Dan Snow Reviews Prime Ministers in Historical Movie Scenes
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- Опубліковано 22 тра 2024
- Popular Historian and Television Presenter Dan Snow MBE reviews films depicting UK Prime Ministers in historical films.
Dan reviews Gary Oldman's performance as Winston Churchill in the highly acclaimed 'Darkest Hour' (2017). He then rates Meryl Streep's depcition of Margaret Thatcher in 'The Iron lady' (2011).
He also reviews 'The Queen' (2006), starring Helen Mirren and Michael Sheen as Prime Minister Tony Blair, who offers Queen Elizabeth II advice after the death of Princess Diana in 1997. He then moves on to rate Jeremy Irons as Neville Chamberlain in the film 'Munich: The Edge of War' (2021), depicting the tense negotiations between Hitler, Mussolini and Chamberlain in 1938.
Next, Dan reviews 'The Madness of King George' (1995) in which Julian Wadham plays Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger as he deals with the growing problem of King George III's mental health.
Finally, Dan reviews 'Mrs Brown' (1997) which sees Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli vie to draw Queen Victoria, played by Dame Judi Dench, out of retirement from public life as she continued to mourn her late husband, Prince Albert.
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#historyhit #ukpolitics #politicalhistory #primeminster
00:00 Introduction
00:23 Darkest Hour (2018)
06:03 The Iron Lady (2011)
11:49 The Queen (2006)
17:25 Munich - The Edge of War (2021)
22:58 The Madness of King George (1995)
27:03 Mrs Brown (1997)
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Isn’t that Dan’s dad Jon Snow in the sound on the Falklands video at about 6m40s?
The only issue is that the film isn’t called The Darkest Hour. It’s just Darkest Hour, no ‘the’
“The Darkest Hour” is a 2011 science fiction film 😂
Dan loved this although disagree with your assessment of the scene where King George disparages Pitt as just a servant to balance the books which you take too literally. It is clearly designed to tell us the audience that the King is the old duffer who doesnt know what he's talking about by use of irony😏
Every time I see Meryl as Thatcher I am reminded of Jennifer Saunders playing Meryl as Thatcher...
You that Winston Churchill was drunk and slurd his words and out his face with drugs he had to repeat that speech year after the war when he was sober he was an embarrassment he's a known Paedophile and took drugs
One day Lord Buckethead will make the cut.
That literally made me LOL
Hehe. Heard about that guy. Has been running still?
@@jozz2248Lost to the Conservatives at Uxbridge's snap election sadly. But he'll be back.
Lord Buckethead will not become the prime minster. He will become the Emperor of a new British Empire.
Legend
I can't get enough of Dan's breakdowns. More please
More on the way!
Agreed! He's such an engaging presenter!
This are brilliant
This is fantastic
A fountain of knowledge, he covers so much of history it's quite amazing
Gary Oldman killed it as Churchill. He BECAME Churchill. One of the finest performances of his career.
He slays like a Royal knight EVERY role he EVER portrays! He is superb!
There were points in that clip where I could hear Reznov 😂 he really is such a joy to watch
Along with Dracula and victor resnov
His Churchill was way too nice but that happens a lot with historical figures in films
He’s the most amazing actor! He’s fantastic in this. Compare this performance to his portrayal of George Smiley in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Simply amazing.
Fun fact: Dan Snow is the great-grandson of Prime David Lloyd George through his mother and had did a documentary on him
Tis true!
Whoa. That's amazing.
So Lloyd George knew his father?
@@HistoryHit The reply is supposed to be: Father knew Lloyd George.
Repeat lines 1 and 2 to the tune of Onward Christian Soldiers....
@@HistoryHitIs this the British equivalent of being the son of an NBA superstar?
Oldman is a chameleon, he becomes every role he performs. It's entertaining to watch any movie he's in
Isnt he amazing? Dracula one minute Winston Churchill the next,both utterly seamless performances.
He currently portrays President Truman in Oppenheimer
Exactly up there with Daniel Day Lewis
And now I will spend the day watching The Darkest Hour, The Iron Lady & The Queen.
