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A wonderful cast - Julie Christie, Christopher Lee, Jenny Agutter, David Tennant, Bill Nighy - star in Poliakoff's war drama. It's a good old-fashioned thriller, says Rick Burin.

Summer 1939, and as much of Britain prepares for war, a shady cabal of aristocrats and Government officials plots to mollify Hitler and secure a quick, painless peace. When Anne Keyes (Romola Garai), the adopted daughter of a wealthy family, stumbles across the conspiracy, she finds her life under threat - as one by one her allies turn out to be traitors, or turn up dead.
 
In his first feature for 10 years, writer-director Stephen Poliakoff deals with some weighty themes, while alighting on fascinating aspects of the readying for war, such as pets being killed and heaped onto pyres. "It's like a vision of hell, isn't it?" asks Anne's father (Bill Nighy). "Animals going onto a fire in a quiet English summer."
 
Despite its depth, though, Glorious 39 is really an old-fashioned thriller: engrossing and atmospheric, with a gnawing, ever-present sense of menace and some mightily effective set pieces. It's also notable for Garai's expressive, layered turn, which catches the eye in a cast that includes Nighy, Julie Christie, Jeremy Northam, David Tennant, Jenny Agutter and Christopher Lee.

 

Rick Burin on 27th January 2010
View all 34 of Rick Burin's reviews