glorious 39

Director: stephen poliakoff

Actor: romola garai,eddie redmayne,juno temple,toby regbo

Data Published: Fri Nov 20 2009

Genres: Drama,History,Mystery,Thriller,War

Key Words: woman uses a wheelchair,pre world war two,family relationships,family secret,secret

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1319694/

WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glorious_39

Description: Glorious 39 is a movie starring Romola Garai, Eddie Redmayne, and Juno Temple. The adopted daughter of a privileged British politician uncovers a family secret in the weeks leading up to World War II.

Plot: In present-day London, Michael Walton visits his cousins, Walter and Oliver Page. Interested in family history, he asks them about his great aunt, Anne Keyes, the sister of his grandmother, Celia. Anne, an actress, was the eldest of the three Keyes children. Desperate for children, her father, Alexander, a Member of Parliament, and mother, Maud, had adopted her. However, Maud subsequently gave birth to Ralph and Celia. Michael is curious to learn what happened to Anne, which leads Walter to reminisce about the summer of 1939, at the Keyes' estate in Norfolk. On Alexander's birthday, Anne has prepared a table in the garden to celebrate. Anne's friend, the outspoken MP Hector, and lover, the reserved Lawrence, are present for the festivities. When Alexander arrives he brings a guest, the quiet government employee Joseph Balcombe. During dinner Hector rants about Britain's lack of action against Nazi Germany. It is later revealed that he has been one of those calling out for a new prime minister. The next day, while looking for a cat in one of the property's sheds, which are off-limits as they are used for storing Alexander's private papers, Anne finds gramophone records labelled "Foxtrot". These prove to contain recorded meetings and telephone conversations. Alexander reveals that he has allowed Balcombe to store government documents in the shed. Two weeks later, Anne is notified that Hector has been found dead, from an apparent suicide. Anne wonders if Balcombe had anything to do with Hector's death. Alexander brushes off the idea, but does offer to ask Balcombe to remove the records from the shed, something he promises to do the next day during a picnic. While there, the picnickers go for a walk, leaving Anne to watch over baby Oliver. She awakens to find Oliver and his pushchair missing. She follows his cries to no avail, and when the family returns, they search, until they find him in his pushchair on a lane. Anne denies moving the baby, but the incident plants roots of doubt about Anne's word. Balcombe removes the records that night, but Anne secretly keeps two of them. The family then returns to London because Parliament has been recalled. While there Anne listens to the records. One contains a recording of a distressed Hector pleading with Balcombe to cease calling him and his parents. However, the maid bursts into the room, which causes the gramophone to fall and the record to break into pieces. On 1 September Anne gives a second record to her fellow actor and friend Gilbert. He is later found dead from apparent suicide. Anne travels back to Norfolk to keep Aunt Elizabeth company, where she listens to the second recording. On it she recognises Balcombe's voice, along with that of her brother, Ralph. Ralph is heard suggesting the name "Thin Man Dancing" for a covert operation; a reference to a childhood toy. At a party in London, Anne attempts to tell Lawrence of Ralph's involvement, but he already knows. Lawrence convinces Anne to bring him the recording at a rendezvous at a suburban veterinary surgery. After Anne finds Lawrence's body in a shed filled with euthanised pets, she escapes and gives the recording to a child, who promises to post it to Churchill. She is subsequently recaptured, drugged by her father and held prisoner in Aunt Elizabeth's house, which is close to St Paul's Cathedral. Balcombe pays her a visit and shows her the second recording, which he had intercepted. He tells her that it had been made for her father. He also informs her that their house in London is being used for series of pro-appeasement meetings that her father is chairing. Alexander later admits to her that he believes Britain will be destroyed unless it secures an early peace with Germany. He says that she is the only member of the family that does not share his beliefs, which is why they are keeping her secure. They deprive her of water and leave her to die. But, after some time, Maud releases her while the rest of the family is at the park. Anne goes past them, and when they act as though nothing has happened, she runs away. Back in the present, Walter tells Michael that Anne had died in Canada twenty years ago, and that he had just been doing what his family and Balcombe had wanted. It is then revealed that Balcombe had convinced Walter to move Oliver's pushchair into the lane. Michael asks Oliver and Walter to accompany him to meet his mother. They travel to the same park where Anne had last seen her family. A woman, Michael's mother, wheels an elderly woman towards them. That elderly woman is Anne, and Michael tells them that he knew the truth all along but wanted to hear it from them.