Robert Mitchum and Winds of War
The recent reference in Bernadette’s (Angell) negative review of World on Fire to Winds of War prompted me to acquire the 6 DVDs of the series and revisit the career of Robert Mitchum, one of my favourites of the leading Hollywood actors.
Robert Mitchum was certainly not yer normal Hollywood superstar. For a start he was married to his childhood sweetheart all his long life.
In 1949 he served a term of 6o days for possession of marijuana which in typical vein he accepted without fuss and which did not affect his career; he was not even that good-looking with his full face with poached egg eyes but he possessed that undefinable ingredient of star quality.
Like Michael Caine, he was a most professional actor, never late on set and – though a prodigious drinker – never inebriated either, only too willing to help his co-star forming an unlikely chemistry with the demure Deborah Kerr playing a nun.
He preferred dark roles like the murderous preacher in Night of The Hunter to worthy ones so when he appeared alongside Gregory Peck in Cape Fear, where he was getting even with his lawyer, it made for superb cinema.
He was a hell-raiser but like Charlton Heston very much a proud American.
He was well read, a brilliant mimic and no mean poet.
He looked great in uniform so was a natural for Victor “Pug “ Henry in Winds of War.
This was a huge epic production, the herald of those mini series of the 80s which often cast in the lead a well-known Hollywood actor like Larry Hagman and Barbara bel Geddes in Dallas and Joan Collins in Dynasty.
In Winds of War Mitchum – as often as not resplendent in naval uniform – appears in Berlin, Moscow, Paris during World War Two, befriended by Franklin Roosevelt and meeting both Churchill and Hitler.
As ever less is more with Mitchum, often just a quizzical expression but his authority – moral, emotional and physical – is always there. When offered a bribe by Goering’s underling he tells the person to stick it up his (Goering’s) fat ass.
My only real critique was the love interest – in Henry’s case a female RAF officer (Victoria Tennant) or Ali Magraw with his son Byron is intrusive and unconvincing.
You see scenes of smoking and native Americans cast in servile roles which you would not see today but according to Henry Elkins it had complete historical authenticity and was a huge popular and commercial success.
Mitchum’s acting abilities are now reassessed. His quiet, thoughtful moments are reminiscent of Clint Eastwood and Robert di Niro at their best.
Mitchum was Hollywood royalty and a rather nuanced monarch.
