Mosley (1998) User Reviews (7)

Interesting insight into a much reviled man - but was it biased?

[Vondaz · 8/10 · 22 January 2013]

I knew little of Oswald Mosley before watching this drama, other than he headed the British Union of Fascists and therefore must be an awful man - after all there's a good reason why fascism doesn't last long in civilised societies.

However, the drama paints Mosley in a very flattering light:

• a war veteran with desires to prevent another Great War where those safe in war rooms plot the deaths of so many men.

• a man who can see that for Britain to succeed it needs to remove itself from the grips of the old men who had taken her to where she was (a failing empire).

• a man not tied to a political party regardless of policy, but willing to change allegiances to achieve the ultimate aim of a Great(er) Britain

So far so good. I was even nodding at some of his economic growth ideas and admiring his oratory skills. I found myself wondering where is this evil racist that everyone despises? Even his philandering/bed hopping and associating with the Italian fascists and German Nazis didn't make him to be that bad - after all he had openly stated he was not anti Semitic and no harm would come to the Jews.

Then all of a sudden in the last 20 minutes he turns into a foaming at the mouth racist condemning the Jews - all because of a brief debate with Joyce. And even then it was almost like he was forced into it because of political ambition.

And that is why I question this drama's bias. Was it written to present the truth about Mosley or as an attempt to persuade people that he was a poor maligned and misunderstood man who wanted nothing but good for his country?

Whatever its purpose it has resulted in my researching him myself to make up my own mind. Which is no bad thing for a drama, provided people do not take it as gospel.

A Black Eye On A Blackshirt

[CharlesPeterWatson · 8/10 · 14 January 2005]

This biographical/somewhat propagandist perspective of Sir Thomas 'Oswald' Mosley portrays Mosley as a "young man in a hurry" by day and a lecherous womanizing tomcat by night. Rebel with just cause(s), Mosley is transported from soldier to statesman to soldier, making marks in three political parties before finalizing to his own Fascist Party, presented much like a new reformer in an unreformed nation and with detailed programming that makes the film look much like a Biography Channel or History Channel-produced movie suitable for the Public Broadcasting System, Sundance and Independent Film Channels, or even late-night basic cable. But the movie does pose an image of an aristocratic hypocrite (He speaks as a Labour rep for lower working classes while dress in ritzy upper class garb and living at a manor house) or a contradiction usurer ("spheres A&B"), strewn with incidents of conflict with everybody he likes, loves, or respects. Mosley gets what he wants but doesn't get everything he needed.

Flawed, but interesting.

[tyrssen · 7/10 · 26 November 2007]

As former head of the American Fascist Party, I know a thing or two about Fascism and its roots in Mosley's BUF. Mr. Cake portrays Mosley as a smarmy lounge-lizard much of the time, which is totally inaccurate; he does, however, shine brilliantly during the Albert Hall speech. Fascism and its policies (and internal difficulties) are portrayed accurately, if somewhat superficially; few people know that the BUF was a promoter of peace and "England First." In spite of some truly dreadful casting (Hitler and Goebbels are nearly unrecognizable) the film is, at least, better than nothing. The depiction of the "Battle of Cable Street" is exciting and well done. Worth buying.

Excellent. But a couple of questions....

[Graunch · 9/10 · 9 February 2002]

Possible spoilers

I knew about Mosley, or at least I thought I did. I knew he was leader of the British Union of Fascists before the war, and I knew he was interned when the war broke out as a potential traitor. I had no idea he had been such a high profile politician in Parlaiment before he became a fascist, nor that he had been a radical socialist.

This TV movie was an excellent dramtisation of his life from the end of WW1 to the start of WW2. For someone who ended up leading a fascist party, he comes across as a very sympathetic character in the first half. It is with an effort that one remembers what he turned into. The decline into intolerance, and fascism comes in the final thirty minutes or so. Johnathan Cake gives a fine performance, as do all the rest of the cast. I can't think of anyone who gave a bad one.

The writers, Marks and Gran, give a very balanced view of the man, but there are a couple of points I wish they had explored more deeply. When he was in Berlin, we see him meeting Hitler. The two men obviously thought little of each other. I could have done with a bit more information about this. And there is a scene where Mosely witnesses Nazi brownshirts bullying an old Jewish woman. He looks at the scene with horror. What does this signify? I wish the writers had elaborated.

That said, this makes excellent viewing. Worth an evening of your time.

Resonably Good Portrayal of A Great Politician

[Jmhl3 · 13 August 2006]

This program charts the political career of Sir Oswald Mosley. It was a very good program but there is nothing much to say as the other reviewers have said it most of the good things already. But the program did have its flaws. It was a fairly good portrayal of Mosley's political and private life including his tackling of the unemployment problem, his views on the Irish question, what made him "cross the floor", his embracement of fascism etc. Although there were several unnecessary sex scenes which added a sort of cheapness to the film, also the ending was very rushed. For instance it missed out the abdication crisis (Mosley was a supporter and personal friend of Edward VIII). Winston Churchill is shown as Mosley's enemy whereas both men were friends. The program was good in pointing out that Mosley was never an anti-semite and that William Joyce aka "Lord Haw-Haw" briefly turned him into one. Perhaps a nice touch would be that as Mosley is in prison Joyce comes on the radio with his far fetched tales of how the Nazi's are going to win the war. The program had been very pro Mosley but had to be ruined by an anti Mosley and very rushed ending as I have said before. Do not let this put you off a very good program like this. Just know the facts before you view.

Mosley

[a_baron · 10/10 · 2 September 2020]

This excellent dramatisation did not go down at all well when it was first screened because of its apparently sympathetic portrayal of one of the most notorious characters in British politics. The fact that it was written by two Jews irked the usual suspects even more. Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran are better known as comedy writers, though for his sins Marks was also Pipe Smoker Of The Year, 1990.

Although "Mosley" is indeed sympathetic to Sir Oswald, this is due entirely to Marks and Gran putting aside whatever prejudices or preconceptions they may have had and following the historical record, which is often at variance from public perception and media portrayal, as Donald Trump supporters have discovered since 2016.

The research that went into "Mosley" is impressive; it shows how rather than being any kind of anti-Semite he turned to exploiting anti-Semitism after his supporters were persistently attacked by Communist Jews and fellow travellers when he finally lost patience with mainstream politics forming first the New Party and then the BUF. His primary concern as a regular politician was economics, and it is clear from his writings that he understood at least to a degree the defects of the current financial system, one that has not changed significantly to this day in spite of Bretton Woods and the IMF.

"Mosley" shows too the first cause he championed, namely that of the Irish who were brutalised by the Black And Tans, in fact, in 1958, a period not covered by this mini-series, Mosley published a pamphlet called "Ireland's Right To Unite".

Like Donald Trump, Mosley was born into privilege but identified more with the working man than with the elites, even though unlike Trump he was not an outsider. That is where the similarities end though because Mosley entered politics as a young man, one in a hurry. Had he not been so impetuous, history may have been kinder to him, but few authors will be kinder than Marks and Gran.