My Boy Jack (film)

{{Infobox television

| image = My Boy Jack.jpg

| image_upright = 1.0

| caption = DVD cover

| based_on = {{based on|My Boy Jack|David Haig}}

| writer = David Haig

| director = Brian Kirk

| starring = David Haig
Daniel Radcliffe
Kim Cattrall
Carey Mulligan
Julian Wadham

| music = Adrian Johnston

| country = United Kingdom

| language = English

| producer = Michael Casey

| editor = Tim Murrell

| cinematography = David Odd, B.S.C.

| runtime = 93 minutes

| network = ITV1

| released = {{Start date|2007|11|11|df=y}}

}}

My Boy Jack is a 2007 British biographical television film based on David Haig's 1997 play of the same name{{cite web |date=31 October 2007 |title=Period Drama / About the drama - ITV Drama |url=http://www.itv.com/Drama/perioddrama/MyBoyJack/Aboutthedrama/default.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071103061538/http://www.itv.com/Drama/perioddrama/MyBoyJack/Aboutthedrama/default.html |archive-date=2007-11-03 |access-date=23 August 2009 |publisher=ITV}} for ITV. It was filmed in August 2007, with Haig as Rudyard Kipling and Daniel Radcliffe as John Kipling.{{cite web |title=Masterpiece – My Boy Jack |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/myboyjack/credits.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080421102952/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/myboyjack/credits.html|archive-date=2008-04-21|publisher=PBS |url-status=dead |access-date=23 August 2009}} The American television premiere was on 20 April 2008 on PBS, with primetime rebroadcast on 27 March 2011. The film attracted about 5.7 million viewers on its original ITV broadcast in the UK on Remembrance Day, 11 November 2007.{{cite news |first=Chris |last=Tryhorn |title=ITV war drama recruits 5.7m viewers |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/nov/12/tvratings.television?gusrc=rss&feed=media |work=The Guardian |date=12 November 2007 |access-date=23 August 2009 | location=London}}

Background

My Boy Jack is based on the 1997 play by English actor David Haig. It tells the story of Rudyard Kipling and his grief for his son, John, who died in the First World War. The title comes from Kipling's poem of the same name.[http://home.clara.net/stevebrown/html/expeience_of_war/kipling_my_boy_jack.htm kipling my boy jack] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020305032538/http://home.clara.net/stevebrown/html/expeience_of_war/kipling_my_boy_jack.htm |date=5 March 2002 }}

The theatre piece played at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, in 2004. It then toured Oxford, Richmond, Brighton, Norwich, Cardiff and Cambridge, with the newly formed Haig Lang Productions.[http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/myboyjack-rev.htm The British Theatre Guide : Reviews - My Boy Jack (Theatre Royal, Nottingham, and touring] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207062552/http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/myboyjack-rev.htm |date=7 February 2012 }} In America, My Boy Jack has been performed under the title My Son Jack.[http://www.curtainup.com/mysonjack.html My Son Jack , a CurtainUp Los Angeles review]

Plot

As the Great War (World War I) begins, 17-year-old Jack Kipling (Daniel Radcliffe), the only son of the famous English writer and poet Rudyard Kipling, declares his intention to join the Royal Navy to fight against the Germans. The elder Kipling (Haig), who encourages him in his ambition, arranges several appointments for him to enlist in both the Army and Navy. However, when Jack's poor eyesight prevents him from passing the medical examinations, both he and his father are devastated. Determined, Rudyard uses his influence with the military establishment to eventually secure Jack an officer's commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Irish Guards.

Jack's mother, Carrie (Cattrall), and his sister, Elsie (Carey Mulligan), disapprove of this post, as they do not wish for him to go to the war. Jack, who proves to be a popular officer with his troops, undergoes military training and travels to France within six months. On his 18th birthday, Jack receives orders to lead his platoon into action on the following morning. During the Battle of Loos, Jack is posted missing in action and the Kipling family is informed by telegram. For three years, Jack's parents track down and interview surviving members of his platoon. One eventually confirms that Jack was killed in the Battle of Loos, shot by enemy gunfire, after losing his glasses in the mud during an assault on a German machine-gun post.

