'Churchill', narrated by Sir Ian McKellen

[PatFinn1940]

Greetings--

I'm wondering if any fellow Churchillians have seen the three-part documentary Churchill, narrated by Sir Ian McKellen?   It was shown on my local PBS channel the past three Sundays.   It featured interviews with family members (Mary, Lady Soames, grandson Winston S. Churchill, and granddaughter Celia Sandys), colleagues (Anthony Montague Browne, Evan Davies), and descendants of colleagues (Lloyd George's great-grandson).   I noticed it was done back in 2003.

I thought it was very well done.    The person who read Churchill's words was marvelous.   It was like the great man had come back to life!!  

I must confess that I was very sad at the end, watching Churchill's physical decline.   There was wonderful clear footage of the funeral procession from Parliament up through Whitehall.   And when St Paul's Cathedral choir was singing The Battle Hymn of the Republic, I 'lost it'...and the tears really flowed during the procession on the River Thames, as the dock cranes were lowered in tribute.

I live not far from where Churchill's American grandfather, Leonard Jerome, was born and raised.   And that's a real honor to me.

What are your thoughts on this documentary?    Thanks.

Patricia Finnegan
pfin...@gmail.com

[Antoine Capet]

Dear Ms Finnegan,

Many thanks fo the 'tip' - I had never heard of this production.

I have just tried to see if there was a DVD version available, since it was shot in 2003 - to no avail.

Has any List Member information on the possible availabilty of a DVD version ?

I would very much like to order a set.

In my search, I found the dedicated PBS page, which has interesting "buttons" :

http://www.pbs.org/churchill/index.html

I was particularly interested in the "Behind the Scenes - Chartwell" one :

http://www.pbs.org/churchill/behindscenes/index.html

Best wishes,

A.C.

Professor Antoine CAPET, FRHistS
Head of British Studies
University of Rouen
76821 Mont-Saint-Aignan
France
antoin...@univ-rouen.fr

'Britain since 1914' Section Editor
Royal Historical Society Bibliography

Reviews Editor of CERCLES
http://www.cercles.com/review/reviews.html
================

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[David Turrell]

Dear Antoine,

This is the one you are looking for...

http://www.amazon.com/Churchill-John-Baddeley/dp/B0001L3MJE/ref=sr_1_4?s=mov
ies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1378242646&sr=1-4

Cheers,

Dave

[Terry Reardon]

Hello Everyone.

The documentary was reviewed in FH #121, pages 41/2 and its flaws were well
documented.

But obviously a flawed production still has enough WSC to fascinate,
stimulate and entertain.

Terry Reardon

[Lee Pollock]

Dear Churchillians:

Note that some (or possibly all) of these are Region 2 and therefore may not
be playable on U.S. DVD players or computers. The PBS/Region 1 version has
a different cover but I believe the content is the same; however it seems to
be less widely available. (For example, not sold on the PBS website.)

The Region 2 version (the original ITV production) is also available from
Amazon UK for £5.43.

Lee Pollock
Executive Director
The Churchill Centre
lpol...@winstonchurchill.org

[Tom Dennis]

Is Mr. Browne still with us ?  His interviews were always excellent. Actually I liked his the best out of all the I nterviews I have seen. His humor is wonderful

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[David Turrell]

Sadly not.  He died earlier this year.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/9982839/Sir-Anthony-Montague-Browne.html

 

Dave

 

---

[Editor, Finest Hour]

Sir Anthony Montague Browne (both last names, without hyphen, are his last name) died April 1st aged 89. Remembrances by Lady Soames and this writer are in Finest Hour 159, Summer 2013. If you do not have the magazine, email me offline for the texts.

[Antoine Capet]

Dear Lee,

Many thanks for this most useful indication.

For reasons of postage, the cheapest option for me was to order it from Amazon France (which I did earlier today) :

http://www.amazon.fr/Churchill-anglais-John-Baddeley/dp/B0000C8XZW/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1378401465&sr=1-1&keywords=Ian+McKellen+churchill

Best,

A.C.
=======

[Editor, Finest Hour]

Before anyone buys McKellen's ten-year-old production on DVD, they might want to read our review of it, in Finest Hour 121, Winter 2003-04, pp. 41-43, viewable on the Churchill Centre website, or contact me offline for a .pdf.

[Grimsdyke]

Pat, I am an unashamed admirer of Churchill - as I guess you are. Whatever our private stations and the lives we each lead, it surely isn't possible for us to admire Churchill for too many disparate reasons, and so there must invariably be - present in all of us who admire him - that deep respect for courage and the unyielding allegiance to principle and honour that the great man embodied. So I absolutely respect your observations here, and thanks to you I have now bought this 3-disc set myself....and have been watching (and listening) entranced. There is however one thing about it that degrades the experience for me, and also (I feel) cheapens the production in spite of all McKellen's gravity and skill in narration: and that is the person who reads Churchill's words. He made me cringe and squirm with something very near disgust. He labours so much to reproduce the tonal qualities of the Original, that he sounded by turns like an elderly coquette attempting to make himself agreeable, and by turns like some valetudinarian monk trying to coax a juvenile congregation. His wheedling voice and abominably exaggerated lilt (done with nauseating frequency, and usually ridiculously misplaced) made a mockery of the perfectly-turned prose that he was reading. Nor did he prnounce many of his words the way Churchill did. One example is the word 'sure', which he pronounces as "shore"; whereas Churchill always said "shoo-er". There are many more.

