Oh! What a Lovely War

Plot synopsis:
Oh! What A Lovely War summarises and comments on the events of the First World War using popular songs of the time, many of which were parodies of older popular songs, and using allegorical settings such as Brighton's West Pier to criticise the manner in which the eventual victory was won.
The diplomatic manoeuvrings and events involving those in authority are set in a fantasy location inside the pierhead pavilion, far from the trenches. In the opening scene various Foreign Ministers, generals and Heads of State walk over a huge map of Europe, reciting actual words spoken by these figures at the time. An unnamed photographer takes a picture of Europe's rulers – after handing two red poppies to the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, the Duchess of Hohenberg, he takes their picture, 'assassinating' them as the flash goes off. Many of the heads of state enjoy good personal relations and are reluctant to go to war: a tearful Emperor Franz Josef declares war on Serbia after being deceived by his Foreign Minister, whilst Czar Nicholas II and Kaiser Wilhelm II are shown as unable to overrule their countries' military mobilisation schedules. The German invasion of Belgium leaves Sir Edward Grey little choice but to get involved. Italy reneges on her alliance with the Central Powers (she joined the Allies in 1915) but Turkey joins them instead.
The start of the war in 1914 is shown as a parade of optimism. The protagonists are an archetypal British family of the time, the Smiths, who are shown entering Brighton's West Pier, with General Haig selling tickets – the film later follows the young Smith men through their experiences in the trenches. A military band rouses holidaymakers from the beach to rally round and follow – some even literally boarding a bandwagon. The first Battle of Mons is similarly cheerfully depicted yet more realistic in portrayal. Both scenes are flooded in pleasant sunshine.
When the casualties start to mount, a theatre audience is rallied by singing "Are We Downhearted? No!" A chorus line dressed in frilled yellow dresses, recruits a volunteer army with "We don't want to lose you, but we think you ought to go". A music hall star (Maggie Smith) then enters a lone spotlight, and lures the still doubtful young men in the audience into "taking the King's Shilling" by singing about how every day she 'walks out' with different men in uniform, and that "On Saturday I'm willing, if you'll only take the shilling, to make a man of any one of you." The young men take to the stage and are quickly moved offstage and into military life, and the initially alluring music hall singer is depicted on close-up as a coarse, over-made-up harridan.
The red poppy crops up again as a symbol of impending death, often being handed to a soldier about to be sent to die. These scenes are juxtaposed with the pavilion, now housing the top military brass. There is a scoreboard (a dominant motif in the original theatre production) showing the loss of life and 'yards gained'.
Outside, Sylvia Pankhurst (Vanessa Redgrave) is shown addressing a hostile crowd on the futility of war, upbraiding them for believing everything they read in the newspapers. She is met with catcalls and jeered off her podium.
1915 is depicted as darkly contrasting in tone. Many shots of a parade of wounded men illustrate an endless stream of grim, hopeless faces. Black humour among these soldiers has now replaced the enthusiasm of the early days. "There's a Long, Long Trail a-Winding" captures the new mood of despair, depicting soldiers filing along in torrential rain in miserable conditions. Red poppies provide the only bright colour in these scenes. In a scene of British soldiers drinking in an estaminet, a chanteuse (Pia Colombo) leads them in a jolly chorus of "The Moon Shines Bright on Charlie Chaplin", a reworking of an American song then shifts the mood back to darker tone by singing a soft and sombre version of "Adieu la vie". At the end of the year, amidst more manoeuvres in the pavilion, General (later Field Marshal) Douglas Haig replaces Field Marshal Sir John French as Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces. Haig is then mocked by Australian troops who see him inspecting British soldiers; they sing "They were only playing Leapfrog" to the tune of "John Brown".
An interfaith religious service is held in a ruined abbey. A priest tells the gathered soldiers that each religion has endorsed the war by way of allowing soldiers to eat pork if Jewish, meat on Fridays if Catholic, and work through the sabbath if in service of the war for all religions. He also says the Dalai Lama has blessed the war effort.
