The Young Mr. Pitt

The year is 1783 and a new government is being formed in England. King George III appoints William Pitt as Prime Minister. Pitt is twenty four years old at the time. The members of Parliament refuse to take him seriously. The proposals of the young man do not pass. Pitt responds by calling a general election. He comes out of it the winner. That gives him the room to carry out his own programme. He works to put the country in order. He puts his weight behind rebuilding the navy. Meanwhile, across the sea, France is stirring. Napoleon Bonaparte sets about the conquest of Europe. From then on the work of Pitt is bound up with war. The film is about the youth of a statesman and the weight he carried. Robert Donat and Robert Morley appear in the hundred and eighteen minute film, a British production Carol Reed finished in 1942.