Young Winston

One of Richard Attenborough's earliest films, Young Winston (1972) is an uneven epic about Winston Churchill's formative years. Unsure if it wants to be a period drama or a rousing adventure, it's not entirely satisfying despite Simon Ward's fine portrayal of Churchill.

Winston Churchill (Simon Ward) is the son of esteemed Lord Randolph Churchill (Robert Shaw) and his American wife Jennie (Anne Bancroft). When Lord Randolph is stricken with syphillis, Winston goes into the Army, hoping to make a name for himself. Churchill serves as a war correspondent in India, the Sudan and finally the Boer War, becoming an international celebrity for his daring escape from captivity in the latter. Finally, Churchill returns back to England a hero, and takes his father's seat in the House of Lords, kickstarting a legendary political career.

Young Winston is primarily sabotaged by a schizophrenic tone. The first half is tasteful if rather stuffy period melodrama; the second half is a rousing Korda-esque imperial adventure. After opening with an exciting colonial battle in India we flashback to Churchill's childhood, with lots of long, talky scenes interspersed with expository narration and tedious "interview" segments that fail in their ostensible goal of exploring Winston's character. Occasionally a fine moment pops up - Lord Randolph's "intimate" conversation with his son - but Carl Foreman's script is mostly flat and dull, leaving the actors at sea and the audience impatient. The transition to adventure in the second half is rather abrupt and doesn't quite work, even if individual scenes are involving.

Surprisingly, Attenborough and Foreman provide a largely adulatory view of Churchill, avoiding their habitual leftist politics. No critique of imperialism, Young Winston lets its colonial battles play out as exciting adventures, with an occasional nod to post-imperial sensibilities: the Battle of Omdurman goes from the heroic dering-do of The Four Feathers to a one-sided slaughter, with the Mahdist dervishes blasted to smithereens by British cannon. Similarly, Churchill's ego and overweening ambition are highlighted, but the overall portrayal is positive, almost reverent: he was a great man, and here's some footage from V-E Day to show you why. Nothing wrong with this, but anyone expecting a deep, revealing portrait of Churchill will be disappointed.

Attenborough's film is pictorally handsome, with lots of sumptuous period detail and beautiful photography of Moroccan locations. The big action scenes are well-handled, especially the thrilling train ambush and prison escape in the Boer War. Alfred Ralston contributes a nice score as well. Unfortunately, the sluggish, uneven pace and flat screenplay make it hard to become deeply engrossed in the film, even when the action picks up post-intermission.

Simon Ward (Zulu Dawn) acquits himself well as Churchill; he's a reasonably-close physical match to the real thing and has the voice down pat, especially in his narration. Ward makes Churchill a compelling character, charismatic, chipper, self-confident and almost absurdly ambitious. Robert Shaw (A Man for All Seasons) is superb, making Lord Randolph a wonderfully tragic character, but Anne Bancroft (7 Women) is onhand mostly for decorative purposes.

Young Winston unfortunately repeats a common failing of Attenborough's oeuvre. Dickie's deep connections in the British film industry always yielded fruit in the casting department, but almost invariably he makes little use of a fine crop of actors. Big names like Anthony Hopkins, John Mills, Jack Hawkins, Ian Holm and Edward Woodward turn up just long enough to be recognized and then vanish. Maybe it's me, but I don't get that much pleasure out of seeing stars trotted out for bit parts; mostly I'd like it if they had something to do worthy of their talents.

Young Winston has its moments but the whole is unsatisfying. I might recommend it as a decent time-waster, but given how hard it is to track down (I lucked out with a TCM showing), I regret to say it's not worth the trouble.