1916 passes and the film's tone darkens again. The songs contain contrasting tones of wistfulness, stoicism, and resignation; including "The Bells of Hell Go Ting-a-ling-a-ling", "If The Sergeant Steals Your Rum, Never Mind" and "Hanging on the Old Barbed Wire". The wounded are laid out in ranks at the field station, a stark contrast to the healthy rows of young men who entered the War. The camera often lingers on Harry Smith's silently suffering face.
The Americans arrive, but are shown only in the 'disconnected reality' of the pavilion, interrupting the deliberations of the British generals by singing "Over There" with the changed final line: "And we won't come back – we'll be buried over there!" The resolute-looking American captain seizes the map from an astonished Haig.
Jack notices with disgust that after three years of fighting, he is literally back where he started, at Mons. As the Armistice is sounding, Jack is the last one to die. There is a splash of red which at first glance appears to be blood, but which turns out to be yet another poppy out of focus in the foreground. Jack's spirit wanders through the battlefield, and he eventually finds himself in the room where the elder statesmen of Europe are drafting the coming peace - but they are oblivious to his presence. Jack finally finds himself on a tranquil hillside, where he joins his friends for a lie down on the grass, where their figures morph into crosses. The film closes with a long slow pan out that ends in a dizzying aerial view of countless soldiers' graves, as the voices of the dead sing "We'll Never Tell Them" (a parody of the Jerome Kern song "They Didn't Believe Me").

Tags: anti war, satire

Review:
It is truly a masterpiece of acting and direction, and without doubt the best anti-war film I have ever seen.
Yet it was never released on video, and it took over 20 years of waiting to see it repeated on television and tape it for my collection.It is all the more telling for its simplicity - none of the many great actors taking part delivers a weighty pronouncement on the evils - or otherwise - of war; it is enough to see the awful toll posted on the cricket scoreboard that keeps the daily tally of dead.
The ordinariness of the Smith family, who lose every last one of their young men to the conflict, the cheerful patriotism of the proud families waving their loved ones off to war, and the stupid banalities of the officers who daily send their men out to be killed only serve to highlight the absolute futility and waste of WWI and all the wars that followed.
Scenes of upper class twits at play while their servants are dying to preserve their privileges; the officers' ball where military leaders try to score points off each other, concerned only with protocol and promotion; and the brilliant black humor of the outdoor church service are juxtaposed with scenes from the trenches as we watch the young men die one by one, all the more harrowing for their cheeky humor and fatalism.Why this brilliant film has been allowed to sink without trace is baffling; I first saw it in the early seventies, and today it still has the same impact.
The Smith family stands for the nation, and the film follows several young Smith men through their experiences in the trenches, most notably Freddy (Malcolm McFee), Harry (Colin Farrell) and George (Maurice Roeves).The opening sequence, set in a wrought-iron Nowhere, tries to explain the diplomatic chicanery which (allegedly) caused the Great War.
Atruly great anti war film adapted brilliantly from Joan Greenwood'stheater piece by Richard Attenborough, OH WHAT A LOVELY WAR deserves tobe seen today by a new generation of filmgoers.
The film is obviously Anti War and wastes no opportunity to make pointed comments at the Masters of War. The cavalier attitude to Death is emphasised when one leader reads out the figures of "Casualties-201447 privates and officers killed yesterday.Ground gained-NIL" This movie says more about the futility of War than any other.
What struck me most about the film was Maggie Smith's remarkable transformation as she was at first an alluring young girl,- the Music Hall star as recruiting agent - the epitome of that era's romantic glorification of Going To Do Battle,then as the blood and death became evident, her character was transformed into a painted, ravaged whore.The heart-rending ending aside,the acres and acres of crosses dotting a hillside,her symbolism is what stays with us.My sister's-in-law first husband was next to Rudyard Kipling's son when he got blown up,and the sensitivity and denial of that time was such that the Kipling family only received notice that their son was "lost".This film managed to show just that attitude.And-- it resonates in today's view of the current lost cause..
