The Gathering Storm

Note: this page is a test, to see how a possible expansion of the historical dramas list may look like.

The Gathering Storm is a 2002 television biographical film produced by BBC and HBO about Winston Churchill's activities in the years just before the outbreak of the Second World War.

Summary
Winston Churchill's wilderness years prior to World War II, when only he could see the threat that Adolf Hitler and a rearmed Germany posed to Europe.

Historical Events

 * Anglo-German Naval Agreement (June 18, 1935)
 * German rearmament (1933-1939)
 * Appeasement with Nazi Germany (1936-1939)
 * United Kingdom declaration of war on Germany (September 3, 1939)

Production Notes

 * Chartwell House was Churchill's real-life family home and was used for the scenes at his house and grounds.
 * The cast includes two Oscar winners: Vanessa Redgrave and Jim Broadbent; and two Oscar nominees: Albert Finney and Tom Wilkinson.
 * The poem that Churchill recites, beginning "Who is in charge of the clattering train?", is Death and His Brother Sleep by Edward James Milliken.

Anachronisms

 * The famous speech Churchill wants to revise (and later delivers in the House of Commons) at the beginning of the film ("To see Mr. Gandhi, a seductive Mid-Temple Lawyer [...] posing as a half-naked fakir in a manner quite well known in the East, striding up the steps of the Vice-Regal Palace to parley on equal terms with the representative of the King Emperor...") was actually delivered in 1930, whereas the film starts in September 1934.
 * During the Battle of Blenheim scene, the Union Jack is shown as one of the colors of the English army. The Union Jack was only used as a battle-standard after the Acts of Union of 1707, three years after the Battle of Blenheim. The discrepancy can be explained because the all scene is a dream of Winston Churchill.

Continuity

 * During the Battle of Blenheim scene, the English soldiers are firing their muskets one at a time. Standard practice of the 1700's was to fire muskets in volleys. As said above, the scene is a dream of Winston Churchill, possibly explaining the goof.

Reactions

 * Robert Hardy, who played Churchill in Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years (1981) and who was critical of many other actors' portrayals of the British politician (including Timothy Spall in The King's Speech), acknowledged that Albert Finney did "a fine job" in The Gathering Storm because he was "a through actor".
 * In 2016, Mark Lawson ranked The Gathering Storm for The Guardian as the most memorable television portrayal of Winston Churchill and praised Albert Finney's "meticulous preparation" for the role.

Starring

 * Albert Finneys as Winston Churchill
 * Vanessa Redgrave as Clementine "Clemmie" Churchill
 * Jim Broadbent as Desmond Morton
 * Linus Roache as Ralph Wigram
 * Lena Headey as Ava Wigram
 * Derek Jacobi as Stanley Baldwin
 * Ronnie Barker as David Inches
 * Tom Wilkinson as Sir Robert Vansittart
 * Celia Imrie as Violet Pearman
 * Hugh Bonneville as Ivo Pettifer
 * Gottfried John as Friedrich von Schroder
 * Anthony Brophy as Brendan Bracken
 * Edward Hardwicke as Mr. Wood
 * Tom Hiddleston as Randolph Churchill
 * Tim Bentinck as John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, Churchill's ancestor
 * Dolly Wells as Sarah Churchill
 * Emma Seigel as Mary Churchill
 * Nancy Carroll as Diana Churchill
 * John Standing as Lord Moyne
 * Gerrard McArthur as Vic Oliver