Just love Dan’s passion for history. It’s catching lol
He’s a vomit!!
Dan is pretty awesome. Also, it’s nice to see a public-facing male historian who’s as hot as the UK’s female historians.
@@grahamstrouse1165 lol agreed 😉
It runs in his family. I mean his father Jon Snow was a reporter during the Cold War, directly reporting the history.
@@moonlightserenade6292 I didn’t know that. Thank you for sharing. 😁
Gillian Anderson played thatcher well in the crown
American here, just wanted to express my appreciation and gratitude for this channel. I'm something of an Anglophile and I love learning about British history, and History Hit makes it so fun and accessible. The presenters are so knowledgeable and passionate, I always look forward to new videos 😀
Also, Gary Oldman is an absolute legend, he is much beloved and admired here in the States.
Wow, thank you!
I fully agree. I'm a German immigrant to the United States, and this is hands down my favorite history channel. It's not just British history. Memorial Day saw the release of the video about getting WWI soldiers the Medal of Honor that was denied to them because of racism. And around the same time, the video about the getting a proper burial for British soldiers at the Battle of Camden, where Dan Snow traveled to South Carolina. Close to my home in Charlotte.
As an American I too love the history of England.
I recently found out through my DNA, that most of my ancestor’s come from England. 🏴
@@fosterfuchsSo cool! 😎 history is fascinating, especially when it becomes more personal!
As an American, I truly enjoy Mr. Snow’s absolute knowledge and heartfelt passion for British History! I have enjoyed Dan from the UA-cam History Channel plus watching him on Television over here in the middle of America (Oklahoma)…
His passion and knowledge would qualify him for a knighthood (or a least a professor at Eaton or Oxford’)…
I been to Oxford a couple of times and I could see him/hear Dan not only educate but couch his students to think out the box to understand her cherished traditions…only a British citizen ever could…
Dan Snow is a moron he only gets work because of his family connections
I had reservations about how Meryl Streep was going to pull this off as it's a very hard accent to get right.
But then I remembered that she's Meryl Streep
Darkest Hour received several accolades, including Best Actor for Oldman at the Academy Awards. Oldman also won the BAFTA Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor--Motion Picture Drama, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role.
Love Dan Snows' videos. Entertaining and informative in equal measures.
☺☺☺
Try his podcasts they are great too.
I listen to Dan and his guests along with another channel ‘we have ways’ hosted by Al Murray and James Holland while having breakfast and/or lunch.
Full of information and insight 👍
I could listen to Dan Snow talk for hours. He's smart, articulate, knowledgeable, handsome. He looks tall. I bet he's tall. ❤❤️🔥🔥😍
I was already a fan of Dan Snow, but his grasp and detail in this piece are second to none. I find history and particularly that of the United Kingdom very interesting and captivating. There is only one other historian that I enjoy listening to and seeing other than Dan Snow and that is Dr. David Starkey (Praise indeed Mr Snow).
Gary Oldman is rare to see as an actor but everytime you get to see him it’s a masterpiece.
I love watching Dan Snow! He's such an engaging speaker and you can sense his passion for history whenever he speaks. Would love to see more of these videos in the future!
💯
We should defend our island whatever the cost may be.... we shall never surrender. His speech was intense moments of passion.
Nigel Hawthorne was such a brilliant actor.
Yes, Minister
I have always enjoyed whatever Dan has been the presenter of, I could watch his history shows all day long.
I adore Gary’s performance in The Darkest Hour! They did such a great job telling this story.
I love your breakdowns, thank you for posting this!
It's easy to criticize Neville Chamberlain in hindsight, but he made the best choice with the information he had. He was perhaps naive, but so were many other people. It's important to give people some grace when we look at history.
True. The appeasement was an attempt to save British men and women from total war.
I just said basically the same. In a modern lens, Chamberlin is a fool to believe Hitler. But in the actual context of the times, Chamberlin made the best choices he could with the information he had. Millions of people were taken in my Hitler's ability to talk. Other heads of state included. Did Chamberlin, to modern eyes, make a mistake? Yes. Is it fair to judge him by what we know now? No.