Some scenes do not come off as they were probably intended - a difficulty when trying to use allegory and allusion to make a point.If you have not seen it - find it and watch it.If you get a chance to see the play - which I found much more direct in its anti war sentiment - definitely go and see it..
The film concerns the adventures of the "Smith" family as they become involved in the start and finish of World War One. The cinematography is beautiful and the performances all around are perfect.
On the other side of the Atlantic, meanwhile, Britons preferred "Great War" until the 1940s—with the notable exception of Winston Churchill, who reminisced about the "World War" in the 1927 volume of his memoir "The World Crisis."This is one of my Favourite Anti-War films I disagree with a previous poster saying the first "Act" of the film was boring and unnecessary and was on the heavy sideI think the opposite it sets the film up it gives us the information we need to set the movie in context and as for using heavyweights like Gieguld,Richardson,More,Holm,Hawkins,Olivier,Redgrave,Mills, again it sets the perfect tone the correct amount of light and dark.
This film is "Dr. Strangelove" caliber, but it's a musical, using the patriotic tunes of the day with the sarcastic alternate lyrics that the troops themselves created.Kudos go to first-time director (now Lord) Richard Attenborough, and a stellar cast that was essentially the British Pantheon, circa 1969.I have never seen anything remotely like this, and I doubt if I ever will again.
The original stage production had made a deep impression on John Mills, and it seems as though he, Olivier, Attenborough, Gilegud, Richardson and probably most of the rest of the star-studded cast thought they simply had to make this film, and it shows...(Yes, actual personal commitment, what a concept..)The subject is how the British nation were sold a war, and how the British military command refused to realize it when it became disastrous, and continued to waste thousands of lives to no purpose.
This great film dramatizes in song and dance the events leading up to World War I and the human tragedy that resulted.
I have had the original cast recording of the stage musical upon which the movie is based since the '70s and this film does it justice.
A clever piece of work, this film - Richard Attenborough's first as director and an adaptation of the production by Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop - considers the pure futility and waste of World War One by presenting it as a 'war game' based in and around Brighton; on the West Pier, atop a Helter Skelter, etc.The central characters are the Smith family - several sons and nephews, a grandad, mother, wives and younger children.
What a Lovely War manages to be daring, funny, and moving, and boasts a starry set of cameos including Olivier, Gielgud, Richardson, Maggie Smith, Dirk Bogarde, Kenneth More, Ian Holm, and Vanessa Redgrave.
Poppies play their part, as well they might, to indicate the scale of loss of life; and a final tracking shot on the Sussex Downs attempts to give some indication of the wanton destruction of 'cannon fodder' by the powers-that-be.As a pure war film, this would never work.
Richard Attenborough's (1969) film of Charles Chilton's play is set in north west Europe during World War I.For somebody who by 1969 was only 13, this film seemed to me a radical departure for the director who had portrayed Big X - Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett (eclipsed only by Steve McQueen's epic motorcycle leap) in 'The Great Escape' only six years earlier.His most successful war film to date had already begun to populate bank holiday Monday viewing on BBC TV to the exclusion of all others.Pre-figuring the uncomfortable mixture of contemporary songs juxtaposed with authentic realism - which became the hallmark of the later work of Denis Potter - it marked a coming of age of the romantic notion that war was 'absolutely thrilling' and the best thing that ever happened to some people.This film lifts us up with all the fun of the fair, to drop us unceremoniously onto the platform of Victoria Station aboard a boat-train for The Somme.It's a powerful film, which somehow manages to celebrate the songs which grew out of the spirit of ordinary people bound up in the conflict, while at the same time leaving us in no doubt where it was all heading.Bitter-sweet and evocative of the spirit of the times in represents..
There are some memorable scenes: the face of the now-voiceless Jack Hawkins as the Austrian emperor, the officers playing leapfrog, and finally the rows upon rows of gravestones at the end to make the audience ask :"for what?" The film is well shot, and is a very good directorial debut for Richard Attenborough..
