Oh! What a Lovely War

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Oh! What a Lovely War ★★½ 1969

Scathing musical recreation of British soldiers in WWI using the era's popular songs and presenting the story as a music hall review as seen through the eyes of the working-class Smith family. All their sons are seduced into enlisting and get killed, while the generals and the politicians are safely behind the lines or complaining at home. Attenborough's directorial debut features an all-star cast but comes off as somewhat disjointed and obvious due to its adaptation from a stage production. Filmed on location in and around Brighton. 144m/C DVD . GB Colin Farrell, John Rae, Corin Redgrave, Maurice Roeves, Kim Smith, Angela Thorne, Mary Wimbush, Paul Daneman, Laurence Olivier, Michael Redgrave, Vanessa Redgrave, John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson, Maggie Smith, Susannah York, John Mills, Isabel Dean, Vincent Ball, Christian Doermer, Robert Flemyng, Ian Holm, David Lodge, Guy Middleton, Juliet Mills, Nanette Newman, Cecil Parker, Natasha Parry, Gerald Sim, Thorley Walters, Penelope Allen, Michael Bates, Edward Fox, Peter Gilmore, Ben Howard, Dirk Bogarde, Phyllis Calvert, Jean-Pierre Cassel, John Clements, Jack Hawkins, Kenneth More, Jane Seymour, Pippa Steele, Wendy Alnutt, Malcolm McFee, Paul Shelley; D: Richard Attenborough; W: Len Deighton; C: Gerry Turpin; M: Alfred Ralston. British Acad. ‘69: Art Dir./Set Dec., Cinematog., Costume Des., Support. Actor (Olivier); Golden Globes ‘70: Foreign Film.