If one listens to WSC (the real man, that is) on the many recordings available on http://archive.org/details/Winston_Churchill , one will at once recognize, I think, what a sorry counterfeit this 'stand-in' is. Churchill's voice is measured and direct. He doesn't wheedle in the slightest. And whenever he allows a lilt to shape the last words of a phrase, its aptness is self-evident, and wraps his words in a profoundness that seems to come from the Ages.
I wish they'd chosen someone else to read the Great Man's words; or at least had made him study Churchill's delivery more closely. This fellow spoils it for me.

[PatFinn1940]

Hi, Grimsdyke--

I am definitely a great admirer of Churchill; I have been for as long as I can remember.   My earliest recollection of the great man is the documentary series 'The Valiant Years', which I watched as a child.    And I also remember watching his funeral service on TV.

Who do you think would have been a better reader of Churchill's words in this particular documentary?   I took it for granted that the person knew what he was doing; as an American, I am not as well acquainted with 'Churchill voice-imposters' as many British Churchillians might be.  I'm just curious.   (And I am opening that question up to everyone here on the board, BTW.)

And thanks for your kind words.

Pat

[QBastian]

I am looking forward to purchasing this set. I too watched The Valiant Years when I was younger and became fascinated by this great man.

 

With regard to the voice actor, I have listened to many over the years and have become convinced that it is not necessary to imitate WSC’s well known speaking pattern or tones. I believe it is more important to have his eloquent and inspiring words well-read rather than imitated.

 

Best,

 

Quinn

 

 

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From: church...@googlegroups.com [mailto:church...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of PatFinn1940
Sent: Tuesday, September 24, 2013 10:36 AM
To: church...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [ChurchillChat] Re: 'Churchill', narrated by Sir Ian McKellen

 

Hi, Grimsdyke--

--

[Grimsdyke]

Hello Pat :-)...to be honest, I haven't yet heard any actor with quite the timbre that Churchill had. In 'Into the Storm' I was impressed with Brendon Gleeson's portrayal of WSC. His out-thrust jaw, the pugnacity of his expression, the stoop that he affected - these were all very close to the original. I don't quite remember the voice, but from what I do remember, it certainly was better - to a huge degree, than the 'Churchill' voice on McKellen's documentary.

[Grimsdyke]

I guess I'd agree with that, Quinn.... while being exquisitely conscious of the fact that this very much falls into the class of 'making a virtue of necessity' - for, given the practically complete absence of anyone who can really 'do' Churchill's voice, it is a matter of practical prudence to give up the search :-) But notwithstanding this concession to necessity, I still wouldn't want Churchill's words read out to me by someone with, say, the tired and colourless voice of Neville Chamberlain! So while we must, it seems, accept that Churchill will be 'spoken' to us by voices bearing little similarity to the original, there is, surely, a limit.

[Charles Montgomery]

One of the most Churchillian(to me) actors I have seen was Arthur Brough 1905-1978 who appeared as a regular as Mr. Grainger on the British comedy, Are You Being Served, for several years.  I always liked his character and thought he looked and sounded like Churchill without even trying.  His bald head, face, cheeks,  scowl, and timbre made me think, "Never surrender." when I saw him.  I did look but could not find any credits to him which indicated he ever played Churchill in his long career.  

Charlie

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From: Grimsdyke <lincol...@gmail.com>
To: church...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, September 25, 2013 12:21 AM

Subject: [ChurchillChat] Re: 'Churchill', narrated by Sir Ian McKellen

[Grimsdyke]

Gosh, now that you've mentioned this, I don't think I'd registered this about Are You being Served although I've watched it often in its time. Thank you very much for pointing it out, Charlie. I shall scour the shelves for a copy of one of the episodes, and hope to catch Arthur Brough's vocal delivery. I like the way you've described the effect it had on you to see and hear him! 

[jh...@jhernlaw.com]

On a couple of occasions on the show Mr. Grangier did adopt the Churchill persona, as it was obvious that he was a natural.  I can't remember which episodes or what about, but probably having to do with overcoming his natural meekness and show a determination to resist the strictures of Captain Peacock.

 

Joseph L. Hern
Attorney at Law
156 State Street
Boston, MA 02109-2585
tel: (617) 248-1919
cel: (617) 773-1919
fax: (617) 248-6844
email: jh...@jhernlaw.com

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[Rafe Heydel-Mankoo]

That's right. I shouldn't admit to knowing this, but one of the episodes in which Grainger/Brough performs his WSC impression is when the staff are camping out overnight in tents on the shop floor.  Although by no means a great actor, Brough had performed impressions of Churchill during the War, when he was performing with ENSA (the Entertainment National Service Association). He resembled him more and more as the years passed (or perhaps I should say he increasingly resembled an exaggerated caricature of WSC), particularly when wearing his spectacles. RHM

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Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2013 13:22:38 -0400
From: jh...@jhernlaw.com
To: church...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [ChurchillChat] Re: 'Churchill', narrated by Sir Ian McKellen