if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Young Winston definitely shows Attenborough on a large scale - one can see where some of the crowd scenes in Gandhi came from - and is a cracking film.Entertaining from start to finish with a riveting performance from Simon Ward, who never quite reached these heights again and went on to light adventure roles like the Duke of Buckingham in the Three Musketeers.All in all, this is history light, but it completely watchable. It cleverly mixes the battle scenes and the politics to produce a Boy's Own adventure with great costuming and nice attention to details.Helped along by an excellent all-star cast you can't really go wrong if you like adventure history films - the last half hour is superb, and a two hours long it doesn't waste time but never rushes.Great fun, and just serious enough to remind you why the Churchill myth, rightly or wrongly (and the film never touches the darker side of Churchill) meant that in 2003 he was voted the greatest Englishman of all time.

Simon Ward is "Young Winston" in this 1972 film, directed by Richard Attenborough with a all-star cast including Anne Bancroft, Robert Shaw, Jack Hawkins, John Mills, Pat Heywood, Ian Holm, Patrick Magee, Anthony Hopkins, Edward Woodward, Laurence Naismith, Robert Hardy, and Colin Blakely.The film is based on Churchill's book about his early life, which is far superior to the film because it encompasses so much more detail. We see Churchill in his early life going off to a series of schools, an original thinker who could do well in school if he put his mind to it. He adores his parents from a distance; his father (Shaw), a controversial figure in Parliament, dies a slow death from syphilis. His mother, Jenny (Bancroft), a great beauty, has a series of lovers, which is not covered here. Not considered a great scholar, rather than following his father into political life, he seems destined for a military career. His soldiering leaves something to be desired, though he acquits himself well when, as a journalist, he is caught in battle. He writes books about the war campaigns and becomes known - and sometimes not liked. Churchill does enter politics at a young age and loses. Undaunted, he keeps going, finally entering Parliament.Young Winston captures the different eras beautifully and is absolutely huge in its scope. The battle scenes are tremendous, and there are plenty of them for lovers of adventure films. The film was made in an era of the big, sweeping epic, and it doesn't disappoint.It's also helped by the fabulous performances. We have all seen the heavy, bald Winston Churchill, but of course he wasn't born that way. Simon Ward is the absolute picture of the young Churchill and does a brilliant job portraying a hard-working, ambitious, proud and sometimes haughty youth. Robert Shaw is wonderful as Lord Randolph, showing a powerful man and his slow decline. Anne Bancroft's performance may have raised a question or two. She speaks with a British accent, yet Jenny was an American, from Brooklyn, no less. Her accent is actually an informed choice - and who could expect less from such a stunning actress. Firstly, as the daughter of a millionaire, she attended the best schools, where upper class people were taught to speak with a British affectation; secondly, having lived in England, she naturally took on a stronger version of the accent. Bancroft gives Jenny the vivaciousness, intelligence and charm that the actual Jenny possessed.Some of the greatest British actors of the day have small roles, truly elevating the film. Notable is John Mills as the irascible General Kitchener, who emphatically does not want Churchill serving under him. Anthony Hopkins pops up as David Lloyd George; Patrick Magee as General Blood. Jane Seymour has an early small role as Pamela Plowden.I'm not sure audiences have the patience any longer to sit through a sometimes slow, historical epic like this that isn't riddled with special effects. I highly recommend reading the book "My Early Life" and then seeing the film for a more complete look at one of the most important figures of the 20th Century.

Young Winston directed by Richard Attenborough and starring Anne Bancroft, Robert Shaw and Simon Ward as Winston Churchill is a good movie. Anne Bancroft gave an excellent performance. For a movie that got Oscar nominations she should have been a supporting actress nominee. The device of having an off camera reporter interview the three main characters was best for her interview. Shaw was excellent when his mind goes during a parliament speech.A lot of time is spend in Africa where there are big action scenes. If it was all in Africa it could have been titled Winston of Africa because there the movie strives to be something like Lawrence of Arabia.Ward was kind of a blank but did narrated well as Old Churchill.

The picture is based on Winston Churchill's autobiographic book titled : ¨My early life : a roving commission¨ . The movie talks about infancy , the school times in a strict discipline , the young military and journalist career and the election as parliamentary at the early age twenty six years old . He intervened against the rebels in India , at defense of the British Empire . Winston participated in the last charge of Brit brigade in Sudan war along with general Kitchener (John Mills) in command the Army against Derviches that had formerly vanquished general Gordon (1884 , Khartoum, events narrated in the film with the same title with Charlton Heston). Later on , he was to South Africa as journalist in English-Boer war (1899-1902 , the leaders were Rhodes-Kruger respectively) that Kitchener would finish (though there he would create the first concentration camp) . Churchill is imprisoned but he breaks out from Pretoria . After the spectacular getaway which obtained world fame he was elected as Parliament member where he speaks an overlong speech that makes it a little bit boring . He subsequently becomes Tory (or Conservative) Party leader confronting Prime Minister Salisbury (Laurence Naismith) and later on , facing LLoyd George (Anthony Hopkins) , Liberal Party leader . The film won several Oscar nominations or Academy Awards , to original screenplay (Carl Foreman), Production design (Geoffrey Drake) and Costume (Anthony Mendleson) but achieve none . Simon Ward is enormous and Anne Bancroft , Robert Shaw and Anthony Hopkins are magnificent . This was the first of five films that Richard Attenborough and Anthony Hopkins worked together on . They later worked together on Magic (1978), A bridge too far (1977), Chaplin (1992), and Shadowlands (1993). Very good support cast , actors Ian Holm, John Mills, Jack Hawkins , Patrick Magee, Anthony Hopkins and Edward Woodward all received 'special appearance' credits and debut theatrical feature film of actor Nigel Hawthorne . The sensitive and romantic music score was masterfully composed by Alfred Ralston . The motion picture was well directed by Richard Attemborough .