David Lean's great war/anti war epic

Rating: 10/10 (25 March 2008)

This large scale film has the finest actors who give their very best performances. Strange, because I read recently that Lean did not get on very well with his actors and they didn't care much for him personally. Also strange then that Alec Guinness, for one, kept coming back for more. I can't really add much more about the qualities of this piece, as a cinematic experience, that hasn't already been said by others except to say that I think it's a "must see" if not already seen. It has been argued as to whether this is a war film or an anti-war film. Thinking about some of the exchanges between William Holden and Jack Hawkins (futile British heroics etc.) and the very last spoken words in the film ( James Donald : "Madness!....Madness!") I myself have no doubts.