The Prime Minister (film)

The Prime Minister
The Prime Minister
Directed by	Thorold Dickinson
Written by	Michael Hogan; Brock Williams;
Produced by	Max Milder
Starring	John Gielgud; Diana Wynyard; Fay Compton; Stephen Murray;
Cinematography	Basil Emmott
Edited by	Leslie Norman
Music by	Jack Beaver
Production; company	Warner Bros.-First National Productions
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Release date	4 March 1941;
Running time	94 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

The Prime Minister is a 1941 British historical drama film directed by Thorold Dickinson and starring John Gielgud, Diana Wynyard, Fay Compton and Stephen Murray.

It details the life and times of Benjamin Disraeli, who became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It depicts his long marriage to Mary Disraeli and his relationship with various other public figures of the era including William Gladstone, Lord Melbourne and Queen Victoria. Gielgud would later reprise his role as Disraeli in the ITV television drama Edward the Seventh (1975).

The film was shot at Teddington Studios by the British subsidiary of Warner Brothers. The company had previously made a successful biopic of the Prime Minister as Disraeli in 1929. The film's sets were designed by the art director Norman G. Arnold.

Plot

The film is not a remake of the 1929 film Disraeli, which depicted only one incident late in Disraeli's career. Instead, The Prime Minister is an episodic biography of Disraeli from his early career as a novelist through his political triumphs as an elder statesman. The film is almost a hagiography, depicting Disraeli as a lifelong social reformer and a Tory democrat dedicated to "England" and to "democracy". TCM.com describes the film this way—

The Prime Minister (1941) is the legendary Benjamin Disraeli, played by the legendary John Gielgud in a tour-de-force performance that takes Disraeli from a foppish young novelist, to a neophyte member of Parliament, to prime minister of England [sic] and confidante of Queen Victoria. Along the way, "Dizzy" woos and weds his wife Mary Anne, who provides shrewd support for his career. He also battles political opponents, helps the poor and working class, buys the Suez Canal, expands the empire, and foils the imperialist plans of the German-Austrian-Russian political alliance.^[1]

Cast

John Gielgud as Benjamin Disraeli
Diana Wynyard as Mary Disraeli
Fay Compton as Queen Victoria
Pamela Standish as Victoria, Princess Royal
Stephen Murray as William Ewart Gladstone
Owen Nares as Lord Derby
Frederick Leister as Lord Melbourne
Nicholas Hannen as Sir Robert Peel
Will Fyffe as The Agitator
Anthony Ireland as the Count D'Orsay
Irene Browne as Lady Londonderry
Joss Ambler as Earl of Carnarvon
Vera Bogetti as Lady Blessington
Barbara Everest as Baroness Lehzen
Lyn Harding as Bismarck
Glynis Johns as Miss Sheridan
Margaret Johnston as Miss Sheridan
Andrea Troubridge as Miss Sheridan
Nadine March as Mary Anne's maid
Gordon McLeod as John Brown
Leslie Perrins as Earl of Salisbury
Kynaston Reeves as Lord Stanley
Abraham Sofaer as Turkish ambassador

Notes

The Prime Minister opened in the United States in February 1942, eleven months after its British premiere. The American version was cut by 15 minutes— among the scenes removed was one featuring Glynis Johns, then beginning her career.^[1]

Box office

According to Warner Bros records the film earned the studio $16,000 domestically and $21,000 foreign.^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b "The Prime Minister (1942) - Articles - TCM.com". Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
^ Warner Bros financial information in The William Shaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1–31 p. 22 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551