Gathering Storm

Starring: Albert Finney, Vanessa Redgrave Director: Richard Loncraine Original UK Premiere: 2002 Dvd Release: 15th September, 2003 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: PAL, Widescreen, Region 2 Encoding Subtitled In: English

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DVD Extras: The Gathering Storm doesn't look or sound quite as crisp & clear as you'd hope for a recent TV-movie transfer. That's down to some obvious grain in the picture, & the 2.0 surround audio that tends to lose quieter dialogue moments. There are extensive cast & crew biographies that will no doubt help international viewers place the naggingly familiar British faces. There's also the accumulatively enthusiastic commentary from director Richard Loncraine & producer Frank Doelger, which happily points many of them out.

The Gathering Storm is a fictionalised portrayal of Winston Churchill & his wife Clementine during their wilderness years of the 1930s. It deservedly won numerous awards, including an Emmy, BAFTA & Golden Globe in recognition of Albert Finneys wonderful central performance. Equally deserving were those for all aspects of the production design: period wardrobe, set dressing & use of location are equally impressive, apparently ensuring that this production has everything going for it in its depiction of pre-War Britain. The snag is that its restriction to TV movie format, a mere 90 minutes, excludes a lot of historical context that ought not to have been left out.

Seeing Churchills adoration of his wife or the family woes troubling Ralph Wigram is all very emotionally dramatic, but it uses precious screen time that might have been better devoted to highlighting the political situation abroad, or indeed the monarchys situation at home. The enterprise smacks a little too much of sentimental contrivance, lionising Churchill in rose-tinted retrospect. True, some attempt is made to acknowledge the personality traits that excluded him both from office & popularity prior to Germanys re-building, but like so much else pertinent to the machinations of anticipating the war, these are glossed over for familial feel-goodery & button-pushing poignancy. This is a film thats easy to admire, but ought not to be mistaken for well-rounded history.

Albert Finney is a British actor. He has received five Academy Awards nominations. His most famous role was as Agatha Christies master detective Hercule Poirot in the 1974 film Murder On The Orient Express. Finney was so effective in the role that he complained that it typecast him for a number of years. People really do think I am 300 pounds with a French accent he said. He was born in Salford, Manchester, England, United Kingdom. His first film was The Entertainer, but his real breakthrough came with his portrayal of a disillusioned factory worker in Karel Reisz s film of Alan Sillitoe s Saturday Night & Sunday Morning. This led to a series of angry young man roles in kitchen sink dramas, most notably 1963 s Tom Jones. Albert Finney has often been called A second Olivier. Karaoke & Cold Lazarus. In the latter he played a frozen, disembodied head. His most recent TV credit is the leading role in My Uncle Silas, about a Cornish country gentleman, whos looking after his grand-nephew. It ran from 2000 until 2002, then again for a mini-series in 2003. Posters Of Albert Finney

Editors Choice: Big Fish, Gathering Storm, A Rather English Marriage, Annie, The Dresser, Wolfen, Tom Jones, Two For The Road, View DVDology

Vanessa Redgrave is an English actress, a member of the Redgrave acting dynasty. Her parents were Sir Michael Redgrave & Rachel Kempson. Her sister, Lynn Redgrave & brother, Corin Redgrave, are also well-known actors, as are her daughters, Natasha Richardson & Joely Richardson. She also has a son, Carlo Nero, a writer & film director, by a relationship with Italian actor Franco Nero, whom she met while filming Camelot. She was born in London & entered the Central School of Speech & Drama in 1954. She first appeared in the West End, playing opposite her father, in 1958 & subsequently became notorious for her unconventional lifestyle & daring film roles such as Isadora. She won an Academy Award for her performance in Julia. Her political views have also caused controversy, being a member of the Workers Revolutionary Party & denouncing Zionism when receiving her Academy Award. Redgrave remained loyal to WRP founder Gerry Healy when he was expelled from the WRP in the mid-1980s. She & other Healy loyalists founded the Marxist Party in the 1990s. Posters Of Gathering Storm

Editors Choice: Crime And Punishment, Gathering Storm, The Locket, If These Walls Could Talk 2, Jack And The Beanstalk, Mrs Dalloway, Uninvited, Bella Mafia, View DVDology

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