I found it to be one of the most moving films I've ever seen, particularly the ending where the dead melt into the ground to the haunting Jerome Kern song "They Didn't Believe Me." The idea of WW1 as a sort of amusement park a la Coney Island allows for some stirring & funny scenes such as the gung-ho arrival of the untried American forces to the tune of "Over There." Everybody, demand that this great film be released on VHS or DVD!.
A star studded cast in the greatest musical satire ever, reason it has feeling, emotion and laughs and shows an accurate portrayal of life for soldiers in World War 1.
The musical parodies are staged inventively, some quite moving - "They Were Only Playing Leap Frog", "Adieu la Vie" and the final "They'll Never Believe Me" which is sung as the camera pans back to reveal the endless graves of the soldiers who lost their lives in World War One. There is a lot of `symbolism'.
The musical parodies are staged inventively, some quite moving - "They Were Only Playing Leap Frog", "Adieu la Vie" and the final "They'll Never Believe Me" which is sung as the camera pans back to reveal the endless graves of the soldiers who lost their lives in World War One. There is a lot of `symbolism'.
I have heard that it is not available on DVD or tape anywhere (including England) because of restrictions in the will of Joan Littlewood, the original author of the stage musical upon which the film was based.
I was under the impression that the musical numbers featured in the film were written for the stage show which inspired it: interestingly, they're really a collection of songs that were popular around the time of World War I - notably sarcastic ditties 'improvised' by the soldiers to take their minds off the grueling experiences on the battlefields; best of all, perhaps, is a sequence in which a popular hymn is sung simultaneously by a church gathering and an army troop (with the latter replacing the verses altogether to give it their typically cynical and anarchic perspective!).Production values are top-notch but the overall structure, though generally admirably transferred to the screen, remains somewhat disjointed - the film coming across too often as a series of revue sketches which alternate between the cheerfully jingoistic (Maggie Smith's stirring recruiting song), the broadly comic (as in the scenes involving John Mills' fanatical yet foolhardy Commander) and the immensely poignant (the wonderful sequence in which hostilities mutually cease over Christmas and the soldiers of both sides decide to meet in No Man's Land in order to share drinks and each other's company, not to mention the famous closing tracking shot over the endless graveyard), or else serve merely as expository passages (as in the recurring stylized pier scenes where the leaders of the various countries - among them Ralph Richardson, John Gielgud, Jack Hawkins and Ian Holm - are seen converging to examine the progress of the war)..
I wonder if, by fast forwarding, I missed one of the most effective "music hall" songs from the Joan Littlewood original (I saw that wonderful and powerful production in London many years ago).
The songs are memorable, sing-along-able, and the acting by that incredible cast is, naturally, incredible.It does help to know the real history of the period...the symbolism of the red poppy, the obscene politics of the period, the insanely bad judgement of generals, war ministers, just about everyone involved in the "running" of the war.
This allegorical musical based on the British view of World War I found a friendly audience in America which was going through the Vietnam war protests at the time it got to the big screen in 1969.
It had run on Broadway for 125 performances in the 1964-65 season.One of the things that director Richard Attenborough did is populate the cast of the major war figures with some of the biggest names in British cinema.
That certainly guaranteed a bit of box office for him, but I also think that Attenborough being a very well liked man he was able to get people like Laurence Olivier, Michael Redgrave, John Mills, and Ralph Richardson and many others for probably less than the usual going rate.The musical numbers however were done by a cast of unknown folks for the most part.