Honestly I could watch these videos all day. Gary Oldman is being brilliant as Churchill as he is in any film he is in. Meryl Streep is also brilliant playing Thatcher who was such a divisive PM. Tony Blair handled Diana’s death very well and Michael Sheen nails it.
Thatcher calling any compromise with Argentina to be Appeasement was a conscious word choice. She knew the last time Appeasement was attempted, Hitler violated the terms of the armistice and invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia and wasn't intent on going down that path again.
Never again
Just because you had an empire before doesn't mean you continue to be a wanker
Thus justifying sending elite British troops and millions of pounds of war machinery to "defend" penguins on a rock a thousand miles away from underage, under equiped conscripts sent by a Banana Republic dictator on the verge of losing power whose reasons for war were exactly the same as Thatcher's - distract everyone from the problems at home with a private little patriotic war. No one bought it then - neither in Argentina or England - and deliberately invoking threats of Hitler over what was fundamentally a colonial territory dispute only proves how monstrous she was.
I love his clear love and knowledge of history and I also love that he can also appreciate the movies themselves even with discrepancies. He points out things that historically are incorrect without full blown insulting the work which is nice to see.
Chamberlain is more complex than i think i was taught.
I think Churchill's speech isn't just one of the most important speeches in the history of the English language I think it's one of the most important speeches in all of human history
Yes trouble is when it came to helping other countries fight their enemies churchill wasnt so willing so his speeches were a load of bullshit as far as us australians were concerned.
@@johnb1150 not really sure what exactly you're referring to:
If you are talking about Gallipoli than you are under the modern and incorrect conception that the British threw away Anzac lives because they did not care about the colonies etc, when in reality the British and French (individually) lost more there than the Anzacs did. It was a collective tragedy born of bad strategy, not some weird feeling of superiority.
If you mean WW2 against Japan, then this still makes no sense. The Australians withdrew most of their soldiers from Africa after Japan joined the war and Britain had no real objection to this. Realistically, there wasn't much more that Britain could have done to help Australia (they were kind of busy, and had just lost their eastern capital ships) and honestly most planners realized that Australia was in no real life-or-death danger. Even the Japanese considered an invasion of Australia foolish and pointless
Haha! Just a teensy bit Anglo centric of you.
@@kaychalmers3435Not really - not when you consider the context, especially the fact that a collapse in British morale and ignominious defeat would most likely have brought a quarter of the globe under Nazi Germany’s dominion. And even if Corporal Browntrousers had permitted an exiled British Government to continue to govern the Empire from Canada, a Nazi Germany in full command of Europe is a very different proposition to the Soviet Union than was hitherto the case. Also, a British defeat would likely have ended the war before the United States’ entry into it after Pearl Harbor, which means the Soviets would have been considerably weaker without the support of the Lend-Lease programme. No, this speech is every bit as important as claimed.
@@johnb1150Churchill’s probably rotting in Hell now but I reckon he’s at least got window unit air-conditioning.
I loved every minute of this video, more please 🙏🏽
Stunningly brilliant and perfectly presented!
A thrilled looking video about the characteristics speech of Sir Winston Churchill ...during WW2...and Other brilliant figures of recent history of Britain 🇬🇧...with attractive introduction video
Great stuff. Loved this. Thank you Dan.
My criticism of The Darkest Hour are :
1. They say he caused 25,000 casualties at Gallipoli it was actually 250,000 and 500,000 total including Turkish soldiers
2. They pretend that he was going to be close to being overthrown which was not true.
3. That Churchill would ride on the tube and talk to everyday people, he did not like lower classes
4. That Camberlain didn't want war, even though he'd declared war on germany and had invaded Norway and sank half of the Kreigsmarine
5. That Camberlain was got rid of due to appeasement. When in fact it was due to the failure of the Norway Campaign
6. The person in charge of that Norway campaign was Churchill! So Churchill was put in charge because of his own failure. Which I'm sure would be what people critiqued him for not Gallipoli over 20 years earlier. Maybe the gold standard as well.
