Longitude (2000)

Actors: Ian McNeice (actor), Tim McInnerny (actor), T.P. McKenna (actor), Alec McCowen (actor), Ian Hart (actor), Roger Lloyd-Pack (actor), Frank Finlay (actor), Jeremy Irons (actor), Nigel Davenport (actor), Michael Gambon (actor), Brian Cox (actor), Stephen Fry (actor), Charles Gray (actor), Bill Nighy (actor), Steve Morphew (actor),

Plot: In the 18th century, the only way to navigate accurately at sea was to follow a coastline all the way, which would not get you from Europe to the West Indies or the Americas. Observing the sun or stars would give you the latitude, but not the longitude unless done in conjunction with a clock that would keep time accurately at sea, and no such clock existed. After one too many maritime disasters due to navigational errors, the British Parliament set up a substantial prize for a way to find the longitude at sea. The film's main story is that of craftsman John Harrison: he built a clock that would do the job, what we would now call a marine chronometer. But the Board of Longitude was biased against this approach and claiming the prize was no simple matter. Told in parallel is the 20th century story of Rupert Gould, for whom the restoration of Harrison's clocks to working order became first a hobby, then an obsession that threatened to wreck his life.

Keywords: 1700s, 1920s, admiration, based-on-book, based-on-true-story, british-navy, bureaucracy, chronometer, clock, father-son-relationship
Genres: Drama, History,

Quotes:

George Graham: One second a month, sir! You're either a liar or a fool. --Who're your makers?::John Harrison: Myself, and my brother James.::George Graham: Really? Who were you apprenticed to?::John Harrison: My father, as was he. I am a carpenter by profession.::George Graham: A carpenter?!::John Harrison: My timekeepers are made of wood. I've brought some drawings with me.::George Graham: I'm sorry, I mistook you. This is a joke, sir, am I right? Mr. Halley seeks to derive some pleasure from this contrivance? Is he here, perhaps, hiding in a corner to watch my performance?::John Harrison: It is I who am sorry, sir! The fault is mine. It was my impression I was here to see a clockmaker; I find myself in a toy shop by mistake! William!::[turns to leave]

George Graham: Mr. Harrison! Summer and winter... how is it done? How is it done, the compensation?::John Harrison: I use a pendulum of different metals that work against each other.::George Graham: Impossible. Doesn't work. I've tried it.::John Harrison: It is possible. It does work. I've built it.

Rupert Gould: Sir Frank, I'm not asking to mechanically alter the Harrison machines; I just want to bring them back to their proper condition. If they're left as they are much longer, I fear they may become unrecoverable. I know my qualifications appear unlikely; I can only plead that they're no more so than Harrison's own.

Muriel Gould: I want you to give up the clock.::Rupert Gould: I will... when it's finished.::Muriel Gould: Yes, I knew you'd say that. Silly of me, really.

John Harrison: I'm afraid you must excuse me, but I should go back on deck. The air in here is...::John Campbell: Poisonous? You'll get used to it. Most people don't notice it after the first couple of years.

Minister for the Navy: [to Parliament] Honorable Members who mourn with us the recent tragic loss off the Scilly Isles of four of Her Majesty's ships, and 2,000 wretched souls therein, under the command of Admiral Sir Cloudisley Shovell, will be pleased to know that Her Majesty's government is to offer a reward -- a prize of twenty thousand pounds -- to any man offering a practicable and useful solution to the problem of finding longitude at sea. A Board of Longitude will be set up, whose sole business will be to investigate any serious suggestions, and finally, it is profoundly to be hoped, to award this prize.

John Harrison: It's not just beautiful, it's divine: that's where the beauty lies, you see. Each note on the scale is calculated by mathematical formula, based on the circumference of a circle, you see.::Sir Charles Pelham: Uh, almost...::John Harrison: The step between each note is composed of larger and lesser intervals, each derived from pi. It is divine because for the first time we are listening to music as the Lord intended.

Sir Charles Pelham: How can you tell if a clock is running 5 seconds faster, or slower?::John Harrison: My own pendulum clock is adjusted to one second a month.::Sir Charles Pelham: O-ho-ho, no clock can be that accurate.::John Harrison: Mine can.

John Harrison: Impossible, sir. Clock needs a pendulum. Can't take a pendulum to sea.::Sir Charles Pelham: Not like you to say "impossible," John.::John Harrison: No, sir.

Elizabeth Harrison: You've found a way to build this sea-clock, haven't you?::John Harrison: With God's help it might be possible. --I mean, why did He encourage me to build a perfect timepiece in the first place? So the blacksmith might start work 5 seconds earlier or later? Or was it to give us the ability to explore His creation in safety, to move without fear in the space He's given us to inhabit?

