History Film / Glorious39

Our protagonist, Anne, is the adoptive daughter of Sir Alexander Keyes, a notable politician in favour of appeasing Nazi Germany. Anne lives a charmed life, spending most of her days running round the family ruins in GorgeousPeriodDress and flirting with her boyfriend, Lawrence. Until one day, she organises a birthday party for her father... and the mysterious Mr Balcombe shows up.

* TheAtoner: [[spoiler: Walter]] is clearly saddened for the part he played in discrediting Anne.

* ForegoneConclusion: We know from the beginning that Anne is going to disappear. [[spoiler:But as it happens, she gets away from her family -- she just drops off the radar afterwards, until the end.]]

* UpperClassTwit: Equally, no one in this film is at all stupid. Unfortunately for Anne.

''Glorious 39'' is a 2009 Stephen Poliakoff film, starring a ridiculous number of [[AllStarCast high-profile actors]], such as Romola Garai, Bill Nighy and Creator/DavidTennant. It tells the story of an upper-class family in the months leading up to the Second World War - sort of like ''Literature/BridesheadRevisited'', but with more politics.

* AllStarCast: Bill Nighy, Romola Garai, David Tennant, Christopher Lee, Jenny Agutter, Julie Christie, Jeremy Northam, Corin Redgrave...

* OneSceneWonder: David Tennant is a two-scene wonder, maybe three if you count the scene where Anne listens to the recording of him. Nonetheless, he is ''magnetic'' in his anti-Hitler speech

Our protagonist, Anne, is the adoptive daughter of Sir Alexander Keyes, a notable politician in favour of appeasing Nazi Germany. Anne lives a charmed life, spending most of her days running round the family ruins in GorgeousPeriodDress and flirting with her fiancé, Lawrence. Until one day, she organises a birthday party for her father...and the mysterious Mr Balcombe shows up.

At the party, family friend Hector Haldane delivers a passionate speech about the need to stop Nazi tyranny - and some weeks later shoots himself in the head. Tragic - but hidden in the family archives Anne finds a recording of Hector's last phone call, which makes it clear that someone was blackmailing him.

Meanwhile, at a family picnic the baby Anne was supposed to be looking after goes missing, and only after Anne has roused the entire family to search the woods is he found - safe and sound, exactly where she left him. Anne ''knows'' Balcombe has something to do with all of this, but now everyone else thinks she's hysterical...

Or they appear to, anyway. Most of the recordings in the archives have been taken away by Balcombe, but Anne has kept a few hidden. Desperate to find some proof of a conspiracy, she listens to them all and hears her brother's voice come through loud and clear. Politicians at the highest level of government have been involved in a plan to avoid war at all costs - and now want peace at any cost - and Anne's family are at the heart of it.

* TheAtoner: [[spoiler: Walter]] is clearly saddened for the part he played in discrediting Anne
* BlueBlood: A major theme - Anne is adopted, remember. [[spoiler:And was the child of gypsies, as it happens - this is the implicit motive behind her family's attempts to make peace with Hitler. Because if they're not at war with Germany, Germany can't win...]]

* BringNewsBack: [[spoiler:Once Sir Alexander is proved corrupt, Anne tries to send the evidence to Winston Churchill...and fails.]]

* ForYourOwnGood: [[spoiler:Anne has Romany heritage and her family are desperate to stop Hitler from invading Britain - so they want to make peace.]]
* ForegoneConclusion: We know from the beginning that Anne is going to disappear. [[spoiler:But as it happens, she gets away from her family - she just drops off the radar afterwards, until the end.]]
* FramingDevice: The story begins with Michael Walton, a present-day schoolboy, asking his elderly cousins what happened to his aunt Anne, who disappeared during the war.

* NarrowedItDownToTheGuyIRecognize:[[invoked]] Played with. In a cast of heavyweights, every other person ''must'' have something more to do than that bit part - right? [[spoiler:Ultimately, Bill Nighy is ''not'' merely a supportive but curiously ineffective helper to Anne.]]

* UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire: set during, etc.

* ShoutOut (with a touch of LiteraryAllusionTitle):The title refers to the year of the events, but very likely also has something to do with [[Literature/TheThirtyNineSteps another wartime conspiracy thriller with 39 in the title]]. Since the film aspires to a Hitchcockian aesthetic and feel the title is likely more than just a coincidence, though interestingly the emphasis in the plot on the motivating factors behind the war resonates more with Buchan's book than Hitchcok's film.

* ShoutOut (with a touch of LiteraryAllusionTitle):The title refers to the year of the events, but very likely also has something to do with [[TheThirtyNineSteps another wartime conspiracy thriller with 39 in the title]]. Since the film aspires to a Hitchcockian aesthetic and feel the title is likely more than just a coincidence, though interestingly the emphasis in the plot on the motivating factors behind the war resonates more with Buchan's book than Hitchcok's film.

* TheBritishEmpire: set during, etc.

* UpperClassWit: averted. Anne is an actress, most of the men are politicians or otherwise government employees, and no one is in a good enough mood to joke around.

''Glorious 39'' is a 2009 Stephen Poliakoff film, starring a ridiculous number of [[AllStarCast high-profile actors]], such as Romola Garai, Bill Nighy and DavidTennant. It tells the story of an upper-class family in the months leading up to the Second World War - sort of like ''Literature/BridesheadRevisited'', but with more politics.

* HeyItsThatGuy: You've probably seen at least one member of the cast in something else. For example, why the hell are people blackmailing the ''[[Series/DoctorWho Doctor]]''?

''Glorious 39'' is a 2009 Stephen Poliakoff film, starring a ridiculous number of [[AllStarCast high-profile actors]], such as Romola Garai, Bill Nighy and DavidTennant. It tells the story of an upper-class family in the months leading up to the Second World War - sort of like ''BridesheadRevisited'', but with more politics.