Thank you for these great videos, Dan
An interesting selection of movies made more interesting by Dan's engrossing and enthusiastic presentation. The movie about Chamberlain reminds me of a history course l took back in the eighties at adult college which covered the origins of WWll
Gary Oldman is Amazing! I had no idea that was him as Chruchill!😯😯
It wasn’t that was Winston Churchill playing the role of the great Garry Oldman 😅
Love these videos with Dan Snow. He reminds me of a fantastic prof I had while at university for a class on Renaissance History. If he was teaching where I went to school, he would have overflowing classes.
These are great thank you for this
Gary Oldman was a wonderful Churchill. It was Edward R. Murrow (American journalist) who said that Churchill mobilized the English language and sent it into battle.
Michael Sheen had actually played Tony Blair in a television film prior to making the movie The Queen. He also has a stunning resemblance so he was the perfect fit.
I remember a quote from General Wesley Clark who was the host of a tv series, The Edge of War, where each episode examines the immediate events that led to war. In the episode on Munich, he characterized the relationship between Chamberlain and Hitler. "Amateurs rely on interpersonal relationships, Professionals rely on Statecraft."
Amazing, Dan. ❤
I wish we could see what he thinks of Gillian Anderson as Thatcher.
I can't get enough of the fact that the actor who played Edward VIII on The Crown is playing Sir Horace Wilson in The Edge of War... such a dichotomy.
Also played the then Prince of Wales, now King, in "The Queen"
Really enjoy these videos
Great video as always
It'd be interesting if Dan could do another one for Prime Ministers; 'Amazing Grace' - 'Curtin' (he was Australian, not British- & it was a mini-series, not a movie)...
Antony Sher was brilliant as Disraeli, a hugely underrated actor who should have had more film roles.
2 films I would recommend are The Gathering Storm where Winston Churchill is played by Albert Finney & The Long Walk to Finchley where a young Margaret Thatcher is played by Andrea Riseborough.
This video, in a word. excellent. Lead on.
Thank you Roger! Appreciate it 🙏
Thatcher wasn’t tough in meetings as is always suggested. It’s interesting to see the testimony from German politicians who say that she regularly compromised in EU meetings after midnight as she wanted to go to bed and people knew it and used it. The Germans around Kohl really disliked her after she tried to block German unification and remained very derogatory about them.
I’d love for you to review Tom Hanks production of the series John Adams & Outlander, as to the historical accuracy of those series!
I'm a History major and I love your videos.
Gary Oldman disappears into every role he plays. He's one of my favorite actors.
They should make a movie about David Lloyd George, the PM during the latter part of WWI. He was also among those who negotiated the Treaty of Versailles.
That would be brilliant. It would be dark as fuck but it would be brilliant.
I love how oratory establishes leaders. Thats working out really well.
Gary Oldman's Churchill was masterful , but Brian Cox's interpretation will always be underrated due to both movies were released in the same year . In Cox's Chirchill , he dived deep down to another Churchill , not the BlitKrieg hero but to the D-day Churchill , a man haunted by his own demons , notably the desastrous Gallipoli campaign , a bit of a glory seeking commander reminding us of his predecessor's effort in the war of the Spanish succession . To sum it up, it's a must see as we see another side of Winston presented to us by Brian Cox...
The problem with Cox’s Churchill, was that the entire premise of the film was around Churchill’s opposition to the D-Day landings so close to the event itself.
Churchill was initially sceptical but was fully onboard and behind it months before June 6th 1944, so the entire film Cox was in and is portrayal, is based on a falsehood.
If Churchill was so against D-Day the days before it happened, it wouldn’t have happened!
Great stuff. Keep it up.👍
Thanks David!
William Pitt may very well be the only British PM who is part of an airport code in the United States: PGV - Pitt Greenville. Greenville, North Carolina, located in Pitt County. Named after him. Meanwhile, CLT, the airport code for Charlotte, North Carolina, is named after King George's better half. Here ends my contribution to utterly useless trivia.
