Churchill's Bodyguard (2005, 2009)

Churchill’s Bodyguard is a documentary film (in 13 episodes) that was shown on television in 2005 and released on DVD in 2009. Each episode runs for ca. 46 minutes. The total running time is almost 600 minutes, i.e. ten hours. Here are some basic facts about it:

** Produced for the BBC and UK-TV-History
** Directed by Jonathan Martin and Philip Nugus
** Written by Jonathan Martin
** Narrated by Robert Powell

Walter H. Thompson (1890-1978) was Churchill’s bodyguard during two long periods: the first 1921-1932; the second 1939-1945; the total span was almost 18 years. At the end of World War Two, Thompson completed a detailed manuscript about his experience, but for reasons of security he was not allowed to publish it. A short, censored version appeared in 1951 under the title I Was Churchill’s Shadow.

An authorized biography written by Tom Hickman was published in 2005. It has the same title as the film: Churchill’s Bodyguard. Both the biography and the film are based on Thompson’s complete memoirs that were discovered in an attic several years after his death.

Excerpts from Walter Thompson’s memoirs are read by Dennis Waterman. Most of what we see on the screen is old footage (pictures and film). But not everything is original: some scenes are re-enacted. John Tradewell plays the role of Walter in these scenes. There are two consultants:

 

(1) Linda Stoker, who is Walter’s great-niece

(2) Harold Thompson, who is one of Walter’s sons

Each episode covers one topic. In addition, the thirteen episodes follow a more or less chronological line from 1911 until 1945. Here are the titles of the thirteen episodes:

# 01. Walter meets Winston

# 02. Lawrence and Walter save the day

# 03. Nearly killed in New York

# 04. Indian nationalist assassin

# 05. Nazi sniper plan

# 06. Dangerous travels

# 07. Surviving the blitz

# 08. Attack at the flying boat bock

# 09. Winston’s double

# 10. Suicide attack in Tehran

# 11. The kiss of life?

# 12. The sewer bomb

# 13. Love him to death

PART ONE

Numerous books and documentary films have been written and produced about World War Two. Important topics, events, and persons - such as Churchill and Hitler - have been described, analyzed and interpreted several times. It is not easy to come up with something that is new, something that has not already been done several times over.

This project seems to have a new and interesting angle, because the focus is not on the leader, but on his bodyguard. It sounds good. And it works quite well, because Churchill had the same bodyguard for almost 18 years and because this man wrote a detailed manuscript which the producers could use.

Thompson was literally closer to Churchill than anybody else, while he was his bodyguard. Whenever Churchill went from A to B, Thompson would follow him. Whenever Churchill attended a ceremony or a meeting, Thompson would be there, standing right behind him.

The two men had very different backgrounds and personalities, but soon they came to like and respect each other. It was not always easy for Thompson to protect Churchill, because he did not care much about his safety; he was an adventurous type, who wanted to get as close to the action as possible, while Thompson would try to persuade him to stay back and not take any unnecessary risks.

Based on the complete memoirs of Thompson, this film offers a personal portrait of Churchill. It is not an objective account. It does not pretend to be. It is Thompson’s impression of his boss. Whether we agree with Churchill or not, it is an undeniable fact that he played an important role in the history of the UK, of Europe, and of the world for several decades of the 20th century.

PART TWO

Churchill’s Bodyguard is a fascinating, gripping, and interesting film because of the special angle that is employed here. Having said this, I have to add that it is not perfect in every way. There are some flaws. In the following I will mention the flaws I noticed while watching the film.

# 1. There are many repetitions. Each episode opens with the same introduction which runs for more than 2 minutes. With 13 episodes, the introductions take up more than 26 minutes, almost half an hour.

Some photos and some clips are used over and over again. Some of the clips which are used many times are not even old footage, they are re-enacted: whenever we hear about Thompson and his memoirs, we see a clip of a person who is writing with an old-fashioned fountain pen. Whenever Churchill and Thompson have to get from A to B, we see a clip of two persons who are walking along a footpath.

# 2. The film is a bit heavy on the audio side. The narrator Robert Powell has a lot to say; and when he does not talk, Dennis Waterman takes over, reading excerpts from Thompson’s memoirs. Both of them talk and talk.

# 3. Episode # 2 is about the Cairo Conference of 1921, which re-designed the map of the Middle East. Since Churchill was in charge of this event, it is fair to say that he re-designed the map of the Middle East. Summing up the results, the narrator claims the conference was considered a success. Perhaps it was considered a success back in 1921, although I think it depends on who you are asking. You will get different evaluations from different groups of people.

With the benefit of hindsight we can see that the results of the conference were not exactly a success. A critical evaluation of the conference can be found in the book Winston’s Folly: How Winston Churchill Created Modern Iraq by Christopher Catherwood (2004, 2005).

# 4. The title of episode # 3 is “Nearly Killed in New York.” It is true that Winston was nearly killed during a visit to New York in 1931. But not because there was an attempt on his life. He was in a traffic accident, and he himself was to blame for it. When we see the title of episode # 3, we might think that someone in New York tried to kill him and almost succeeded, but this is not true at all. The title of this episode is misleading.

# 5. The Amritsar massacre of 13 April 1919 is mentioned in episode # 4. Troops under the command of Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer opened fire on unarmed civilians. According to the narrator, the number of people killed was 379. This is the official figure. We can be sure this is a minimum. Most Indian observers offer higher figures. I think the narrator should have said “at least 379 were killed.”

For more information about this event, see The Butcher of Amritsar by Nigel Collett (2005, 2006).

# 6. In several episodes we hear about Churchill’s long distance travels, for instance his journey to Cairo and to Moscow and back again (in 1942). Churchill and his team travelled in an unarmed plane. The journey was long and dangerous, but nothing bad happened to them. One reason for this is that the pilot and his crew were highly qualified.

In the film we do not hear anything about them. You can find more information about the pilot and his crew in a documentary film called Flying the Secret Sky: The Story of the RAF Ferry Command that was shown on US television (PBS) and released on DVD in 2008.

# 7. Episode # 10 is about the Teheran Conference that was held from 28 November to 1 December 1943. In the film we are told that German agents planned to kill the big three – Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin – during the conference. The German plan is known as Operation Long Jump.

This claim is controversial. Scholars do not agree on this. It seems the story of the German plot comes from Soviet intelligence sources. But it cannot be confirmed by western sources.

CONCLUSION

The team behind the film – Jonathan Martin and Philip Nugus - went on to make another film using the same angle: Hitler’s Bodyguard (shown on television in 2008 and released on DVD in 2009). Unfortunately, the result was a disappointment, because they did not have the same kind of evidence that they had for the film about Churchill and Walter Thompson.

Churchill’s Bodyguard is about Churchill and his bodyguard. It is about the safety and security of Churchill from 1921 to 1945. The producers had a unique kind of evidence and they used it to explore a new and interesting angle. This is why the result is quite good.

Watching this film we get really close to Churchill. But it is not perfect. As you can see, there are some flaws. And I cannot ignore them. While the film is quite successful, I have to remove one star because of the flaws mentioned above. Therefore I think this film deserves a rating of four stars.

PS. The following article is available online: David Smith, “Fresh light on Churchill’s shadow,” the Guardian, 13 November 2005.

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Churchill’s Bodyguard,

Shown on television in 2005,

Released on DVD in 2009,

13 episodes

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