Richard Attenborough's (1969) film of Charles Chilton's play is set in north west Europe during World War I.For somebody who by 1969 was only 13, this film seemed to me a radical departure for the director who had portrayed Big X - Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett (eclipsed only by Steve McQueen's epic motorcycle leap) in 'The Great Escape' only six years earlier.His most successful war film to date had already begun to populate bank holiday Monday veiwing on BBC TV to the exclusion of all others.Pre-figuring the uncomfortable mixture of contemporary songs juxtaposed with authentic realism - which became the hallmark of the later work of Denis Potter - it marked a coming of age of the romantic notion that war was 'absolutely thrilling' and the best thing that ever happened to some people.This film lifts us up with all the fun of the fair, to drop us unceremoniously onto the platform of Victoria Station aboard a boat-train for The Somme.It's a powerful film, which somehow manages to celebrate the songs which grew out of the spirit of ordinary people bound up in the conflict, while at the same time leaving us in no doubt where it was all heading.Bitter-sweet and evocative of the spirit of the times in represents..
However, in its day it spoke to me about anti-war and the futility of youth (grunts) versus elderly (generals).The songs are altered to highlight the futility of the time.This got me hooked on Richard Attenborough as a director..
For those who are anti-all war, this is a great film that speaks to their point of view.
No doubt people saw the film as an analogy to the Vietnam War at the time of its release.
Richard Attenborough's directorial debut, this brilliant satirical musical is a scathing exploration of the futility of war and a fascinating exploration of the affect that it has on ordinary people, both soldiers and those on the home front.
Based on the 1963 stage play of the same name by Joan Littlewood which was itself based on the radio play "The Long Long Trail" by Charles Chilton of "Journey into Space" fame, it is a highly stylised depiction of World War I which uses the extremely catchy music hall songs of the period to great effect.
It also features great appearances from John Gielgud, Kenneth More, Ian Holm and Maggie Smith, among many others.Overall, this is one of the best anti-war films and best musicals that I have ever seen.
I was astonished to find out this was Richard Attenborough's directorial debut - it seemed as well directed as any, and better than some, long-time directors.The film begins on pier where the start of the war is heralded by the public like some sort of carnival, before degenerating into the bleak, shell-shocked atmosphere we've come to associate with both World Wars.
Veddy British in its themes, it has a music hall feel about it, and the individual sequences are more interesting than the film as a whole.Stunningly photographed, this documents the events of what was to become known as "the great war", one that is greatly overshadowed by the memory of its sequel yet had a tremendous impact on Europe and lead to many changes, not only in the map of the world, but how governments were run.
This is a Richard Attenborough film.Too long,sledgehammering its point home,running off in all different directions,lots of his "luvvie" friends in small ("but very telling dear")parts,much given to patronising its audience with vaguely anti-Establishment statements and treating the working class like rather dim children in a Nativity Play.
WHAT A LOVELY WAR is Richard Attenborough's lavish, colourful, all-star-cast feature film version of the popular Broadway stage musical satire of WW1.
The first film directed by Sir Richard Attenborough tells the story of world war one,in a most unusual way,based on a stage play by Joan Littlewood.The story of the war is told through music hall songs and hymns of the period.The politics of the war all take place on Brighton pier.The film is full of the best British actors and actress's of the period Laurence Olivier,John Mills and Maggie Smith to name a few.The film introduces a mythical "Smith family" whoose males join up King and country.The trench scenes are well done,the flea bitten soldiers drinking tea,and talking,showing how comradeship can unite the men.The Christmas truce of 1915 where unofficially troops of both sides meet in no mans land exchange cigarettes and a drop of the hard stuff is touching.Memorable too is Maggie Smith encouraging volunteers to enlist is excellently done.The two scenes that stand out for me is the church service where the officers sing the right words to the hymn,"What a friend we have in Jesus" whilst a solo singer sings his own words amusing and bitter at the same time.The ending is simply overwhelming,showing the true cost of the war to end all wars.A film for the serious film fan,a gem of a film that makes you think,and tests your emotions..
The film attempts to tell the horrendous story of how World War One unfolded with biting satire and through staging a series of musical numbers with their origins in British history at the time.
DIR: Richard Attenborough.*Theme- War is not good for people or other living things...(except when it's defensive and necessary).*Trivia/location/goofs- Every time a poppy is seen someone dies, beginning with the photographer giving poppies to Grand Duke Ferdinand at the start of the film.