Tag: Churchill

De Gaulle
Part 2
Liberté
(La Bataille de Gaulle
J’écris ton Nom)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date September 18 2026
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Part 2
Liberté
(La Bataille de Gaulle
J’écris ton Nom)

De Gaulle: Part 2 – Liberté

(La Bataille de Gaulle: J’écris ton Nom)

Director – Antonin Baudry – 2025 – France – Cert. 15 – 160m

*****

Second part of a two-part movie continues the story of De Gaulle up to and including the Liberation of Paris in 1944 – out in UK cinemas on out in UK cinemas on Friday, September 18th

Somewhat surprisingly, the second part of Baudry’s epic doesn’t begin where its predecessor left off, but instead jumps forward to 1943. with exiled French General De Gaulle (Simon Abkarian) in London both sticking to his guns and an increasingly isolated figure on the international stage. Polish plumber turned assistant Blazej (Karim Leklou) carries on offering him encouragement.

Still, De Gaulle continues to inspire the Free French forces in North Africa, with General LeClerc (Nils Schneider) taking on a German tank division at Ksar Ghilane with only infantry and the odd anti-tank gun. Impossible odds, but as with the first part’s Bir Hakeim siege story, the Free French’s selfless actions, vowing never to surrender and fight ‘til the last man, help the Allied war effort a great deal.

In Lyon, France and separated from her boyfriend, Livia (Anamaria Vartolomei) works for the Resistance, who face a major political challenge: to unite the various different groups that want to stand against the Vichy government and the Nazis, but don’t necessarily share the same aims in terms of any post-war settlement.… Read the rest

Tags 1940s, 1943, 1944, Allied, Allies, Anamaria Vartolomei, anti-tank gun, Antonin Baudry, barricade, battle, British, Campbell Scott, Churchill, D-Day, D-Day landings, De Gaulle: Liberté, desert, desert warfare, everywoman character, exiled, faction, forces, France, Free French, French Resistance, fuel shortages, General LeClerc, Germany, Gestapo, health condition, history, Impossible odds, infantry, insurgent, Karim Leklou, Ksar Ghilane, Liberation of Paris 1944, London, Lyon, modern history, Nazis, never surrender, Nils Schneide, North Africa, paralysis, PM, Polish, President Roosevelt, prime minister, radio operator, resistance, Simon Abkarian, Simon Russell-Beale, statesman, tank division, The National Council of the Resistance, two-parter, united front, Vichy, war, war movie, weather

Features Live Action Movies

De Gaulle
Résistance
(La Bataille de Gaulle
L’Âge de Fer)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date August 28 2026
No Comments on De Gaulle
Résistance
(La Bataille de Gaulle
L’Âge de Fer)

De Gaulle: Resistance (La Bataille de Gaulle: L’Âge de Fer)

Director – Antonin Baudry – 2025 – France – Cert. 15 – 160m
*****
Feeling betrayed by France signing an armistice with the Germans in 1940, General De Gaulle leaves for London to set up and command alternative Free French forces – first part of a two-part movie is out in UK cinemas on Friday, August 28th

1940. In the brief but decisive Fall of France, De Gaulle (Simon Abkariam) – later described by a detractor as a “petty general” – overtakes a French tank column to see for himself what the Germans are doing (after an aide bringing news admits he’s not actually seen it for himself). With his military car under tank fire, De Gaulle uses his arm to signal his driver when and how to change direction so that he can accurately assess the situation before the French tanks turn up and destroy the German tank.

Days later, he is horrified to see Marshall Pétain (Alain Libolt) sign an armistice with Germany. As far as De Gaulle is concerned, Pétain and Admiral Darlan (Matthieu Kassovitz), who supports Pétain, do not speak for France. De Gaulle with the one aide prepared to accompany him leaves for London hoping to enlist the support of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Simon Russell-Beale) who gives him a nightly broadcasting slot on BBC radio and a house in Hampstead.… Read the rest