The Madness of King George (1994)

Actors: Cyril Shaps (actor), John Wood (actor), Roger Hammond (actor), Geoffrey Palmer (actor), Nigel Hawthorne (actor), Jeremy Child (actor), Julian Rhind-Tutt (actor), Alan Bennett (actor), Ian Holm (actor), Rupert Everett (actor), Jim Carter (actor), Roger Ashton-Griffiths (actor), Rupert Graves (actor), Helen Mirren (actress), Amanda Donohoe (actress),

Plot: The story of King George III of England's slide into insanity, and the political and royal back stabbing which results from his incapacitation. Despite being very amusing at times, this is a sad tale of medical practices in the later 1700s as well as an insight into life inside and around the royaly of the time.

Keywords: 1780s, 18th-century, aristocracy, arranged-marriage, assassination-attempt, author-cameo, back-stabbing, based-on-play, british-royal-family, character-name-in-title
Genres: Biography, Comedy, Drama, History,
Taglines: His Majesty was all powerful and all knowing. But he wasn't quite all there.

Quotes:

Prince of Wales: To be Prince of Wales is not a position - it is a predicament.

George III: Six hours of sleep is enough for a man, seven for a woman, and eight for a fool.

George III: Push off, you fat turd.

Warren: One may produce a copious, regular evacuation every day of the week and still be a stranger to reason.

George III: [crudely staring at Lady Pembroke] Fine cluster there, eh?::[to Queen Charlotte, pointing at her bosom]::George III: Go on. Look. Look. Go on. You might learn something.::[circles around Pembroke]::George III: Good arse too.::[rubs his behind against hers]::George III: And warm, eh, I'll bet. Ahh.

George III: Good evening, Mrs. King.::Queen Charlotte: Good evening, Mr. King.

Fox: Do you enjoy all this flummery, Mr. Pitt?::Pitt: No, Mr. Fox.::Fox: Do you enjoy anything, Mr. Pitt?::Pitt: A balance sheet, Mr. Fox. I enjoy a good balance sheet.

[Pitt has given the King some papers to sign]::George III: What is this? America, I suppose.::Pitt: No, sir.::George III: Oh, America's not to be spoken of, is that it?::Pitt: For your peace of mind, sir. But it's not America.::George III: Peace of mind! I have no peace of mind. I've had no peace of mind since we lost America. Forests, old as the world itself... meadows... plains... strange delicate flowers... immense solitudes... and all nature new to art... all ours... Mine. Gone. A paradise... lost.

[the King is reading his speech at the State Opening of Parliament]::George III: Whereas we, George III, in this year of our Lord 1788, do open this Parliament, giving notice that our will and pleasure is that the following bills shall be laid before this House. A bill for the regulation of trade with our possessions in North America...::[There is a reproving cough from Thurlow]::George III: Our *former* possessions in North America...

Thurlow: The cork's too tight in the bottle, that's the trouble. He must be the first King of England not to have a mistress.::Pitt: Fifteen children seem to me to indicate a certain conscientiousness in that regard.::Thurlow: I'm talking of pleasure, not duty.

The First Gentleman (1961)

Actors: Susannah York (actress), John Wood (actor), Charles Gray (actor), Jack Gwillim (actor), Viola Lyel (actress), Diana King (actress), Anne Tirard (actress), Hana Maria Pravda (actress), Dudley Jones (actor), Margaret Courtenay (actress), Edward Harvey (actor), Gerald Cross (actor), John Barcroft (actor), Mary Hignett (actress), Michael Meacham (actor),

Genres: Drama,

The First Gentleman (1948)

Actors: Jean-Pierre Aumont (actor), Tom Gill (actor), Hugh Griffith (actor), Cecil Parker (actor), Athene Seyler (actress), Nicholas Phipps (writer), Elizabeth Haffenden (costume designer), Alberto Cavalcanti (director), Margaretta Scott (actress), Gerard Heinz (actor), Joan Young (actress), Ronald Squire (actor), George Curzon (actor), Jack Livesey (actor), Reginald Long (writer),

Genres: Drama, History,

Mrs. Fitzherbert (1947)

Actors: Chili Bouchier (actress), Helen Haye (actress), Ralph Truman (actor), Mary Clare (actress), Montgomery Tully (director), Stanley Black (composer), Ivor Barnard (actor), Frederick Leister (actor), Barry Morse (actor), Montgomery Tully (writer), Henry Oscar (actor), John Stuart (actor), Margaretta Scott (actress), Eugene Deckers (actor), Leslie Banks (actor),

Genres: Drama, History,

The Young Mr. Pitt (1942)

Actors: Peter Gawthorne (actor), Raymond Lovell (actor), Herbert Lom (actor), Frederick Leister (actor), David Horne (actor), Aubrey Mallalieu (actor), Albert Lieven (actor), A. Bromley Davenport (actor), Felix Aylmer (actor), Alf Goddard (actor), Leslie Dwyer (actor), Leslie Bradley (actor), Leo Genn (actor), John Mills (actor), Gibb McLaughlin (actor),

Plot: William Pitt the Younger, son of a famous politician father, becomes the youngest Prime Minister England has ever known, wins an election on the promise of peace and prosperity, yet ironically ends up as the presiding spirit of an interminable war with Revolutionary France. Both his health and his private life suffer from the strain...

Keywords: character-name-in-title, napoleonic, period-in-title, william-wilberforce
Genres: Biography, Drama,