Winston Churchill - The Wilderness Years

Starring:Robert Hardy, SiÃ¢n Phillips, Nigel Havers, Chloe Salaman, Tamsin Murray-Leach, Katharine Levy, Tim Pigott-Smith, David Swift, Sherrie Hewson, Moray Watson, Paul Freeman, Frank Middlemass, David Quilter, Sam Wanamaker, Peter Barkworth, Eric Porter, Edward Woodward, Peter Vaughan, Robert James, Tony Mathews
Director: Ferdinand Fairfax
Studio: Lance Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Customer Reviews:

Totally engrossing.......2006-12-10

Previous reviewers have remarked upon the shortcomings of the DVD transfer. It's true that you'll have to crank up the volume. The color's not great.

But what a story! Remember, this isn't the war years; this is the decade of the 30s when Churchill was out of power -- still in Parliament, but not on the cabinet.

This series is a crash course in the British system of government and a incredibly entertaining history lesson. I can't praise it enough. Robert Hardy seems to get more confident in his portrayal the further into the series. By the end, you're looking at him, but actually seeing Churchill.

I don't give many 5 star ratings. This one deserves it.

An absorbing and factual historical drama........2006-04-14

Churchill's political story in the 1930s is rendered very well in this work. Robert Hardy as Churchill delivers an excellent performance. The dialogue, acting, and general ambience of this series are excellent. The sound quality on this DVD is questionable, specially Episode 1. Much of the dialogue seems muffled. Understanding Baldwin's mumble is quite a chore. However, after one adjusts to these shortcomings you are sure to get hooked.

One caveat. You will have to turn up the volume to compensate for the accents.

One can say with regards to Churchill that the "man and the hour had met". Churchill certainly was a major figure in saving Western civilization. Going through this series I could not but help noticing how privileged a life he led. The family estate, Checkers, was beautiful with servants galore.

An Extraordinary Recreation Of Churchill And A Dangerous Time Before WWII.......2006-03-26

This British miniseries is probably one of the best reconstructions of a dramatic period in history ever put together. It's the story of Winston Churchill, from 1929, out of office with everyone, including himself but not his wife, believing his political career is finished, to 1939 when, in the face of Hitler's invasion of Poland, Neville Chamberlain reluctantly calls on Churchill to become First Lord of the Admiralty. During these ten years Churchill is ignored, feared, plotted against and often disdained by his political foes. He also, as Germany rearms, is seen by some as the only force for realism and action that Britain has. And Churchill? He is a dominating force, by turns petulant, noble, sulking, roaring, overpowering with words, a dangerous opponent in a debate, sometimes outmaneuvered, sometimes quixotic. But more than any of the others, he was right about the things that mattered.

Robert Hardy plays Churchill in a performance that is extraordinary, far better than I've seen other actors' attempts at Churchill. Like so many British productions, the acting depth gives power and nuance to the program. Sian Phillips is Clementine, who loves her husband, believes in him and who knows he at times can be a child. As two prime ministers, Peter Barkworth (Stanley Baldwin) and Eric Porter (Neville Chamberlain) give fascinating portraits of men in power and how they behave. Baldwin, Churchill said once, was the most formidable politician he'd ever met. Baldwin is avuncular, sly, gets what he wants even if it means a bit of betrayal without ruffling a feather. Chamberlain is sincere, prissy, often ineffectual and an ultimately sad failure. There's Edward Woodward as Sir Samuel Hoare, ever ready to compromise except with Churchill; Tim Pigott-Smith as Brendan Bracken, firmly a Churchill man and an advocate for action; Clive Smith as Sir Horace Wilson, a senior civil servant who has far too much influence with Chamberlain; Peter Vaughn as Sir Thomas Inskip, who knows how to make the law work in favor of his party in power; Nigel Havers as Randolph Churchill, overshadowed and frustrated by his father; and so many others.

For those who are interested in the mistakes, the maneuvering, the decisions, the personalities and the plotting that led up to Britain finally intervening on behalf of Poland in 1939 with the declaration of war against Germany, this is a fine place to start. And for those who enjoy the complex and erratic nature of Churchill, this will also be a treat.

The production is first class, from the bespoke-looking suits of the politicians to the incredibly substantial-looking and detailed recreation of the House of Commons, where much of Churchill's genius is shown. Location shooting took place at Chartwell, Blenheim Palace, Clivenden and the U.S. Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years - 1929-1939 runs to eight 60-minute episodes over two discs. The video transfer is a bit soft but otherwise is just fine. There are a few extras.

Winston Churchill - The Wilderness Years

Average customer rating:

Excellent portrayals, fine copy
The saviour of civilisation
Very detailed, generally good performances, very enjoyable
Amazing!
Great movie, poor picture and sound quality - NO subtitling!

Winston Churchill - The Wilderness Years
Starring: Robert Hardy , Siân Phillips , Nigel Havers , Chloe Salaman , and Tamsin Murray-Leach
Director: Ferdinand Fairfax
Manufacturer: Lance Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

The Gathering Storm
Winston Churchill
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ASIN: B00007M5HU
Release Date: 2003-03-11

Amazon.com

It's easy to stay glued to all 390 fascinating minutes of this 1981 television series, which concentrates, in great detail, on an agonizing decade in the political life of Winston Churchill. Ousted in 1928 from his powerful position in Britain's Conservative government, Churchill (Robert Hardy) assumes--for the first of many times to come--that his career is over. But a pattern emerges: Churchill, the maverick defender of Britain's empire, is pressed back into service only to be attacked for unpopular views about the King's abdication and Hitler's threat. Time and again Churchill is banished, but this sprawling drama provides much colorful detail about the great man's trips to America (what a sight: Churchill in Monument Valley), his passion for his family, and his prescient drive to complete a historical tome before 1939--the year he becomes Prime Minister. Hardy is superb; excellent support comes from, among others, Eric Porter as Neville Chamberlain. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

Excellent portrayals, fine copy.......2005-06-30

I saw this in broadcast in 1983, got the DVD several years ago, and have watched it several times since, including last night. Contrary to those reviewers here who apparently got bad-quality DVD copies, mine is excellent quality, visual and sound. All the praise for the acting & production offered by the other reviewers is 100% right, and I am reviewing here just to recommend Edward Woodward's performance as Samuel Hoare. He captures perfectly the contradictions in one man between between personal ambition and genuine commitment to what the country needs, with enough honest perception to not to deceive himself ALL the time (only PART of the time) that whatever is best for his personal advancement must also be best for the country. Most politicians have these competing, conflicting desires, I think, and seldom if ever have they been captured better by an actor. A fine, fine performance.

The saviour of civilisation.......2005-04-17

WINSTON CHURCHILL: THE WILDERNESS YEARS is an eight-part mini-series tracing the career of Winston Churchill (Robert Hardy) in the pivotal decade spanning the years 1929-1939.
1- Down and Out - 1929. Churchill visits America, wherein he conducts a successful, and remunerative, lecture tour only to invest and lose his money in the stock market crash.
2- Politics Are Foul - 1930-1932. Parliament wrangles over India. Stanley Baldwin convinces WC to make intemperate speech and is ousted. WC out of government and embarks on a second trip to America.
3- In High Places - 1932-1934. Churchill opposes the India bill and loses. Long digression to explain the behind the scenes maneuvers. Samuel Hoare, then Secretary of State for India, coerces evidence and invokes Privilege to steer India bill through Parliament. Invoking privilege and telling the investigating committee that "he (Hoare) is not a crook" of course evokes memories of Richard Nixon.
4- A Menace in the House - 1934. Churchill concludes his fight against corruption in Parliament and meets Ralph Wigram, an official in the Foreign Office, who begins feeding him top secret information on German fighting strength and rearmament.
5- The Flying Peril - 1934-1936. Churchill, armed with accurate and secret information on Nazi Germany, begins to rally the country to alertness, much to the consternation of the MacDonald government. MacDonald government falls and is replaced with Baldwin government, which excludes Churchill.
6- His Own Funeral - 1936. Hitler invades the Rhineland. Churchill supports the King in congress during the Abdication Crisis, advises against abdication, and loses a great deal of support and popularity.
7- The Long Surrender - 1937-1938. Hitler's armies stand on the border of Czechoslovakia. Prime Minister Chamberlain wavers and follows a policy of appeasement, much to the consternation of the vociferous Churchill.
8- What Price Churchill? 1938-1939. Chamberlain meets with Hitler and signs a pact, returns and declares he has negotiated "peace in our time."
THE WILDERNESS YEARS will appeal to C-SPAN junkies and political wonks. I've never visited England, know little or nothing of the workings of their political systems, and I've read Martin Gilbert's biographies on Churchill long enough ago to forget most of the particulars, but I found episode 3 and 4 the most interesting. This is a series that takes its politics seriously, and Churchill's battle against Hoare and the India Bill was fascinatingly detailed. And clocking in at a total of nearly 7 hours it has the luxury of going into many details indeed.
I've seen Churchill in old newsreels and have heard him on old recordings, not a lot but enough to be satisfied that Hardy was an excellent choice for the part. It didn't take me long to buy his performance. A bit unfortunately, this biography is something of a hagiography as well, and Churchill is glorified at the expense of almost every one of his political opponents. Perhaps it's a true recording, but the bias is pronounced at times and detracts from the reality of things. Otherwise a highly enjoyable and educational mini-series.

