Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Young Winston Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 23, 2020

Richard Attenborough may understandably be best remembered in his guise as a director for Gandhi, Attenborough’s multi-Academy Award winning biographical film about one of the 20th century’s most notable individuals. Some ten years before Gandhi became a noted critical success, Attenborough had arguably a bit less of a bullseye with another film about one of the 20th century’s most notable individuals, Young Winston, a depiction of the early years of one Winston Churchill (played by Simon Ward as a young man). Sharing a somewhat staid ambience with Gandhi, Young Winston doesn’t have the same invigorating lead performance (though Ward is quite good), and it simply can’t match the same visceral quality that Gandhi offered in terms of its portrayal of a people wanting to forge their own independent identity apart from their supposed British “colonizers”. Young Winston is undeniably handsome (both its art direction and costume design received well deserved Academy Award nominations), but it’s a bit distant in attempting to provide any real emotional content.

Carl Foreman’s Academy Award nominated screenplay kind of ping pongs back and forth between various timelines in Winston’s early life, beginning with Churchill toward the end of the 19th century as a junior officer in India, where he’s attempting to make a name for himself. Early scenes offer looks at Churchill as a commander but also a follower, though he clearly has definite ambitions for his future. Soon enough, the film gives over into a fairly traditional, long flashback sequence which attempts to offer more details about Winston’s childhood with his imperious father Lord Randolph (Robert Shaw) and vivacious American mother Jennie (Anne Bancroft).

And perhaps because Churchill's parents are played by the legendary Shaw and Bancroft, it turns out to be their relationship which arguably gives this film a lot of whatever spark it has. It's hard to get too worked up about whether or not a well to do member of the landed gentry is going to get a seat in Parliament, which is part of the subtext of Winston's story, or in fact even whether he's going to prove himself capable of military command, which also plays into the proceedings (of course part of the "suspense" with regard to either or both of these items is probably mitigated by the well known historical record). But even those who know the general outlines of Winston Churchill's life may not know some of the interesting story of his parents, and it may be here that Young Winston kind of ironically provides some of its more substantial interest.

In that regard, this film might have been better titled Young Winston's Mother, since in a very real way it's Jennie's trials and tribulations that give this film some of its emotional immediacy. If Shaw's performance is given over to bluster (something probably unavoidable given the general outlines of Randolph's reported personality), Bancroft is really a wonder in a role that requires her to be both steely and vulnerable at various points. The supporting cast here is extremely colorful and often quite impressive, including John Mills as Lord Kitchener, Anthony Hopkins as David Lloyd George, Edward Woodward as an officer named Aylmer Haldane, and Ian Holm as newspaper publisher George Earle Buckle. Jack Hawkins is also a lot of fun as the headmaster at the very young Winston's boarding school.

The film is undeniably handsome, and noted scenarist Carl Foreman trots out the data and biographical points with a fair amount of flair, but the overall effect here is remote, with only passing glances of what feels like real human emotion. Attenborough didn't direct a lot of films, and Young Winston perhaps shows him starting to find his way in an "epic biography" genre that wouldn't be fully realized until he took on the story of Gandhi.

Young Winston Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Powerhouse Films provided only a check disc for purposes of this review.

Young Winston is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Powerhouse Film's Indicator imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Since I'm working from check discs, I'm not privy to any verbiage that might be included in the insert booklet, and Powerhouse's website mentions only that this release sports a "high definition remaster". A lot of this transfer looks rather good, with generally consistent detail and fine detail levels and good densities and palette suffusion. But there are some pretty wide variances on display, with some of the battle scenes looking pretty ragged at times, with an almost dirty looking grain field that tends to be very noticeable when bright blue skies are in the frame, and a somewhat wan looking palette at times. That said, it's probably the outdoor material here (not necessarily limited to some of the battle scenes) where the palette looks the warmest, especially with regard to some of the primaries. Some interior scenes do have occasional oddness in the color timing, with flesh tones verging toward purple at times. Clarity and sharpness are generally good, but again can vary, with occasional shots looking fairly soft (it does appear that some of Bancroft's scenes may have been shot with a diffusion filter). I noticed no major age related wear and tear and no compression anomalies.

Young Winston Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Perhaps surprisingly this release offers only an LPCM Mono track, which admittedly was evidently how the film was screened in its 35mm exhibitions, while the 70mm screenings had six track sound, according to the IMDb. That narrowness definitely denies the film some punch in some of the big action scenes, though it suffices much better for the long dialogue scenes. Alfred Ralston's score, which adapts themes by Edward Elgar, sounds decently full bodied, but again no doubt would have benefited from the opening up and low end support it would have received from a surround track.

Young Winston Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The John Player Lecture Interview with Richard Attenborough (1080p; 2:33:34) stems from a National Film Theatre interview conducted by Dilys Powell in February of 1971. This plays as an alternate audio track under the film and comes with a warning about quality limitations.


• Cast and Crew Interviews

  Richard Attenborough: Reflections of a Director (720p; 12:40)

  
  

  Simon Ward: A National Hero Brought to Life (720p; 16:20)

  
  

  William P. Cartlidge: Camel Blues (1080p; 29:10)

  
  

  Brian Cook: Stars and Sand (1080p; 8:40)

  
  

  Vic Armstrong: My Kingdom for a Horse (1080p; 10:23)

  
  

  John Richardson: Fires in the Sky (1080p; 5:26)

  
  

  Robin Grantham: Making It Up (1080p; 3:52)

• Deleted Scenes are ostensibly in high definition, but look like they were sourced from an old videotape:

  That Yankee Lady (1080p; 00:49)

  
  

  Down with Randolph Churchill! (1080p; 00:36)

  
  

  Darling, I'm Trying (1080p; 00:27)

  
  

  No Hope At All (1080p; 2:00)

  
  

  I Had a Dream (1080p; 2:42)

  
  Powerhouse has also included a Play All option for the above.

• US Premiere Footage (1080p; 15:56) perhaps unintentionally reveals that there weren't exactly lines around the block by the Chinese Theater when this opened.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 3:11)


• Gallery: Stills, Lobby Cards and Posters (1080p)


• Gallery: Souvenir Brochure (1080p)

Powerhouse's website also mentions an insert booklet is included in the retail release.

Young Winston Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Probably unsurprisingly, Young Winston found its most appreciative audience in the United Kingdom, failing to really connect strongly with audiences on this side of the pond. This is a handsome, respectful production that has a lot going for it, especially in terms of Bancroft's winning performance, but it never really creates much excitement or, more importantly, emotion. Technical merits are generally good for those considering a purchase.