With the exception of lighting cameraman Freddie Young, no one seems to have their heart in this large-scale ‘Great Man’ bio-pic on William Pitt, British Prime Minister @ 24 and then for nearly 19 years. Reestablishing the ‘great’ in Great Britain after its post-American Revolution low ebb (a conflict his Prime Minister dad is seen railing against, no doubt in here to boost Stateside appeal), he’s soon confronted with his biggest challenge as the French Revolution turns violent before bringing in the Napoleonic Era’s ceaseless wars. As allegory, this 1942 production works hard to emphasize Pitt the forward-thinking Churchillian politician, seeing dangers in Parliamentarian appeasers eager to sign off on any Peace Treaties to avoid war: parallels to Nazis, Hitler, Chamberlain & Churchill very much intended. What couldn’t have been intended, but which now is quite striking, are parallels with Pitt’s determination to last out the war in the face of his quickly deteriorating health much as FDR would deal with a few years after this came out. Robert Donat makes a fine Pitt, believably aging before his time. (As would Donat, dying at 53 from asthma.) With a standout perf from Robert Morley as Pitt’s main political adversary, the film is much less successful in a pro-forma romance with Phyllis Calvert. Wartime restrictions may account for substandard special effects & ship miniatures, but the real problem director Carol Reed faced was in the Sidney Gilliat & Frank Launder script which misses dramatic sweep and seems a bit embarrassed by the heavy-lifting patriotism. They were more in their element on lighter things. Not a patch on the California rah-rah-ing that came so easily to Hollywood’s British Colony and to Anglophile contract studio writers.*
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID/DOUBLE-BILL: * Especially over at Warners where Nazi Germany vs. Britain allegorical dramas like THE SEA HAWK/’40 did their bit for King & Country. And it also shows what a difference a great music score can make to these things. One of Erich Wolfgang Korngold's best vs. Charles Williams' generic 'Mickey Mousing.'
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