The Young Mr. Pitt
| The Young Mr Pitt | |
|---|---|
 A scene from the film | |
| Directed by | Carol Reed |
| Written by | Frank Launder & Sidney Gilliat (screenplay); Viscount Castlerosse (additional dialogue and original novel) |
| Starring | Robert Donat, Robert Morley, Herbert Lom, Ronald Shiner |
| Cinematography | Freddie Young |
| Edited by | R.E. Dearing |
| Music by | Louis Levy |
Release date | 21 September 1942 |
Running time | 118 min |
| Country | United Kingdom & United States |
| Language | English |
The Young Mr Pitt is a 1942 British biographical film, directed by Carol Reed and starring Robert Donat, Robert Morley and John Mills.[1] Made in black-and-white, it was produced by Edward Black and Maurice Ostrer for the British subsidiary of 20th Century Fox.
Outline
A biopic, made in wartime, of William Pitt the Younger, it concerns his struggle against revolutionary France and Napoleon. Pitt, son of William Pitt the Elder, becomes the youngest Prime Minister that the United Kingdom has ever known at 24, wins an election on the promise of peace and prosperity, yet ironically ends up as the presiding spirit of an interminable war with Revolutionary France. Both his health and his private life suffer from the strain. The period costumes were designed by Cecil Beaton and Elizabeth Haffenden.
Similar parallels with the struggle against Hitler's Germany were implied in That Hamilton Woman (aka, Lady Hamilton, 1941), made by Alexander Korda in the United States[2] with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh in the leads.
Cast
- Robert Donat - Pitt
- Jean Cadell - Mrs. Sparry
- Robert Morley - Charles James Fox
- Phyllis Calvert - Eleanor Eden
- Raymond Lovell - George III
- Agnes Lauchlan - Queen Charlotte
- John Mills - William Wilberforce
- Felix Aylmer - Lord North
- Ian McLean - Dundas
- Max Adrian - Richard Brinsley Sheridan
- A. Bromley Davenport - Sir Evan Nepean
- Herbert Lom[3] - Napoleon
- Stephen Haggard - Horatio Nelson
- Albert Lieven - Talleyrand
- Gordon James - minor role
- Ronald Shiner - the Man In Stocks (uncredited)
References
- ^ http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/58942?view=cast
- ^ Patricia Warren British Film Studios: An Illustrated History, London: B.T. Batsford, 2001, p.33, 145
- ^ In his first English-speaking role
External links
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- Use dmy dates from July 2012
- 1942 films
- 1940s drama films
- 1940s historical films
- Black-and-white films
- British biographical films
- British historical films
- British drama films
- British films
- Compositions by Charles Williams
- Cultural depictions of British prime ministers
- English-language films
- Films directed by Carol Reed
- Films set in the 1770s
- Films set in the 1780s
- Films set in the 1790s
- Films set in the 1800s
- Films set in England
- Films set in London
- French Revolutionary Wars films
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- Screenplays by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat
- William Pitt the Younger
- Films about Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom
- 1940s biographical films
- 1940s British film stubs
- 1940s drama film stubs