Glorious 39

There's a decided whiff of the John Buchans to Glorious 39, a rollicking conspiracy thriller set in the run-up to the second world war. Glorious 39 gives us dotty aunts and dodgy spies, showbiz starlets and imperilled young firebrands. Here, one feels, is the sort of yarn that Alfred Hitchcock might have had fun with: he would have kept it crisp and witty and light on its toes. Writer-director Stephen Poliakoff elects to play it straight and keep it sober. This never zips the way it should.

For all that, Poliakoff's film deals out a solid, old-school entertainment. Romola Garai stars as Anne Keyes, the adopted actor daughter of Bill Nighy's venerable elder statesman. In the palatial grounds of their country estate, the talk is all of war and appeasement, Churchill and Chamberlain. Under the cool, watchful eye of Jeremy Northam's Foreign Office spook, a sabre-rattling MP (David Tennant) urges action against Hitler and then abruptly winds up dead.

This, naturally, is Anne's cue to turn Miss Marple. Her subsequent investigation uncovers a stash of incriminating recordings, conveniently tucked away in the family outhouse, and a previously overlooked reel of movie footage in which her doomed fellow actor (Hugh Bonneville) urges her to "listen to them again, Anne". Bonneville doesn't quite go on to tell her that "the real villain is … aarrrgh!" before dropping dead from a poison dart. But I'm guessing it was a close-run thing.

If Glorious 39 strains credibility in its owl-eyed pursuit of a dark and terrible truth, then the polished, committed performances from the likes of Garai and Nighy keep it part-way honest. But Poliakoff's film also deserves credit for offering a tangential spotlight on the motives of Neville Chamberlain's appeasers. In recent years Chamberlain has become adopted as a kind of cover-all bogeyman by neo-con pundits keen to justify the merits of "preventative war" on Iraq or Iran. Glorious 39 at least roots this argument in its proper historical context. It shows how the pacifist counsel of the Great War survivors was hijacked and twisted by rogue elements within the Tory government; a cabal of influential aristocrats that was determined to preserve the status quo at any cost.

Glorious 39 is generally diverting and mildly political; conservative with a lower-case c. It frolics in a land of idyllic hunting grounds, picturesque castles and hearty gatherings, and then lets the whole house of cards come tumbling down.

Glorious 39

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Glorious 39
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Stephen Poliakoff
Produced by	Barney Reisz Martin Pope
Written by	Stephen Poliakoff
Starring	Romola Garai Bill Nighy Julie Christie Eddie Redmayne David Tennant Christopher Lee
Music by	Adrian Johnston
Cinematography	Danny Cohen
Edited by	Jason Krasucki
Production company	BBC Films Magic Light Pictures Quickfire Films Screen East Content Investment Fund Talkback Thames UK Film Council
Distributed by	Momentum Pictures
Release dates	20 November 2009
Running time	129 minutes[1]
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£3.7 million

Glorious 39 is a 2009 British war thriller film written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff. Starring Romola Garai, Bill Nighy, Julie Christie, Jeremy Northam,Christopher Lee, David Tennant, Jenny Agutter and Eddie Redmayne. The film was released on 20 November 2009.

On the eve of World War II, as the formidable Keyes family tries to uphold its traditional way of life, daughter Anne (Garai) sees her life dramatically unravel when she stumbles upon secret recordings of the pro-appeasementmovement.^[2]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Glorious 39
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Stephen Poliakoff
Produced by	Barney Reisz Martin Pope
Written by	Stephen Poliakoff
Starring	Romola Garai Bill Nighy Julie Christie Eddie Redmayne David Tennant Christopher Lee
Music by	Adrian Johnston
Cinematography	Danny Cohen
Edited by	Jason Krasucki
Production company	BBC Films Magic Light Pictures Quickfire Films Screen East Content Investment Fund Talkback Thames UK Film Council
Distributed by	Momentum Pictures
Release dates	20 November 2009
Running time	129 minutes[1]
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£3.7 million

Glorious 39 is a 2009 British war thriller film written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff. Starring Romola Garai, Bill Nighy, Julie Christie, Jeremy Northam,Christopher Lee, David Tennant, Jenny Agutter and Eddie Redmayne. The film was released on 20 November 2009.

On the eve of World War II, as the formidable Keyes family tries to uphold its traditional way of life, daughter Anne (Garai) sees her life dramatically unravel when she stumbles upon secret recordings of the pro-appeasementmovement.^[2]