Very detailed, generally good performances, very enjoyable.......2005-03-10

Winston Churchill's Wilderness Years was a period of about 10 years (1928-1939) when the man was out of office and generally at odds with his own political party's leadership over such questions as re-armament, granting independence to India, and the scandal surrounding Edward VIII's plans to marry an American divorcee. This miniseries - 8 episodes of 50 minutes - covers this time in an entertaining and informative matter. Granted, the first couple episodes give the feeling that they are plodding from plot point to plot point, but the series settles down into the smooth and enjoyable story of a passionate man whose ideas are not shared by his peers (nor the country in general).

Part of the difficulty of the early episodes is that there is a vast array of characters who are introduced with little or no background. For audiences outside Britain, this may present a problem. Those that don't already know Lord Beaverbrook, Prof. Lindemann, or Stanley Baldwin are likely to spend much of the early episodes trying to keep the characters straight. To the filmakers' credit, however, distinctive actors (they all look different and adopt distinctive mannerisms) are used for the parts, easing the transition into the Churchillian world. Especially noteworthy is Peter Barkworth as Baldwin and "The Equalizer" himself, Edward Woodward, as Samuel Hoare.

Unfortunately, there are some unfortunate portrayals. This is not the fault of the actors, but rather the director and scriptwriters. Hitler, for example, is portrayed as a sunken-cheeked angry man, which is the stereotypical Hitler but far removed from his public persona at the height of his popularity in the mid-30's. Likewise, Churchill's political opponents (Chamberlain, Ramsay Macdonald, etc.) are portrayed as callow, stupid, or bumbling, when by all accounts they were genuine, intellegent men whose only fault was trusting too readily the promises of those more politically cynical and sinister. Churchill's wife Clemmie is also portrayed in the least favourable light possible, as a selfish and cold wife, jetting off on cruises at a moment's notice caring only for her own comfort. While she did take numerous trips, they were to get away from an overbearing and selfish husband, the truth of which was well understood by that husband.

But, ultimately, the core of any miniseries about Churchill is the portrayal of Churchill. Robert Hardy makes a convincing Churchill, capturing his halting speech pattern, his slouching walk, his grimaces, etc. Comparisons with HBO's "The Gathering Storm," and Albert Finney's portrayal, are inevitable. For my money, the latter film is more "truthful" in that it better captures the essence of Churchill and his extended family (both blood and political). The Wilderness Years is much more factual - both because it's longer and has time to show more, but also because it makes a greater effort to put things in context and in order. Both are enjoyable in their own right, and of sufficiently different tone and pace that you're likely to enjoy both on their own merits without noticing that they cover the same material.

Amazing!.......2005-01-25

This is a mini-series of epic proportions. If you enjoyed the HBO movie, "The Gathering Storm," then this is a must see, and a more detailed oriented movie. The philosophical battle between Churchill, Baldwin, MacDonald, and finally Chamberlain keeps one glued to the chair. It is no wonder that Churchill went down in history as a lion proclaiming freedom and liberty over tyranny and terror. Every Churchill fan should own both "The Gathering Storm" and this movie; no Churchill collection would be complete without these DVD's.

Great movie, poor picture and sound quality - NO subtitling!.......2004-04-04

...This is a Churchill movie that anyone interested in British WW2 history MUST see. Hardy is just superb as Winston Churchill. For a none-English native, though, it is absolutely incomprehensible how the producers could put this movie out without subtitling at least in English! The sound quality is not good (the picture quality far from neither), and for a none- native English too much is lost in the sometimes somewhat muffled colloqial performance, not to speak of the simple fact that Churchill's famous whisky voice would surely benefit by subtitling...However, it is a must-see all the same! The series appeared on the Danish market in 2006 with Danish subtitling. However, the publishers must have had a severe problem with their bank since they chose to hire a translator whose inability to transform the beautiful English of the 1930'ties into smooth Danish adds only further pain to the viewers' experience, not to speak of the many subtitling printing errors! Next time: let's have a sound improved version with hard of hearing subtitling in English! That may just do the trick!

Average customer rating:

Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years
Starring: Robert Hardy , Siân Phillips , Nigel Havers , Chloe Salaman , and Tamsin Murray-Leach
Director: Ferdinand Fairfax
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video