Glorious 39 (2009)

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

There are moments of good acting because the cast is able. Northam is sinister (again), Nighy rather unconvincing as the patriarch, they are all too mechanically paranoiacal. The brother and sister both daftly chipper and unpleasant. That boy Walter is like some sort of Stephen King fall out. The plot is unsound. The idea of British aristocrats teeing up Nazi Danegeld inspires only incredulity. Especially when we are given so little of the meat of the deal. The announcement of war dispenses with any need to continue negotiations yet the story drags on and then follows a familial nuance. It's topped off by a slightly bemusing ending in which it turns out Ann is still alive, trundling up in her wheelchair to greet oddball Walter and Oliver.

I've heard this movie is considered a thriller. This movie is many things but a thriller is the least of them. Like the great movies this movie has a theme and a overall moral that is vital to learn. This movie is really about the nuances and many forms of racism and bigotry. A subject Stephen Poliakoff in his genius has shown in the past with many of his other films. Of course many of the Great Films were not recognized at the time of their release. And unfortunately Glorious 39 is one of them.This movie is beautifully filmed in wonderful locations. In this once again Poliakoff does not disappoint. Anne begins her journey in the English countryside a member of one of the great aristocratic families right before the events of World War 2. Amazingly during this journey she see's the insidious nature of racism and bigotry as it takes possession of her family and eventually robs her of them (it may have been there all along with the times). One of the most potent scenes of the film is when Anne's observant cousin warns her "they don't really love you". With the revelation of Anne's ancestry and the showing of their true regard for Anne during the course of the movie Anne begins to realize this fact and at the end makes her escape from the strange, racist and corrupt family.Were they in the right to try to appease Hitler? Looking at England at that time it is doubtful that they would have won a war with Hitler's Germany. America was supremely isolationist. And Russia had signed their own peace treaty with Germany. But looking back and seeing how events played out it shows more that ever the importance of always doing the right thing. Still this takes almost a back stage to the real theme of this movie. The genius of Poliakoff has always been his theme's and how he reveals them over the course of the film in his own marvelous way. Be sure to check out his next work "Dancing on The Edge" a five-part series set to debut new years 2013.

Plot very thin at best and full of holes at worst. OK acting apart from Bill Nighy who irritated, though to be fair his script was unhelpful and repetitive.In that period a film about Britain, with the appeasement of many of the upper classes prevalent, should have lent itself to a much better effort than this.The scene near the end at the vets out in the sticks was truly bizarre, when poor old Lawrence was found in a bag.A poor man's,(or woman's), 39 steps.Now that was glorious.

The only reason that I can summon to explain why this movie bombed in the UK, is that there are either too many that are ignorant of history or they are ashamed.While the characters may have been fictional, the political facts are very real. Chamberlain and many citizens were too short-sighted to see that Hitler would stop his desire to rule the world because of a "deal" with England. Churchill knew he would not.This movie reminds us that while we may not want war, there are times when it is necessary to preserve ourselves and our country.Well written, well acted, brutally honest. I recommend, but only if you can understand reality!