The Gathering Storm (1974)

While Adolf Hitler Ian Bannen builds his war machine, Winston Churchill Richard Burton repeatedly warns England of the dangers the Nazis pose. But most of Churchill's countrymen refuse to listen to him, viewing him as an alarmist. Nevertheless, Churchill continues to press his case at every opportunity. At Chartwell, his country home in Kent, he presides over domestic affairs -- paying the electric bill, comforting his injured pug, advising his 18-year-old daughter Sarah Angharad Rees about the pitfalls of marrying an Austrian -- when a disaffected German officer traveling under an assumed name pays a visit. He discloses that Germans are building U-boats in Holland as part of a 1,500-million pound investment in armaments. In Parliament, Churchill rails against the pacifism of the British political establishment and uses his new information to rouse the governing body to action. But again, the establishment ignores him. In a crisis of another kind, King Edward VIII Ian Ogilvy announces plans to abdicate in order to marry a twice-divorced American, Wallis Simpson. When Churchill supports the abdication, he further isolates himself. However, he doggedly persists and his predictions begin to come true. After Nazis march into the Rhineland unopposed, Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin Thorley Walters resigns in favor of Neville Chamberlain Robin Bailey. Chamberlain meets with Hitler and forges an agreement that he believes will lead to "peace in our time." Then Hitler marches into Czechoslovakia. Chamberlain declares war and appoints feisty Churchill First Lord of the Admiralty. But after an ill-fated incursion into Norway, Chamberlain loses support, and Churchill becomes prime minister. In Parliament, on May 13, 1940, he makes a speech rallying the people, saying, "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat." ~ Mike Cummings, Rovi