Useless? I love it! Thanks.
Finally. A video commenting on historical films that's actually worth watching. Dan Snow does a marvelous job.
Britain couldn't help Poland in 39, or save the 22-miles away France in 40. What on Earth could they have done for distant Czechoslovakia in 38?
31:30 It's hard to think how long ago it was now. It was an incredibly emotional event, even in Canada there were people weeping in the streets when interviewed by the press.
Oldman was simply remarkable as Churchill....
I believe Attlee said of Chamberlain that he was trying to get the national program on the wireless, but all he got was midlands regional.
Thanks!
I (I'm Canadian) learned just recently that the UK flag is only called the Union Jack when flown at sea, and is properly the Union Flag otherwise. I love that Dan Snow calls it the Union Flag. I rarely hear it referred to that way. He seems like he would know, which suggests that what I learned is true!
The act of bowing to the monarch in the investiture of the PM is not the people abasing themselves to the Crown but an elected official bowing to the people in the person of the Queen.
I always look forward to your breakdowns. I was wondering if you could breakdown of The Kingdom of Heaven, especially King Baldwin V?
I enjoyed this review immensely. I think Dan Snow showed great insight into all the films. I was completely unfamiliar with the Munich movie which seems to be the most recent. I read recently that the Prime Ministers don't actually kiss hands or kneel to the monarch, that the term is a leftover from long ago when this was the case and that the monarch simply shakes hands with the incoming Prime Minister. So is the whole business in The Queen with Tony Blair about it just a fiction then?
More content like this!
The portrayal of the l8 Baroness Thatcher when PM appears, in the film under advisement to be biased to a degree. It is unlikely that most southerners will be able fully to appreciate this.
It is certainly true that Chamberlain was deluded and that WW2 could've been shorter had he seen the writing on the wall, as did many, such as my dad, of who's memory I am unspeakably proud. Interesting resume, thanks and.. Nice one Dan & Team! ⭐👍
Just came across your video and I'm disappointed you left out Sir Ralph Richardson's performance as PM William Gladstone in Khartoum (1966) with Charlton Heston as Gen "Chinese" Gordon. Curious to know what you think of it.
Oh man I had no idea that Churchill went and re-recorded his greatest hits... While he was still a leading figure in politics, and was just about to become PM again. That is so perfectly Churchill.
Great stuff
Glad you enjoyed 👍
Dan Snow is so dreamy 😍
9:06 "Margaret Thatcher famously did not fill her cabinet, surround herself with women." Other than herself there were seven female conservative MPs, two of whom were elected for the first time. Her first cabinet had 21 positions. She couldn't have "filled" the cabinet with women if she'd tried, unless she decided to appoint women who weren't in parliament.
I'm glad this video is over 30 minutes long
I don’t know his name, but I’d like your take on the actor who played Winston Churchill in the movie “Ike: Countdown to D-Day” starring Tom Selleck as General Eisenhower. Excellent movie and fairly accurate.
On British history movie that I have questions about. The 2006 movie Amazing Grace. A great movie.
1. Did the abolitionists really sneak a bill pass parliament that allowed British privateers to seize British slave ships flying false colors during the Napoleonic Wars?
2. Was this a critical bill that financially weaken the slave owners, eventually allowed the British Atlantic Slave trade to be abolished?
Note: If so, that is an incredible story. But I would wonder why parliament couldn't overturn this within a year.
3. Or did the slave trade just take a big financial hit due to the very long Napoleonic Wars, without any special bill passing parliament to make this happen?
4. Was the timing of the passage of a later bill in 1807 related to the United States making the importation of slaves from Africa illegal, as specified in the Constitution to take place in 20 years?
5. Did the British wish to be the first to prohibit this and was this factor decisive in the passing of this bill in 1807?
Gary Oldman has played Winston Churchill and more recently he's played Franklin D Roosevelt. He just needs to play Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito now!
