Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill

Winston Churchill's biopic "The First Churchills" continues with this epic later generation as English or more than the Germanic Saxe-Coburg/Gotha monarchy rebranded Windsor during world war. And "across the pond," Europe's offspring are buttons-bustin' proud that, like "the people's princess Lady Di"ana Spencer, Sir Winston "Winnie" Churchill was half American by way of a New York mater. American from Paris Jennie Jerome's distaff side jettisoned their New York mansion complete with opera theatre to emigrate to Paris education & social-climbing after Jennie's father running with a scandalous pack reduced much of his Wall Street fortune after her jockey club owner father taught Jennie to ride, endearing her to Britain's third son the Blenheim Palace family hopes were pinned on. Though all the parents on three continents made them wait a year, their marriage was the making of Lord Randolph in his 30s.A wildly energetic sporting man, keen reader, & eccentric vulnerable to Freemasonry he transferred to Winston, the intense & confident Lord Randolph Churchill's passionately driving political originality was encouraged & advanced by his new helpmate fetchingly clad in Edwardian garb with American effervescence, French elan, and paradoxically sultry yet classic beauty attracting glittering social success with the high society fast Marlborough House set of the hedonist Prince of Wales who succeeded his disapproving dowager Queen Victoria mater as King Edward VII the opulent era is named for.Society could not resist Jennie's beauty, wit, cosmopolitan savoir faire & flair, and determination conquering Britannia & more during her 67 colorful years. Savor more courtly dancing here than any other costume drama I've seen, sparklingly interwoven with choreographed repartee'. And Jennie's sister appears to actually play the piano alongside Jennie, who was a masterfully accomplished musician who could have been a concert pianist.Jennie's political campaigning for her husband Lord Randolph Churchill helped make more of his illustrious heritage, God-given talents, and indulgence-shorted life than passions for tobacco & wine, roses wreathing winning racehorses, and the hunt that were lavishly diverting & dissipating his energies, opportunities, & life in need of focus, direction, & support. While banished from court by the King for outspokenness, his integrity mandated that the couple's experience of Ireland prophetically warn Parliament to stop the human rights abuses crucible forging the Irish Republic & rebellion against long bitterly entrenched English invasion, occupation, & genocide by land grab poverty & famine driving the Irish to build, and be conscripted to fight brother against brother for, the relatively (pun intended) new USA.Illogically represented as dying from syphilis that would have changed history by infecting Jennie & sons, Lord Randolph's symptoms are medically considered likely a tumor of his left side, unsurprising with his penchant for cigarettes in sooty London, that he tried South Africa and India for health & foreign diplomacy."Black Irish" American beauty Lee Remick is more delightful & almost as stunning as England's "diamonds of the first water" Merle Oberon ("Wuthering Heights"), Elizabeth Taylor ("Black Beauty"), and Vivien Leigh ("Gone With The Wind" Scarlett O'Hara). Young adult Winston is believably played by a pugnacious carrot-top; Barbara Parkins is yet another delicious brunette; and heart-throb Christopher Cazenove appearance thrilled until his shameful role devolved into a terrible comedown from his glorious best in the British biopic "Duchess of Duke Street." And last but fairy tale palace not least, don't miss Blenheim palace's own Special Features tour. ~ Bon appetit, mes amis!

Acorn Media has provided the DVD with english subtitles which are helpful not only to people who have hearing impediments but to foreigners (specially when politician explain very quickly intricate schemes, with names of men we know nothing about). The story is very interesting from an historical point of view. It begins with Napoleon III being dismissed and ends some times after the Second World War is over. Politics are not seen from Sirius, but through magnifying glasses: dayly and often cynical calculations, fights against political ennemies or so-called friends. Randolph's every days life is a sort of thrilling gambling. For instance, he resigns his charge, thinking the government will become aware it can't do without him; in case it doesn't Randolph will found a new Tory group, modern, kenner on social issues, and overcome the old Tory party. We see how times are changing: at the beginning of the story, upper classes are extremely conservative, préjudiced with birth, wealth, morals, etc and at the end, one of Jennie's niece, an artist, goes to Russia on her own to see what communism is like.Lady Churchill is a fascinating woman! Clever, brave, ambitious, free, quite different from the other women of her time. With such "political beasts" as his father and mother were, we understand why Winston Churchill (remarkably played by Warren Clark) was so outstanding a stateman. Love stories don't lack in the movie; I found particularly moving the love affair between Jennie and the long-suffering Count Kinsky (embodied by the wonderful Jeremy Brett; if you like him, look at "posthumous Bafta for Jeremy Brett" on facebook).Though many tragic events occur (Randolph illness and demise, wars...), the dialogues, always brilliant, are often amusing: clever, cynical, sparkling with wit. People of the high society are depicted in a satirical way. Everything is beautiful: houses, costumes, music, actors: Lee Remick, Jeremy Brett...I find 361 minutes were hardly enough.

I wasn't prepared for the type of life she led but thinking about it , I don't think she was either.Very fascinating about Winston Churchill's history as a child and young adult. I had read that because Winston was constantly getting expelled from school , finally she said to him "ok Winston you'll have to come along with me and he did. He was educated in diplomatic circles and learned a lot from his Mom as she was very popular in those circles. I understood why his Dad hated him so too, and was mean toward him. I won't say why here . The dvds worth it.

I have been looking for Jennie for years and years. For hard to find material, this is the place!

Jennie Churchill was a fascinating, beautiful, and smart lady. This movie has romance, humour, history, beautiful scenery and costumes, and gives good insight into the politics of England in this particular time period. However, I did have sympathy for Winston Churchill because his mother did not give him enough of her time, and the movie does expose his loneliness. Good movie, and I will probably watch it again, every year. If you are a history buff, you wil probably enjoy it.

Lee Remick was excellent as Lady Randolph Churchill, and I enjoyed watching her in this video. I'm very pleased with my purchase and highly recommend this video.

This is a real winner. Lee Remick is perfect for her role. Covers a lot of ground and I got a better appreciation for Sir Winston's upbringing.Don't miss this one.

Lee's portrayal of Lady Randolph Churchill is so quixotic but, for a woman of her era, it seemed abnormal. In the end, her need for more material things and male attention devoured her fortune and killed her.

I'm very interested in British history and therefore, I gravitate toward movies that tell the stories of prominent English people from the past. I purchased this movie expecting to find the story of Lady Randolph Churchill (Winston Churchill's mother) to be interesting and rewarding. That's because I've read a book called "To Marry an English Lord", which was extremely well written and informative about the nouveau riche American young women who were willing to exchange their wealth for an English title, at the end of the 19th century and into the 20th. However, I found the movie to be long and drawn out (read "boring"), the acting to be stilted and unnatural and the whole production to be wanting in its presentation. There were no subtitles or closed captioning, making understanding of the English dialects difficult. Unless you are a die-hard buff of English history, I wouldn't recommend this movie to you.

The character of Jennie is played very well. A good depiction of English history from a human life point of view.