Darkest Hour

[brian brian]

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone! (I suspect some here will be enjoying the last few hours of the holiday playing their favorite game - I hope so!)

As this was oddly a bit of a holiday movie here in my country, it all dove-tailed (hmmm, is that perhaps a talisman of House Halifax?) together nicely for me and I was able to see this movie in a real movie theater a few days ago. Even a dramatic, near-totally indoor movie like this one is better on a real movie screen. The occasional evocation of the set & setting of 1940 England is nice to see; a component of movie-making that I always enjoy.

SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT!!!

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OK, you're safe now:

The Germans Attack!!! No Way! Who ever saw that coming?

(I was a bit surprised at the overall ratio of pre-May 10 / post-May 10 setting. But the movie title is so well-done; it is the "Dark" hour, not the "Phony War" hour.)

Not surprisingly, Churchill gets all of the moments of levity, something every film needs. It might help to be a speaker of true British English to get the amusing riff on his initials and another casual amusement on the same topic and the Privy Seal.

But one of the best lines in the movie I think is also rather famous:

"How ever does a man drink in the morning?", Churchill is asked. His response: "Practice."

I warned you there was a spoiler coming! I will leave it you to discover which character asks Churchill this question, an amusing angle to it all that I did not know before seeing this.

This movie will also make you regret staying in a hotel so cheap that upon leaving one thinks - "the Continent is calling. It want's it's reputation for a proper Breakfast back!" I always chuckle some on the subject of "Free Continental Breakfast" at the sleep-cheap type places.

And Churchill's habits quite reminded me of a recent and extremely famous pseudo-Englishman - the elder Bilbo Baggins, as seen in the right good and proper Lord of the Rings movies (themselves influenced by the British experience of WWI), not those crap Hobbit movie abominations.

Which then quickly led me to consider the cinematic history of a main protagonist. No, not Hitler. He is mainly just an occasional off-screen soundbite, though of course he looms over the plot quite thoroughly. My first thought was the really sneaky bad guy attacking Parliament in one of the Robert Downey Sherlock Holmes movies, which well share some extras with this movie. But that wasn't it. Maybe "Mister Anderson." or possibly Elrond. Nope, not it either. Finally after an hour in - I was watching Stanys Baratheon once again! Stanys was rather feckless and dim on the concept of future implications, too, I thought.

One outcome of watching the movie does not surprise me - a new thirst for reading a little more deeply on these topics; both on the genesis of Operation Dynamo and the fate of the British troops holding Calais. I do give the scriptwriter a little credit for not moving an off-screen, anonymously motivating character for one of the key on-scren characters, to the unit in Calais, which would be a more typical screenwriting decision. And I will be wanting to several more biographies of the key players in British history in May, 1940 - truly a key month of the history of the 20th Century, with oh-so-many "Alternative" outcomes that would have ended quite badly.

For now I am limited to just Winnie's take on things, but I think he feathers his nest with a few Red Herrings in his writings, such as on his pre-May, 1940 relations with Halifax and King George VI. I have mostly re-read "Gathering Storm" now and am just delving into "Their Finest Hour". The first volume explains a key motivation, according to Churchill, of a key character in the movie and a key decision constantly danced around in the plot - Winston says it all comes back to the character being a member of the House of Lords, rather than the House of Commons - in the words of this very historical person. I look forward to exploring much more on this topic, thanks to this fine cinematic depiction of it.

Perhaps and most likely it is currently playing on a nearby movie screen in your country - though I doubt most people know very many other people wanting to pay to sit in a seat and watch this one. So, an upside will be - there will definitely be plenty of room in the theater!

[brian brian]

oh and as I delve into the always-kicked-around-these-days "historical accuracy" of this, I wanted to share one of the other choice lines from this movie, when Winston hits one of several low points in these bad times, bad times for England - he checks in with FDR on several things, including to enquire on the status of some "Lend Lease" P-40s, the ones every smart CW WiF player wants to start turning the tide in the Med, though this could well be before both the Lend Lease law existed in history, also before the direct "land line" phone connection between Churchill and FDR, and probably also before the WiF players have played the requisite US Entry option. Still, a great line, applicable in other situations in life -

"But we already paid for them, with the money that we borrowed from you."

Somehow I doubt historical research will ever reveal the accuracy of that one.

[Orm]

Thank you for sharing. [:)]

Although now I feel dumb. Probably because I am, but still.... [:D]

[JeffroK]

brian brian,

For a good book on Calais try "FLAMES OF CALAIS" by Airey Neave

[brian brian]

Thanks! I made it through the Dynamo sections of Winston's memoirs today. He noted that Eden helped him with the final order to Calais, which went to a regiment Eden served in during WWI.

I forgot to mention a WiF related concept I had in mind while watching this movie. Most WiF players are familiar with the concept of a "Morale Check", even without having played Squad Leader. This movie is basically a depiction of such an event, at the national leadership level. And it is helpful to recall that a "movie" is just that, a "depiction" - not a "documentary."

[brian brian]

Hitler didn't stand a chance against a Supreme War Leader with moves like this:

Winnie got game