Hope and Glory (1987)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

John Boorman

Writer:

John Boorman (written by)

Release Date:

November 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

The epic story of a world at war. And a boy at play.

Plot:

A semiautobiographical project by John Boorman about a nine year old boy called Bill as he grows up in London during the blitz of World War 2...

Plot Keywords:

Young Boy | Sex | Dance | Enlistment | Father Son Relationship

Awards:

Nominated for 5 Oscars. Another 15 wins & 18 nominations

Cast

Sebastian Rice-Edwards	...	Bill Rowan (as Sebastian Rice Edwards)
Geraldine Muir	...	Sue Rowan
Sarah Miles	...	Grace Rowan
David Hayman	...	Clive Rowan
Sammi Davis	...	Dawn Rowan
Derrick O'Connor	...	Mac
Susan Wooldridge	...	Molly
Jean-Marc Barr	...	Cpl. Bruce Carrey
Ian Bannen	...	Grandfather George
Annie Leon	...	Grandma
Jill Baker	...	Faith
Amelda Brown	...	Hope
Katrine Boorman	...	Charity
Colin Higgins	...	Clive's Pal
Shelagh Fraser	...	WVS Woman

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:M | Singapore:NC-16 | Iceland:L | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Croydon, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

"News reel" footage shown in the cinemas of the RAF versus the Luftwaffe is actually from Battle of Britain (1969)

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Bill is being chased, the dog is running next to him in the last couple of shots.

Quotes:

Grandfather George: [pointing to an electrical transformer tower at the edge of his prpoerty] Look! They're coming this way: the Future on the march. I curse you, Volt, Watt and Amp!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Making of 'The Phantom of the Opera' (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

Serenade in G K.525 (Eine kleine Nachtmusik)

A Funny, poignant, truthful, and enjoyable child's-eye view of London during The Blitz.

Since I first saw it, 15 years ago, a little film in a little theater, I have regarded John Boorman's recollections of life as a grade-schooler during "The Blitz" as astonishing. Over the years I've used the movie to bring to life the very points that Anna Freud makes in her diaries of the "War Nurseries" she ran in Hampstead. While the movie is always entertaining, it nevertheless shows the effects on kids and families of life at home during a war: the separations, the losses, the physical damage, the inflammation of aggressive impulses in normal kids, the loosening of parental control over adolescents, the dropping of the curtains we use to keep kids from seeing more than they ought to. The film is wonderfully English, with customary attention to period detail, and a great collection of eccentric and memorable secondary characters. You've just got to see the geography lesson, featuring a middle-aged martinet school-marm who whacks away at a world map, using her pointer to punctuate her lesson on the vastness of England's pre-war empire. I have seen this movie on video, and can say that it translates well to the small screen. In fact it was created for British TV. See it. You'll laugh. You'll cry. And don't tell anyone--You'll learn something, too.