== Cast ==

David Haig as Rudyard Kipling
Daniel Radcliffe as John Kipling
Kim Cattrall as Caroline Kipling
Carey Mulligan as Elsie "Bird" Kipling
Martin McCann as Bowe
Julian Wadham as King George V
Richard Dormer as Corporal O'Leary
Ruaidhri Conroy as Guardsman McHugh
Laurence Kinlan as Guardsman Doyle
Nick Dunning as Colonel Ferguson
Bill Milner as Peter Carter
Peter Hanly as Major Sparks
Fred Ridgeway as Mr Frankland
Lucy Miller as Mrs Carter
Michael McElhatton as Leo Amery MP
Peter Gowen as H. A. Gwynne
Michael Grennel as Commander Egan
Ciaran Nolan as Daly
Sean O'Neil as Mr Relph
Bosco Hogan as Colonel Brooks
Adam Goodwin as Captain Bruce
Peter O'Meara as Captain Viney
John-Paul MacLeod as Ralph
David Heap as Colonel Hayden
Billy Gibson as Maitland
Robbie Kay as Authur Relph
Fred Ridgeway as Hobdon
Chris McHallem as Mr Lieuenthal
Jason Maza as Journalist

Filming

Filmed on location in Counties Laois and Kildare, Ireland with one scene in the Olympia Theatre, Dublin. Exterior scenes for film were shot at Bateman's, the 17th-century house that was Kipling's home from 1902 to his death in 1936, which is now a National Trust property.{{cite web|title=Masterpiece: My Boy Jack|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/myboyjack/credits.html|work=Cast, Production Credits, Web Credits|publisher=PBS|access-date=14 April 2013|year=2008}}{{cite web|title=David Haig on My Boy Jack|url=http://www.memorabletv.com/interviews/david-haig-on-my-boy-jack/|publisher=Memorable TV|access-date=14 April 2013|date=6 June 2012}}{{dead link|date=February 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Reviews

Reviews of the film were generally positive. The aggregate Metacritic score was 78/100, with positive reviews from Entertainment Weekly, the Boston Globe, Variety, the Orlando Sentinel, the New York Post, The Hollywood Reporter, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Chicago Tribune, and with more negative reviews from Philadelphia Daily News, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.{{cite web|title=My Boy Jack reviews at Metacritic.com |url=https://www.metacritic.com/tv/shows/myboyjack |publisher=Metacritic |access-date=23 August 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090613004013/http://www.metacritic.com/tv/shows/myboyjack |archive-date=13 June 2009 }} Several reviews took note of Daniel Radcliffe's starring role as Jack.{{cite news |title=TV War Role for Potter Star |url=http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/showbiz/article-23364916-details/TV+war+role+for+Potter+star/article.do |work=London Evening Standard |location=London, England |date=29 August 2006 |access-date=23 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090321073027/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/showbiz/article-23364916-details/TV+war+role+for+Potter+star/article.do |archive-date=21 March 2009 |url-status=dead }}{{cite news|url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117936782.html?categoryid=32&cs=1|title=My Boy Jack Review|last=Lowry|first=Brian|publisher=Variety|access-date=23 August 2009|date=11 April 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081012170345/http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117936782.html?categoryid=32&cs=1|archive-date=12 October 2008|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/18/DDBK1056K5.DTL|title=Son goes to war in 'My Boy Jack'|last=Wiegand|first=David|date=19 April 2008|publisher=San Francisco Chronicle|access-date=23 August 2009}} Both Radcliffe and Haig were generally well-received,{{cite news|url=https://ew.com/article/2008/04/11/my-boy-jack/|title=My Boy Jack|last=Flynn|first=Gillian|date=11 April 2008|publisher=Entertainment Weekly|access-date=23 August 2009}} though Kim Cattrall received mixed reviews for her performance as Jack's mother.{{cite news|first=Ginia|last=Bellafante |title=A Different Kind of Kipling Adventure q |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/arts/television/18mast.html?_r=1&ref=arts&oref=slogin |work=The New York Times |date=18 April 2008|page=E1 |access-date=23 August 2009}}{{cite news|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/television/reviews/article_display.jsp?JSESSIONID=3frNLLYQBqJcp2QZHKqbT6BBjzLJZSvBLKNFJxVSrCZDpPh15B2N!-1776076722&&rid=10975 |title=My Boy Jack |last=Vittes |first=Laurence |date=18 April 2008 |work=The Hollywood Reporter |access-date=23 August 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080620014445/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/television/reviews/article_display.jsp?JSESSIONID=3frNLLYQBqJcp2QZHKqbT6BBjzLJZSvBLKNFJxVSrCZDpPh15B2N!-1776076722&&rid=10975 |archive-date=20 June 2008 }}{{cite news|url=http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2008/04/the-british-emp.html|title=Thoughts on the British Empire, both tragic and comic |last=Ryan|first=Maureen|date=17 April 2008|publisher=Chicago Tribune|access-date=23 August 2009}}