The Prime Minister

"The Prime Minister" is a film of its times. As Britain had its back up against the wall against the German war machine, most of the films made in the UK were intended to bolster the war effort...either directly or indirectly. So, while the film is set in the 19th century, its aim clearly is to harken back to a bygone era...when Britain was the strongest colonial power on the planet. It also has the theme of unity and draws obvious parallels to Churchill and his seemingly lone campaign against the Axis. The film also was designed to turn American sentiment towards the cause of this underdog. As a result, the film seems a bit overly schmaltzy and overly dramatic at times. Realism was being sacrificed for propaganda reasons.

Unlike the earlier Warner Brothers film, "Disraeli" (1929), this film from the same studio tries to do an overview of Benjamin Disraeli's entire career. It follows him as a rich dandy to joining Parliament to becoming Prime Minister (several times...off and on). All the while, his wife is by his side...encouraging and pushing him toward greatness.

So is it any good? Yes, but I was surprised that occasionally John Gielgud (Disraeli) overacted a bit. He also struggled with showing emotion...any emotion. He was a great actor, but you can't see a lot of this greatness here. But as I said above, realism was sacrificed a bit in order to make the film rousing and a propaganda piece...and that had to effect his acting. The film also, at least in 2022, a bit stodgy and slow. Not a bad film...but you might learn a better lesson about the man by reading the Wikipedia article on him. Also, I agree with the reviewer, as it seems odd that the movie never once mentions that Disraeli was Jewish (though he later converted to the Church of England)...odd considering the state of Jewry in 1941.

Ok, so the acting was rather theatrical and the message rather patriotic. But, like Henry VI, it was a propaganda war film to stir the spirit of the English people in the height of the second world war. It didn't have the writing credits of Shakespeare but this must also be taken into consideration. To critise a film written for the sole purpose of bolstering the battered and bombed people of the British Isles in WWII and comparing it with what we are used to now as historical films (although Braveheart, The Patriot and U571 may be more deserving of criticism than The Prime Minister) is being blindsighted.

This film should be considered for what it's purpose is and what film has ever portrayed any historical figure in his or her real light. We have documentaries for that.

Just watch the film for what it is.

A stodgy love story, loosely tied in to the life of Disraeli. One of those films where it starts out with the main stars as young lovers, and then you get a few paragraphs of text that fill in 30 years or so, and then they are old and dying. Perhaps there is a good film to be made from the political battles of the Victorian 'giants', Disraeli and Gladstone, but this is not it.

"The Prime Minister" is Benjamin Disraeli, one of the most determinedly interesting figures of nineteenth-century England. This film is very obviously a piece of wartime propaganda, with a few bits of Socialist speechmaking tossed in as well. Many of Disraeli's famous witty quotes are included (to add authenticity, of course), the costumes and sets are reasonably lavish for a moderately-budgeted film, and the performances are more than adequate. The biggest problem is that the first half of the film is pretty bad, and it's Gielgud's fault. A great actor with a great voice, he had absolutely no idea how to play an ardently romantic young man in love and, given no help from the dialogue, comes off as stiff as a board. About halfway through the film, though, about 25 years in Disraeli's (and England's) life are passed over in a few explanatory titles, and Gielgud suddenly appears as a much older Disraeli, sporting a kind of inverted grin and made up to look remarkably like Raymond Massey as Abraham Lincoln. From this point on, Gielgud is in his glory - he's exciting to listen to, and his facial expressions are pricelessly funny. From this point on, the film picks up steam and doesn't lose impetus until the final frames.

John Gielgud makes a great performance as the formidable statesman Benjamin Disraeli, emerging from nothing to a successful novelist, and then embarking on politics for good and for worse, in constant clinch with the equally great statesman William Gladstone, whose part in this is rather secondary; while Diana Wynyard as Mrs. Disraeli always is a treat and has a superior qualitty and knack of dominating every film she is in by simply outshining everyone else, apparently by her beauty, but there is a very special magic about her. The film was one-sidedly patriotic, it was made in the worst time of the war, when anything was needed to bolster the British resistance fighting spirit, and so the film is hopelessly tendentious, keeping dead quiet about the fact that Disraeli was a Jew, importing a complex which is a driving force for so many of that ancestry, often leading them to extremely high and responsible positions, which they usually carry with honour, of which Disraeli is a perfect example. The film is a feast for the eyes from beginning to end, the costumes are consistently sumptuous, there are overwhelming ball scenes and the fascinating love story between Diana Wynyard and John Gielgud; and then there is Fay Compton as Queen Victoria, almost vying with Wynyard for charm and adorability - she makes a fascinating portrait of the Queen, which must be true. In brief, for all lovers of historical costume films, this is a major treat, and if you also are capable of appreciating great acting, that adds to the treat.