My two favorites are ‘Darkest Hour’ and ‘Munich; since I like that they are set before and during World War 2 which is one of my favorite subjects. Chamberlain failed to understand that Hitler and his followers didn’t want any peace, their intentions are made clear in Mein Kampf regarding ‘living space’ for Germany. Unfortunately not everyone is a rational person who can be made to see reason. Gary Old man’s portrayal of Churchill is the best that I have seen by far, he really became that character.
"I'm big and fat, and a bit drunk!" Possibly the most apt description of Ol' Winston ever...
I had the opportunity to meet Lady Thatcher and Sir Dennis, after she had retired. She was on a trip to the USA, and I was a Supervisory Inspector with US Immigration. All persons, regardless of position, are required to clear Immigration and Customs. I cleared her and Sir Dennis in a side room to expedite their entry for security reasons.
Both Lady Thatcher and Sir Dennis were the soul of courtesy, not a bit of pretension, and we had about a five minute conversation. She was one of a very few people I asked for an autographed photo fir my Office, which she obliged. President Reagan was another, and both their signed photos are above my desk at home now that I'm retired.
She and President Reagan, Britain and America, brought back national pride, and were truly a driving force which changed the world and brought down the Soviet Union.
Oh, please. There are swathes of British people who hate her for destroying their industries and communities in the 80s. Flag shagging doesn't pay the bills.
Dan Snow ❤
Sir Humphrey Appleby really does get around
The Darkest hour was an absolutely epic performance from Oldman.
Dan's knowledge is enviable.... and attractive
i hope that he will reviewed a movie with David Lloyd George since is his great-great-grandfather
5:44 Correct me if I´m wrong but, wasn´t it Boris Yeltsin that appeared naked in front of us president?
It's unfortunate but whenever I see Chamberlain waving that piece of paper I see a fool. I don't like thinking that way about an earnest man who did the best he could but we are looking at it with hindsight. In hindsight he definitely was very foolish if he actually believed Hitler. It seems as if he did though there's no way to be certain about that. Obviously he had to claim that he had done something important by buying the world more time.
On Churchill's speech in "Darkest Hour" there was a character with the 3rd party(at least separate from Halifax) who would display his approval or rejection of the speech by removing his jacket handkerchief. His approval of the speech and subsequent ovation from the remainder of the audience, according to the plot would show the total victory for Churchill. Did something like this actually happen?
Chamberlain was much less confident that is generally thought - he didn't want to waive the paper; his letters to his sister are full of his doubts about the Hitler agreement.
Any Movie Director Ever after watching this: We're going to hire Dan Snow to ensure historical accuracy
Meryl Streep using the left hand is the biggest blunder .I never expected they would get this wrong
I quite like the idea the prime ministers although elected are supplicant to the monarch in a symbolic way. The fact they meet once a week is almost like having to go to confession and admit your sins and having to bow and kiss their hands is symbolic I think not that they are in service to the queen or king but to the country, your reminded not to ge to big for your boots and you are a servant to the country and the people. Personally I like that rather then the presidential model where they both get the actual power and take on that ceremonial role as well.
Just on looks alone, the Hitler from edge of war is the absolute worst in I have ever seen.
🤣🤣
It's always been surprising to me that very few people are aware Churchill gave his "Iron Curtain" speech at Westminster College in Fulton Missouri
I would be surprised by that, since _'I am glad to come to Westminster College this afternoon…'_ is the opening line of the speech.
Why would he make such an iconic speech too a bunch of yanks is beyond me
@@welshman8954lol
Because they had the guns and the guts to confront communism. Brits wouldnt have cared.
Like this review. I believe that "Tension" in republics is a very Good thing. It should Never be "resolved". Tension resolved equals dictatorship
Long term tension unresolved almost always leads to civil war and collapse
Like something a nazi would say
Would love to see him break down the queen's major political interactions on the netflix show the crown
You know everything, Dan Snow.
Please note that the "fight on the beaches" speech used simple, direct words of English origin. Only one word was of French origin, "surrender" [from sur rondre, to give one self over as a captive, back in the days when your enemy might let you live in order to demand ransom].
What about Gladstone? Are any of his portrayals accurate?