Tags 1940, 1940s, activist, Admiral Darlan, Africa, against the odds, aide, Alain Libolt, Algiers, Allies, Anamaria Vartolomei, answer the phone, anti-Semitism, Antonin Baudry, armed forces, armistice, battle, battle scene, BBC, Benoît Magimel, betrayal, Bir Hakeim, bombing raid, branding, British Prime Minister, broadcast, Cameroon, Campbell Scott, Churchill, command, Congo, cross the border, Darlan, De Gaulle, De Gaulle: Résistance, desert battle, diplomacy, driver, embassy, emblem, enlist, Fall of France, fathers and sons, fellow countrymen, fire on fellow countrymen, fix the taps, Florian Lesieur, forbidden, forces, Free French, French Colonial, General De Gaulle, General Kœnig, Germany, government, guardian, Hampstead, history, idealism, Jew, jungle, Karim Leklou, logo, London, losses, madcap plan, Marshall Pétain, Matthieu Kassovitz, military, modern history, naval rout, Navy, Nazi, negotiation, North Africa, Paris, Paris protest, Pétain, plumber, President, President Roosevelt, prime minister, principle, protest, radio, railway station, refusal to fire on fellow countrymen, Roosevelt, sailors, Second World War, siege, Siege of Bir Hakeim, Simon Abkariam, Simon Russell-Beale, skirmish, Southbound train, statesman, suicide mission, tank, tank column, uncle and aunt, uncles and nephews, under fire, US President, Vichy France, war, war movie, wild card, Winston Churchill, World War II, World War Two, WW2, youth

Documentary Features Live Action Movies

Made in England:
The Films of
Powell and Pressburger

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date May 8 2024
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The Films of
Powell and Pressburger

Powell and Pressburger on the set of The Red Shoes

Director – David Hinton – 2023 – US – Cert. 12a – 129m

*****

Martin Scorsese talks about the seminal British filmmaking duo, and how they inspired his own movies – out in UK cinemas on Friday, May 10th

As a child, Martin Scorsese suffered from asthma and would constantly find himself at home while other kids were outside playing. He often found himself sitting front of the black and white TV watching a show called Million Dollar Movie. This would show a movie a week, playing it several times, and it was at a time when US producers wouldn’t sell their movie rights to TV but British producers would. Consequently, he grew up watching black and white versions of old British movies.

The ones he particularly liked opened with an arrow hitting a target: “a production of the Archers. Written, produced and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.” When this logo and these names appeared, Scorsese always knew he was in good hands. He watched these movies over and over again whenever they were shown, and learned much of his filmmaking craft from them. The first of these films to which he thrilled didn’t have this logo: it was the Alexander Korda production of The Thief of Baghdad (Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, Tim Whelan, 1940) and parts of the film have the unmistakeable Powell visual stamp.… Read the rest

Tags “quota quickies”, adaptation, Alexander Korda, American Zoetrope, Anabaptist, arrow hitting target, art, asthma, autobiography, backers elsewhere, black and white TV, bombed out, bomber pilot, boxing, British movies, bureaucratic cock-up, Canada, Chaucer, child, Churchill, Cinema Unbound: The Creative Worlds Of Powell + Pressburger, Colonel Blimp, colour, colour scheme, convent, crash, dance, David Hinton, David O. Selznick, Emeric Pressburger, enemy territory, England, Englishman, Europe, filmmaking, Foula, Francis Coppola, friendship, George Lucas, German, Gloucestershire, Heaven, Himalayas, Hollywood, home, Hungarian, Hungarian Jew, Hutterite, immersive, J. Arthur Rank, Jennifer Jones, Jew, land girl Canterbury cathedral, London, love, marrying into money, Martin Scorsese, Martin Scorsese archive, Michael Powell, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, Million Dollar Movie, Mozart, murder, Nazis, New York, newspaper cartoon character, nuns, obsession, Offenbach, opera, operetta, Outer Hebrides, pilgrims, Powell and Pressburger, production company, psychopath, radio operator, rehabilitation, remote Scottish island, Rex Ingram, script conference, Second World War, soldier, South Of France, The Archers, the war, Thelma Schoonmaker. ballet, U-boat crew, UK, unmarketable, US, Vienna, weather conditions, World War 2, World War II, World War Two, WW2