A very British tale of an upper class family on the eve of the Second World War. Adopted daughter Anne (Romola Garai) begins to suspect that some of her nearest and dearest may be involved in plots to promote appeasement of Germany and keep Britain out of the war.
brilliant...
Stylish and faultlessly acted, as you'd expect from a BBC production starring Bill Nighy, David Tennant, Hugh Bonneville and the ubiquitous Christopher Lee, Glorious 39 doesn't exactly zip along. Rather, the story unfolds slowly, with some very sinister plot work that has Anne and the audience confused. I suspected certain members of the family as being bad guys, but not necessarily all of them! I really enjoyed Bonneville's performance as a jovial, struggling film extra, and Nighy was so charming throughout I still find it hard to believe he was a wrong 'un... but was he? The family's reasons for supporting appeasement appeared fairly rational, it was their methods - subterfuge and murder - that went over the line. A thought-provoking piece.
but...
Just how did Anne's creepy nephew (who grew into Lee) keep appearing like that, as if he was some sort of supernatural bogeyman? These bits jarred a bit with the realisitic drama, but I suppose they could be explained away through a sketchy memory on the part of the two characters telling the story.
briefly...
A slick period drama with an unsettling theme and execution.
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