All the King's Men 1999

views updated

All the King's Men ★★½ 1999

In 1915, Frank Beck (Jason), the manager of the royal estate of Sandringham, trains a company of servants to be volunteer soldiers. Unfortunately, the raw recruits are posted to the disaster of Gallipoli and a battle against the Turks. The true fate of the company was unknown for many years and their disappearance became the stuff of myth (recent discoveries proved much grimmer) but the storyline is muddled and it's not easy to distinguish one youthful character from another (although the veterans do a notable job). Based on the novel by Nigel McCrery. 110m/C VHS, DVD . GB David Jason, Maggie Smith, Stuart Bunce, William Ash, James Murray, Sonya Walger, Eamon Boland, David Troughton, Emma Cunniffe, Adam Kotz, Patrick Malahide, Ed Waters, Tom Burke, Ben Crompton, Jo Stone-Fewings, James Hillier, Ian McDiarmid, Phyllis Logan; D: Julian Jarrold; W: Alma Cullen; C: David Odd; M: Adrian Johnston. TV