Posted on 01/09/2018 11:18:14 PM PST by iowamark
Please pardon the vanity. I just saw Darkest Hour. It was really excellent and moving. Both history and drama. Some lines and scenes are obviously fictionalized. The scene with Churchill riding the subway is silly, but I understand the need for dramatic license.
It is about the last three weeks of May 1940. Churchill becomes Prime Minister, even though Chamberlain, Halifax, and King George dislike him. Hitler invades France, which becomes a rout. Halifax insists on peace negotiations with Hitler. Churchill wavers, but decides to fight on. It is impossible to say what might have happened if Britain had made a deal with Hitler.
I strongly encourage all to see Darkest Hour. The cast is all excellent.
Gary Oldman as Churchill, Kristin Scott Thomas as his wife, Ben Mendelsohn as George VI, Lily James as his secretary, Ronald Pickup as Neville Chamberlain, Stephen Dillane Lord Halifax.
Correct.
Jason Melon: Dad, why don't join me on a little reality break, ok? Just cuz you're in love with Dr. Turner, that does NOT mean you're gonna pass her course. Now, you got a major paper comin' up on Kurt Vonnegut. You haven't even read any of the books.Thornton Melon: I tried...
[knock on door]
Thornton Melon: I don't understand a word of it.
Jason Melon: [going to the door] So, how you gonna write the paper then, huh?
[Jason opens the door to see Kurt Vonnegut standing there]
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.: [removing his hat] Hi, I'm Kurt Vonnegut. I'm looking for Thornton Melon.
Later in the movie...
[after Diane gives Thornton an 'F' for his report, which was actually written by Kurt Vonnegut]Diane: Whoever *did* write this doesn't know the first thing about Kurt Vonnegut!
[cut to Thornton's dorm suite]
Thornton Melon: [on the phone] ... and *another* thing, Vonnegut! I'm gonna stop payment on the cheque!
This was the first time my wife and I have gone to a movie in two years. My wife has not read much on Churchill and WW2, so it was a good introduction to Churchill for her. We both enjoyed the film.
I searched “The Man in the High Castle” on Netflix...did not see it—is it not out yet? Old and gone? Just wondering as it sounded interesting.
It’s on Amazon Prime Video. Their flagship original. Season 3 should be out later this year.
“I hope that you don’t really believe that that scene was real.”
You are right, that scene (Churchill on the Underground) was a dramatization.
He was well known for mingling with the public to get a sense of their opinions, and for using it to sway other politicians who had their finger in the wind to go with whatever is popular, but were themselves out of touch with common people.
Oh, no wonder I could not find it on Netflix.
Thanks, I will put it on my watch list...
With Britain subdued in 1940 it's likely Roosevelt would not have run for a third term since effectively the war would have been "over". Remember in 1940 Germany and the USSR were still "allies" and the American pacifist movement was dominant. It was only because of the Battle of Britain that Roosevelt was able to push through lend-lease or re-institute the draft. Without this impetus America would have slumbered on as Hitler consolidated his hold on all of Europe.
Britain's capitulation would also have given Japan a free hand in Asia, giving them needed access to resources. With a pacifist US there may have been no need for Pearl Harbor.
I think the Pearl Harbor attack had been planned for long before. I do not think anything we or Britain was going to do would have changed that.
Had Hitler prevailed over Britain in 1940, he may well have spent a few years "digesting" Europe before turning to Russia. The point is Churchill's adamant will to fight on definitively changed the course of history.
You're the only person I've met who has read "The Last Lion" other than myself. Excellent biography! Highly recommend.
It’s too bad Manchester died before completing the last volume. However, Reid did a good job of finishing it. His prose was not as magisterial as Manchester’s, but Churchill’s own quotes and writings provided enough majesty. I am currently on the last volume of Churchill’s biography of the Duke of Marlborough. I had read an abridged (worthless) version about 10 years ago.
I got the first two books, way before the third one was published, not realizing it was a trilogy. I got partway through the second book before I realized events weren’t moving fast enough to conclude in two volumes. By then, I was completely sucked into it. But, the third book still hadn’t been published, and wouldn’t be for another 5 years. I was not a happy camper. I kept up an ongoing search for it. It wasn’t until the third volume came out that I realized Manchester had died, and that’s what caused the delay. Still, amazing biography, and totally worth reading.
When I read the first two volumes of the Edmund Morris bio of Theodore Roosevelt, the 2nd book had come out in paperback. I did have to wait a few years for the third and final volume. These meticulously researched bios take a long time to write!
“The German Army in fighting Russia is like an elephant attacking a host of ants. The elephant will kill thousands, perhaps even millions, of ants, but in the end their numbers will overcome him, and he will be eaten to the bone.”
—Colonel Bernd Von Kielst, Wehrmacht, 3rd Reich
Especially since he thought that Britain would loose to the Nazis.
He wanted Churchill to take that horror on, and the blame. Then Halifax could rise and assume command of the Nazi vassal that was the UK. Sieg Heil!
Some think he might even had had a secret channel to the Nazi’s planning to do so.
And Eddie and Wallis would have been King and Queen.
The assassin was ex ball player Moe Berg.
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