Fame Is the Spur Reviews

Loosely based on the life of labor leader Ramsay MacDonald, this adaptation of a "faction" novel (mixing fiction and fact) by Howard Spring doesn't quite hold together, but it does provide an interesting, albeit lengthy, look at the reasons why the Labor and Conservative parties often clash in Great Britain. Redgrave, a young man from the hard-hit North, decides to devote his life to the welfare of his fellow laborers. A sword picked up by his grandfather after it was used to slash workers at the Battle of Peterloo (1819) is his Excalibur. He becomes the British version of Willie Stark as he rouses the workers with rhetoric and finally winds up in Parliament as a Labor MP. Soon enough, he is seduced by the trappings of power, and when Labor takes over the government, the transformation is complete. His wife, John, is the one person who sees through his veneer but loves him anyhow. She is an interesting character, an early feminist who pays the penalty for her position by spending some time in the slammer. Redgrave begins sacrificing all his principles to keep his lofty position and, in the end, is rejected by a wise electorate and finally accepts a peerage. He becomes Lord Radshaw, an old fool who is barely able to express himself, the very kind of person he preached against in reel one. He attempts to lift his trademark sword while addressing a huge banquet, but it has rusted in its scabbard, a symbol of how his great dreams must have rusted as well. Bernard Miles does excellently as a shrewd plutocrat. Oddly enough, his life culminated in his becoming a life peer as well. He was made Lord Miles in 1979 for his dedication to British theater. (He originated the modern Mermaid Theatre.) Look hard for light comedian David Tomlinson in a small role as Lord Liskeard. Tomlinson's greatest US successes were in Disney's MARY POPPINS and BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS.