Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
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73% of users liked it
(749 ratings)
Oh! What a Lovely War is an every-man-for-himself adaptation of Charles Chilton's 1963 play, as staged in London by Joan Littlewood. The tragedy of World War I is redefined in bawdy music-hall terms, beginning with a verbal free-for-all involving the Crowned Heads of Europe. The war is presented… More Oh! What a Lovely War is an every-man-for-himself adaptation of Charles Chilton's 1963 play, as staged in London by Joan Littlewood. The tragedy of World War I is redefined in bawdy music-hall terms, beginning with a verbal free-for-all involving the Crowned Heads of Europe. The war is presented as the "new attraction" at the Brighton Amusement Pier, complete with syrupy cheer-up songs, shooting galleries, free prizes and a scoreboard toting up the dead. Throughout the proceedings, the camera concentrates on a middle-class family, whose five sons end up as cannon fodder. The final image is a veddy proper British picnic on a graveyard. Of the many fleeting satiric images parading past the camera, one of the most indelible is the sight of several generals playing leapfrog as the world all around them goes to hell in a handbasket. The awesome all-star cast includes Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Maggie Smith, John Gielgud, Michael Redgrave, Jack Hawkins, John Mills, Susannah York, Dirk Bogarde and Phyllis Calvert. We haven't seen this many Englishmen in one place since the last Wimbledon match. The whole affair was supervised by Richard Attenborough, making his directorial debut (a question: why was he up to the challenge of this musical extravaganza, yet seemed helpless in the face of 1985's A Chorus Line?). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Directed By
- Richard Attenborough
- Written By
- Charles Chilton, Len Deighton
- Genres
- Drama, Musical & Performing Arts, Classics
- In Theaters
- Oct 3, 1969 Wide
- Studio
- Paramount Pictures
Critic Reviews
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Wesley Lovell, Cinema Sight
An anti-war musical whose originality has never been successfully repeated.
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Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Remains the most interesting and daring film Attenborough ever made.
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Cast
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Ralph Richardson
as Sir Edward Grey
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Meriel Forbes
as Lady Grey
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Wensley Pithey
as Archduke Franz Ferdinand
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Ruth Kettlewell
as Duchess Sophie
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Ian Holm
as President Poincare
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John Gielgud
as Count Berchtold
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Kenneth More
as Kaiser Wilhelm II
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Paul Daneman
as Nicholas II
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Joe Melia
as Photographer
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Jack Hawkins
as Emperor Franz Josef
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Kim Smith
as Dickie Smith
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Mary Wimbush
as Mary Smith
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Paul Shelley
as Jack Smith
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Wendy Allnutt
as Flo Smith
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John Rae
as Grandpa Smith
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Corin Redgrave
as Bertie Smith
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Colin Farrell
as Harry Smith
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Maurice Roëves
as George Smith
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Angela Thorne
as Betty Smith
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John Mills
as Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig
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Jean-Pierre Cassel
as French Colonel
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Maggie Smith
as Music Hall Star
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David Lodge
as Recruiting Sergiant
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Michael Redgrave
as General Sir Henry Wilson
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Laurence Olivier
as Field Marshal Sir John French
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Peter Gilmore
as Private Burgess
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Juliet Mills
as First Nurse At Station
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Nanette Newman
as Second Nurse At Station
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Susannah York
as Eleanor
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Dirk Bogarde
as Stephen
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Cecil Parker
as Sir John
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Robert Flemyng
as Staff Officer
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Isabel Dean
as Sir John French's Lady
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Guy Middleton
as Gen. Sir. Wm. Robertson
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Natasha Parry
as Sir Wm. Robertson's Lady
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Norman Shelley
as Staff Officer
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Thorley Walters
as Staff Officer
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Phyllis Calvert
as Lady Haig
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Vanessa Redgrave
as Sylvia Pankhurst
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Clifford Mollison
as First Heckler
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Harry Locke
as Third Heckler
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Michael Bates
as Drunken Corporal
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Vincent Ball
as Australian Singer
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Gerald Sim
as Clergyman
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Dorothy Reynolds
as Second Heckler
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Marianne Stone
as 2nd Mill Girl
- John Clements
- Wendy Alnutt
- Malcolm McFee
- Colin Farrell (II)