Fame Is the Spur (film)

Fame is the Spur
Directed by	Roy Boulting
Produced by	John Boulting
Written by	Nigel Balchin Howard Spring (novel)
Starring	Michael Redgrave Rosamund John Bernard Miles David Tomlinson
Music by	John Wooldridge
Cinematography	Günther Krampf
Edited by	Richard Best
Distributed by	General Film Distributors
Release dates	23 September 1947 (1947-09-23)
Running time	116 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	over $1 million

Fame is the Spur is a 1947 British drama film directed by Roy Boulting. It stars Michael Redgrave, Rosamund John, Bernard Miles, David Tomlinson, Maurice Denham and Kenneth Griffith. Its plot involves a British politician who rises to power, abandoning on the way his radical views for more conservative ones. It is based on the novel Fame Is the Spur by Howard Spring, which was believed to be based on the career of the Labour Party politician Ramsay MacDonald.

Plot

When a young man from a North country mill town (Michael Redgrave) commits to help the poverty stricken workers in his area, he takes as his Excalibur a sword passed down to him by his grandfather from the Battle of Peterloo, where it had been used against workers. As an idealistic champion of the oppressed, he rises to power as a Labour M.P., but is seduced by the trappings of power, and finds himself the type of politician he originally despised.

Cast

• Michael Redgrave - Hamer Radshaw
• Rosamund John - Ann
• Bernard Miles - Tom Hannaway
• Carla Lehmann - Lady Lettice
• Hugh Burden - Arnold Ryerson
• Marjorie Fielding - Aunt Lizzie
• Seymour Hicks - Old Buck
• Tony Wager - Hamer as a boy
• Brian Weske - Ryerson as a boy
• Gerald Fox - Hannaway as a boy
• Jean Shepeard - Mrs Radshaw
• Guy Verney - Grandpa
• Percy Walsh - Suddaby
• David Tomlinson - Lord Liskead
• Charles Wood - Dai
• Milton Rosmer - Magistrate
• Wylie Watson - Pendleton
• Ronald Adam - Radshaws' Doctor
• Honor Blackman - Emma
• Campbell Cotts - Meeting chairman
• Maurice Denham - Prison doctor
• Kenneth Griffith - Wartime Miners' Representative
• Roddy Hughes - Wartime Miners' Spokesman
• Vi Kaley - Old Woman in Election Crowd
• Laurence Kitchin - Radshaws's secretary
• Philip Ray - Doctor
• Gerald Sim - Reporter
• Harry Terry - Man in Election Crowd
• Iris Vandeleur - Woman Who Opens Front Door
• H Victor Weske - Wartime Miners' Representative
• Ben Williams - Radical Orator

Critical reception

Allmovie wrote, "sometimes slow-moving, this is an interesting look into the reasons why the Labor and the Conservative factions are at loggerheads with each other in Great Britain" ; while The New York Times wrote, "this John and Roy Boulting film has vivid authority and fascination...But, unfortunately, a full comprehension of the principal character in this tale is missed in the broad and extended panorama of his life that is displayed...Mr. Redgrave is glib and photogenic; he acts the "lost leader" in a handsome style. But he does not bring anything out about him that is not stated arbitrarily"; while the Radio Times praised Redgrave's "powerhouse performance, with his gradual shedding of heartfelt beliefs as vanity replaces commitment having a chillingly convincing ring. But such is Redgrave's dominance that there's little room for other characters to develop or for any cogent social agenda."

External links

• Fame Is the Spur at IMDb
• Review of film at Variety