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Just saw "Darkest Hour"
Darkest Hour movie ^

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.


TOPICS: History; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: churchill; darkesthour; garyoldman; hollywood; moviereview; winstonchurchill
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To: Bull Snipe
Hitler and the Nazis were idiots. Their antisemitism drove out dozens of Jewish scientists who otherwise would have put their talents to use for Germany.
61 posted on 01/10/2018 7:13:52 AM PST by jmacusa ("Made it Ma, top of the world!'')
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To: Netz

Correct.


62 posted on 01/10/2018 7:14:29 AM PST by jmacusa ("Made it Ma, top of the world!'')
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To: a fool in paradise
The Ray Bradbury interview reminds me of this from the movie Back to School:

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!


63 posted on 01/10/2018 7:25:02 AM PST by kosciusko51
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To: iowamark
A couple of years ago I read the William Manchester/Paul Reid biography of Churchill - "The Last Lion". Volume 1 begins with a superbly written preamble by Manchester of Churchill at the time the movie "Darkest Hour" was set. In the preamble, he gives an overview of Churchill and includes many of his "money quotes". Most of them are on your list and were in the movie. I tend to think the filmmakers/screenwriters of "Darkest Hour" were familiar with Manchester's preamble and resolved to use it as the basis for their screenplay.

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.

64 posted on 01/10/2018 7:39:21 AM PST by Sans-Culotte (Time to get the US out of the UN and the UN out of the US!)
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To: usconservative

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.


65 posted on 01/10/2018 9:02:46 AM PST by Freedom56v2 (#KATE'SWALL Build it Now)
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To: Freedom56v2

It’s on Amazon Prime Video. Their flagship original. Season 3 should be out later this year.


66 posted on 01/10/2018 9:24:48 AM PST by AustinBill (consequence is what makes our choices real)
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To: iowamark

“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.


67 posted on 01/10/2018 9:25:13 AM PST by BeauBo
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To: AustinBill

Oh, no wonder I could not find it on Netflix.

Thanks, I will put it on my watch list...


68 posted on 01/10/2018 9:32:56 AM PST by Freedom56v2 (#KATE'SWALL Build it Now)
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To: wbarmy
While this is obviously pure speculation, we're fortunate we didn't have to deal with that possibility. For this we all owe Churchill a great deal.

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.

69 posted on 01/10/2018 9:35:40 AM PST by AustinBill (consequence is what makes our choices real)
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To: AustinBill

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.


70 posted on 01/10/2018 10:56:30 AM PST by wbarmy (I chose to be a sheepdog once I saw what happens to the sheep.)
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To: wbarmy
I wouldn't be so sure about that. Preliminary planning for the Pearl Harbor attack only began in early 1941 and the definitive decision to attack only made in the Autumn. Had Roosevelt not run in 1940 either President Joseph Kennedy or Wendell Wilkie would likely have been in office, neither of which had an appetite for war. Especially with Europe now "at peace", negotiations between the US and Japan may well have been "successful" from Japan's perspective, avoiding the need for direct conflict, at least in 1941-42.

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.

71 posted on 01/10/2018 11:16:13 AM PST by AustinBill (consequence is what makes our choices real)
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To: Sans-Culotte
A couple of years ago I read the William Manchester/Paul Reid biography of Churchill - "The Last Lion".

You're the only person I've met who has read "The Last Lion" other than myself. Excellent biography! Highly recommend.

72 posted on 01/10/2018 11:20:34 AM PST by Hoffer Rand (God be greater than the worries in my life, be stronger than the weakness in my mind, be magnified.)
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To: Hoffer Rand

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.


73 posted on 01/10/2018 12:49:46 PM PST by Sans-Culotte (Time to get the US out of the UN and the UN out of the US!)
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To: Sans-Culotte

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.


74 posted on 01/10/2018 1:09:29 PM PST by Hoffer Rand (God be greater than the worries in my life, be stronger than the weakness in my mind, be magnified.)
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To: Hoffer Rand
By the time I read it, Manchester had already died, but I did not know this. I raced through the first two and was confused to find a second name on the third book. There were some Amazon reviews saying the third book was terrible, and I considered getting something else to round out the story. But several reviewers said "just get the Reid book; it's fine". And it was.

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!

75 posted on 01/10/2018 1:49:48 PM PST by Sans-Culotte (Time to get the US out of the UN and the UN out of the US!)
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To: wbarmy

“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


76 posted on 01/14/2018 10:31:57 AM PST by Alas Babylon! (Keep fighting the Left and their Fake News!)
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To: Netz

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.


77 posted on 01/14/2018 10:36:40 AM PST by Alas Babylon! (Keep fighting the Left and their Fake News!)
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To: Alas Babylon!

And Eddie and Wallis would have been King and Queen.


78 posted on 01/14/2018 10:38:08 AM PST by dfwgator
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To: Campion

The assassin was ex ball player Moe Berg.


79 posted on 01/14/2018 10:43:14 AM PST by Dr. Ursus
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