted him to world fame. I found that the movie gave the established version of events as well as providing memorable quotes which may be a mark of authenticity or a symptom of cliché depending on personal viewpoint. For someone who is not British the evocation of the British Imperial establishment in the movie has an air of historical accuracy as far as manners and ways of life are concerned, the veracity of which I can not check since neither me nor my ancestors had experience of that environment. The movie is picturesque and has aura of adventure when describing the various imperial fronts that it's dashing hero traversed in his young adventurous days. It also emphasizes the importance that social connections played in British society for the advancement of a young aspiring politician. The movie shows the development of a human, if extraordinary, character in the manner of a novel, that Germans call Bildungsroman, that is a story about the evolution and crystallization of a human character. I would compare it in cinematic terms with Abel Ganz's Napoleon, an other earlier movie that explores the formative years of an other Titan of European history, Bonaparte. Young Winston of course relates to a smaller part of it's subject's life in the sense that it ends with his break into politics and also covers barely 4 chapters in Roy Jenkinks massive book from a total of over fifty such devoted to the great man. Clearly it strives to portray solely the early beginning but that it does so very ably. P.S. After I had written the above part of the review I read Churchill's own "My Early Life" on which the movie is based according to the titles of the beginning. I have to admit that it follows "My Early Life" in the content of the events described although not in the sequence since there exist numerous flashbacks. The important thing to point out is that having as a previous written source Roy Jenkins' biographical study I had a sympathetic although supposedly neutral source, while "My Early Life" is as all autobiographies a unabashedly self-justifying piece of writing and that quality is reproduced in the movie. One has to note that the filmic text follows the written text and many narrations in the movie supposedly made by Churchill speaking as an old man, are verbatim reproductions of the text of "My Early Life" which serves as inspiration. Truly reading the book and watching the film is an experience that marries two different forms of art. Also the content of the movie, not only the verbal narrations follows the book and memorable incidents, such as the report to General Kitchener and the presence of the wife of Mr. Dewsnap in the Oldham election meeting stand out. One of course has to observe that everything had been exceptional about Churchill's early life, including his boyish naiveté before the master of his first school, to exclaim that he never speaks to a table as Latin grammar would have him do-an incident described in the book where a small board containing the first declension of the noun mensa=table in Latin is contained. Clearly it offers a lot of insight to it's subject.

Bernardo Rodrigues Largely based on the Winston Churchill's autobiography "My early life: a roving commission", the movie is above worth for Simon Ward's performance, despite an excessive and almost pathetic effort to characterise Churchill's early ineptness on the battle field.The original music score, however, was quite disappointing, taking out all excitement of exciting moments, such as the cavalry charge. I guess Richard Attenborough still wanted to pass an anti-war message nevertheless... I could have done without.However, if I had to put it shortly... If you liked this movie, wait until you read the book... If you didn't like this movie, wait until you read the book!