TERENCE MARSH FILMS

Terence Marsh died recently at 86. Chances are you never heard of him. He was born in London and cut his artistic teeth at the famous Pinewood Studios. He was the best movie set designer who ever lived. He won two Oscars for set decoration. All of his work was accomplished before computer generation made almost any scenario possible. When he was working it had to look real and be designed from scratch. He worked on over 30 movies in his sterling career. These are the best. 
He got his first big break when he was hired as assistant art director for Lawrence Of Arabia (1962). He designed the Red Sea port of Aqaba for a critical battle scene. His work got noticed and soon he was the go-to guy for set design. 
One of his Oscars was for Doctor Zhivago (1965). That realistic looking Moscow scenery is actually a back lot in Spain. And the fabulous ice palace scene is really memorable.  His other Oscar was for the enchanting musical Oliver (1968). All those grimy London street scenes, the dreary orphanage (“Please sir, I want some more”) and the brilliant beautiful scene featuring the fruit and vegetable carts set to music are his creations. Ten thousand cobblestones were hand-laid by his staff to create the realistic ancient streets. 
Many thought he should have won again for the prison in The Shawshank Redemption (1994). But he wasn’t even nominated. Director Frank Darabont speculated that the voters thought he just used a real prison. But ,no, he created one from a defunct Westinghouse plant. 
For the 1977 World War II drama about The Battle Of The Bulge, titled A Bridge Too Far, he had his staff create hundreds of gliders used to carry troops. Since there weren’t enough Sherman tanks, he had his workers create additional ones from Volkswagen cars. In the movie you cannot tell they are not tanks! Mr. Marsh said “If you can see what I’ve done, I haven’t done enough.”  His scenes were so realistic we believed wholeheartedly that what we were seeing was real.
In Havana (1990) Marsh had a go at recreating that formerly magical Cuban capital. Robert Redford plays a professional gambler who falls for closet revolutionary Lena Olin. 
Terrence Marsh was the art designer for The Hunt For Red October (1990) with Sean Connery as a Russian sub skipper who may be headed to the USA to defect or blow up the place. Those aren’t real submarines, but they sure look like it. 
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. Oliver is fine for all ages. The rest are for grown-ups. 

                                                     WINSTON CHURCHILL

For reasons I cannot figure out, last year was The Cinematic Year Of Churchill. Sir Winston died in 1965 (52 years ago) at the age of 90. He was universally credited with getting Britain through World War II. The Brits richly rewarded him for this by voting him out in 1945. Clement Attlee and the Labour Party replaced him. He did serve another term later. Anyway, there were not one, not two, but three movies about Churchill in 2017. And there was yet another in 2016. Two of last year’s films were nominated for Best Picture Oscar. 
I’ll start with Darkest Hour (2017) which covers the period just before Britain went all in against the Germans. Gary Oldman was deservedly nominated for Best Actor. Though he doesn’t look all that much like Sir Winston, he has the speech and mannerisms down pat. The stirring speech in Parliament that turned the tide of public opinion is a real patriotic rouser. “We will fight them on the beaches, ...We will never surrender”. Wow! This is one of the Best Picture nominees.
The other nominee is Dunkirk (2017). Almost the entire British army was backed up against the English Channel at a French coastal town. It will always be a mystery why the Nazis didn’t simply obliterate them. But they didn’t. And Churchill famously got the Navy and the ordinary British citizens with boats to mobilize an unbelievable rescue mission. Sir Winston is a decidedly minor character, however. Other than Kenneth Branagh, as a British officer on the beach, and Mark Rylance, as the skipper of a civilian rescue boat, you won’t recognize anyone else. It is a thrilling ride and one of the great stories of British history. 
The third film from last year is simply Churchill (2017). Its time frame is much later in the war. Mark Cox plays Churchill in this one, and it deals with the period leading up to the Normandy invasion. Sir Winston was dead set against the allied invasion and was quick to say so. Regardless of the success of the mission, he felt the cost in casualties was too high. John Slattery plays General Eisenhower who listens but disregards Churchill’s objections and the attack goes forward. Quite an interesting chunk of history which seems to be accurate. 
From one year back we have Churchill’s Secret (2016). Michael Gambon plays the great man in this made-for-TV movie. In 1953, after his election to a second term as prime minister, Sir Winston suffered a major stroke. This was carefully kept from the public. I doubt that this would be possible today. Anyway, he is nursed back to health and continues as PM. He would live another 12 years after this. 
Into The Storm (2008) features Brendan Gleeson as Churchill. In this one the war is over and he is on holiday in France. Through a series of flashbacks, he relives his grandest moments as Prime Minister during the World War II. This is a sequel, of sorts, to The Gathering Storm (2002) which covers the period just before and after Dunkirk.
And finally, if you would like to know the early history of this iconic figure, there is Young Winston (1972). He is portrayed by virtually unknown Simon Ward. This is the story of Churchill’s childhood and his time as a war correspondent during the Boer War. 
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups.