Oh! What a Lovely War - Revision history

Kurt at 18:31, 25 August 2024

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	~~{{Short description\|1969 British musical film directed by Richard Attenborough}}~~
	{{Infobox film		{{Infobox film
	\| name = Oh! What a Lovely War		\| name = Oh! What a Lovely War
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	The 1969 film transferred the [[mise-en-scène]] completely into the cinematic domain, with elaborate sequences shot at West Pier in Brighton, elsewhere in Brighton and on the [[South Downs]], interspersed with motifs from the stage production. These included the 'cricket' scoreboards showing the number of dead, but Deighton did not use the pierrot costumes. However, as many critics, including [[Pauline Kael]],<ref>Kael, Pauline (1971) 'Off with the statues' heads!' in ''Deeper into Movies'', Calder Boyars</ref> noted, the treatment diminished the effect of the numbers of deaths, which appear only fleetingly. Nonetheless, Deighton’s final sequence, ending in a helicopter shot of thousands of war graves is regarded as one of the most memorable moments of the film. According to Attenborough, 16,000 white crosses had to be hammered into individually dug holes due to the hardness of the soil. Although this is effective in symbolising the scale of death, the number of crosses was in fact fewer than the number of deaths in a single battle: depicting the actual number would have required the scale to have been [[World War I casualties\|replicated more than 1000 times]].		The 1969 film transferred the [[mise-en-scène]] completely into the cinematic domain, with elaborate sequences shot at West Pier in Brighton, elsewhere in Brighton and on the [[South Downs]], interspersed with motifs from the stage production. These included the 'cricket' scoreboards showing the number of dead, but Deighton did not use the pierrot costumes. However, as many critics, including [[Pauline Kael]],<ref>Kael, Pauline (1971) 'Off with the statues' heads!' in ''Deeper into Movies'', Calder Boyars</ref> noted, the treatment diminished the effect of the numbers of deaths, which appear only fleetingly. Nonetheless, Deighton’s final sequence, ending in a helicopter shot of thousands of war graves is regarded as one of the most memorable moments of the film. According to Attenborough, 16,000 white crosses had to be hammered into individually dug holes due to the hardness of the soil. Although this is effective in symbolising the scale of death, the number of crosses was in fact fewer than the number of deaths in a single battle: depicting the actual number would have required the scale to have been [[World War I casualties\|replicated more than 1000 times]].

	The film was shot in the summer of 1968 in Sussex, mostly in the Brighton area. Many of the extras were local people, but a great many were students from the [[University of Sussex]], [[Falmer]], on the outskirts of the town. The film's locations included the West Pier (now gutted by fire and wrecked), [[Ditchling Beacon]], Sheepcote Valley (the trench sequences), Old [[Bayham Abbey]], near [[Frant]] (the church parade), [[Brighton railway station\|Brighton station]] and [[Ovingdean]] (where thousands of crosses were erected for the classic finale).~~{{Citation needed\|date=March 2011}}~~		The film was shot in the summer of 1968 in Sussex, mostly in the Brighton area. Many of the extras were local people, but a great many were students from the [[University of Sussex]], [[Falmer]], on the outskirts of the town. The film's locations included the West Pier (now gutted by fire and wrecked), [[Ditchling Beacon]], Sheepcote Valley (the trench sequences), Old [[Bayham Abbey]], near [[Frant]] (the church parade), [[Brighton railway station\|Brighton station]] and [[Ovingdean]] (where thousands of crosses were erected for the classic finale).

	===The song===		===The song===

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External links

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	*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150801042816/http://www.deightondossier.net/Films/owalwbackground.html Len Deighton article on producing the film, on the Deighton Dossier website]		*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150801042816/http://www.deightondossier.net/Films/owalwbackground.html Len Deighton article on producing the film, on the Deighton Dossier website]

	~~{{Richard Attenborough}}~~
	~~{{Len Deighton}}~~
	~~{{Golden Globe Award for Best English-Language Foreign Film}}~~

	~~{{Use dmy dates\|date=September 2013}}~~

	{{DEFAULTSORT:Oh! What A Lovely War}}		{{DEFAULTSORT:Oh! What A Lovely War}}

Kurt at 21:29, 24 November 2022

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	{{Short description\|1969 British musical film directed by Richard Attenborough}}		{{Short description\|1969 British musical film directed by Richard Attenborough}}
	~~{{About\|the 1969 film\|the original 1963 stage musical\|Oh, What a Lovely War!}}~~
	~~{{Use British English\|date=September 2013}}~~
	{{Infobox film		{{Infobox film
	\| name = Oh! What a Lovely War		\| name = Oh! What a Lovely War

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Box office

New page

{{Short description|1969 British musical film directed by Richard Attenborough}}
{{About|the 1969 film|the original 1963 stage musical|Oh, What a Lovely War!}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2013}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Oh! What a Lovely War
| image = Oh_what_a_lovely_war.jpg
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = [[Richard Attenborough]]
| producer = {{plainlist|
*[[Len Deighton]]
*[[Brian Duffy (photographer)|Brian Duffy]]
}}
| writer = [[Len Deighton]] (uncredited)
| based_on = {{based on|''[[Oh, What a Lovely War!]]''|[[Joan Littlewood]]}}
| starring = {{plainlist|
*[[Maggie Smith]]
*[[Dirk Bogarde]]
*[[Phyllis Calvert]]
*[[Jean Pierre Cassel]]
*[[John Clements (actor)|John Clements]]
*[[John Gielgud]]
*[[Jack Hawkins]]
*[[Kenneth More]]
*[[Laurence Olivier]]
*[[Michael Redgrave]]
*[[Vanessa Redgrave]]
*[[Ralph Richardson]]
*[[Susannah York]]
*[[John Mills]]
}}
| music =
| cinematography = [[Gerry Turpin]]
| editing = [[Kevin Connor (director)|Kevin Connor]]
| studio = Accord Productions
| distributor = [[Paramount Pictures]]
| released = 10 March 1969 {{small|(United Kingdom)}}
| runtime = 144 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget =
}}
'''''Oh! What a Lovely War''''' is a 1969 British comedy musical war film directed by [[Richard Attenborough]] (in his directorial debut), with an ensemble cast, including [[Maggie Smith]], [[Dirk Bogarde]], [[John Gielgud]], [[John Mills]], [[Kenneth More]], [[Laurence Olivier]], [[Jack Hawkins]], [[Corin Redgrave]], [[Michael Redgrave]], [[Vanessa Redgrave]], [[Ralph Richardson]], [[Ian Holm]], [[Paul Shelley]], [[Malcolm McFee]], [[Jean-Pierre Cassel]], [[Nanette Newman]], [[Edward Fox (actor)|Edward Fox]], [[Susannah York]], [[John Clements (actor)|John Clements]], [[Phyllis Calvert]] and [[Maurice Roëves]].

The film is based on the stage musical ''[[Oh, What a Lovely War!]]'', originated by [[Charles Chilton]] as the radio play ''The Long Long Trail'' in December 1961,<ref>''The Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century English Literature'', ed Laura Marcus & Peter Nicholls, page 478. Cambridge University Press, 2004. {{ISBN|0-521-82077-4}}, {{ISBN|978-0-521-82077-6}}.</ref><ref name="Witness">{{cite episode | title=Witness: Oh what a lovely war | series=Witness | credits=Vincent Dowd | network=[[BBC World Service]] | location=London | airdate=11 November 2011}}</ref> and transferred to stage by Gerry Raffles in partnership with [[Joan Littlewood]] and her [[Theatre Workshop]] in 1963.<ref>Banham (1998, 645), Brockett and Hildy (2003, 493), and Eyre and Wright (2000, 266–69).</ref>

The title is derived from the [[music hall]] song "Oh! It's a Lovely War", which is one of the major numbers in the film.

==Synopsis==
''Oh! What a Lovely War'' summarises and comments on the events of [[World War I]] 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 maneuvering 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 Franz Ferdinand of Austria|Archduke Ferdinand]] and his wife, the [[Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg|Duchess of Hohenberg]], he takes their picture, "[[Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand|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 [[Franz Joseph I of Austria|Emperor Franz Josef]] declares war on [[Kingdom of Serbia|Serbia]] after being deceived by [[Count Leopold Berchtold|his Foreign Minister]], and [[Nicholas II of Russia|Czar Nicholas II]] and [[William II, German Emperor|Kaiser Wilhelm II]] are shown as unable to overrule their countries' military mobilisation schedules. The German [[German invasion of Belgium (1914)|invasion of Belgium]] leaves [[Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon|Sir Edward Grey]] little choice but to get involved. [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]] reneges on its [[Triple Alliance (1882)|alliance]] with the Central Powers (it [[Treaty of London (1915)|joined]] the Allies in 1915) but [[Ottoman Empire|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 [[Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig|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 [[Kitchener's Army|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 [[I'll Make a Man of You|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 [[Papaver rhoeas|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 from 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 [[Soubrette]] ([[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 "[[La Chanson de Craonne|Adieu la vie]]". At the end of the year, amidst more manoeuvres in the pavilion, General (later Field Marshal) [[Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig|Douglas Haig]] replaces Field Marshal [[John French, 1st Earl of Ypres|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's Body]]".

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 [[United States in World War I|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 of 11 November 1918|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 [[Treaty of Versailles|drafting]] the coming peace – but they are oblivious to his presence. Jack finally finds himself on a tranquil hillside, where he joins his brothers 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]]").

==Cast (in credits order)==

===Smith family===

* [[Wendy Allnutt]] as Flo Smith
* Colin Farrell (not the Irish-born Hollywood actor of the [[Colin Farrell|same name]]) as Harry Smith
* [[Malcolm McFee]] as Freddie Smith
* [[John Rae (actor)|John Rae]] as Grandpa Smith
* [[Corin Redgrave]] as Bertie Smith
* [[Maurice Roëves]] as George Smith
* [[Paul Shelley]] as Jack Smith
* Kim Smith as Dickie Smith
* [[Angela Thorne]] as Betty Smith
* [[Mary Wimbush]] as Mary Smith

At the time, [[the Beatles]] were interested in making an anti-war film. At [[Bertrand Russell]]’s suggestion, [[Paul McCartney]] met with the producer [[Len Deighton]] to discuss the opportunity of the band portraying the Smith family although in the end it was not possible to arrange.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/len-deighton-the-spy-and-i-521520.html | title=Len Deighton: The spy and I | newspaper=The Independent | date=4 January 2006 | access-date=8 August 2015}}</ref>

===Also starring===
{{div col |colwidth=22em}}
*[[Vincent Ball]] as Australian Soldier
*[[Pia Colombo]] as Estaminet Singer
*[[Paul Daneman]] as [[Nicholas II of Russia|Czar Nicholas II]]
*[[Isabel Dean]] as Sir John French's Lady
*[[Christian Doermer]] as Fritz
*[[Robert Flemyng]] as Staff Officer in Gassed Trench
*[[Meriel Forbes]] as Lady Grey
*[[Frank Forsyth]] as [[Woodrow Wilson]]
*[[Ian Holm]] as [[Raymond Poincaré|President Poincaré]]
*[[David Lodge (actor)|David Lodge]] as Recruiting Sergeant
*[[Joe Melia]] as the Photographer
*[[Guy Middleton]] as [[Sir William Robertson, 1st Baronet|Sir William Robertson]]
*[[Juliet Mills]] as Nurse
*[[Nanette Newman]] as Nurse
*[[Cecil Parker]] as Sir John
*[[Natasha Parry]] as Sir William Robertson's Lady
*[[Gerald Sim]] as Chaplain
*[[Thorley Walters]] as Staff Officer in Ballroom
*[[Anthony Ainley]] as Third Aide
*[[Michael Bates (actor)|Michael Bates]] as Drunk Lance Corporal
*[[Fanny Carby]] as Mill Girl
*[[Cecilia Darby]] as Sir Henry Wilson's Lady
*[[Geoffrey Davies]] as Aide
*[[Edward Fox (actor)|Edward Fox]] as Aide
*[[George Ghent]] as Heckler
*[[Peter Gilmore]] as Private Burgess
*[[Ben Howard (actor)|Ben Howard]] as Private Garbett
*[[Norman Jones (actor)|Norman Jones]] as Scottish Soldier
*[[Paddy Joyce]] as Irish Soldier
*[[Angus Lennie]] as Scottish Soldier
*[[Harry Locke]] as Heckler
*[[Clifford Mollison]] as Heckler
*[[Derek Newark]] as Shooting Gallery Proprietor
*[[John Owens (actor)|John Owens]] as Seamus Moore
*[[Ron Pember]] as Corporal at Station
*[[Dorothy Reynolds]] as Heckler
*[[Norman Shelley]] as Staff Officer in Ballroom
*[[Marianne Stone]] as Mill Girl
*[[John Trigger]] as Officer at Station
*[[Kathleen Wileman]] as Emma Smith at Age 4
*[[Penelope Allen]] as Solo Chorus Girl
*[[Maurice Arthur]] as Soldier Singer
*[[Freddie Ascott]] as 'Whizzbang' Soldier
*[[Dinny Jones]] as Chorus Girl
*[[Carole Gray]] as Chorus Girl
*[[Bernard Jarvis]] as the whistling blowing soldier in the trench
*[[Jane Seymour (actress)|Jane Seymour]] as Chorus Girl (uncredited and film debut)
{{div col end}}

===Guest stars===
*[[Dirk Bogarde]] as Stephen
*[[Phyllis Calvert]] as Lady Haig
*[[Jean-Pierre Cassel]] as French Colonel
*[[John Clements (actor)|John Clements]] as [[Helmuth von Moltke the Younger|General von Moltke]]
*[[John Gielgud]] as [[Count Leopold Berchtold]]
*[[Jack Hawkins]] as [[Franz Joseph I of Austria|Emperor Franz Josef I]]
*[[Kenneth More]] as [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Kaiser Wilhelm II]]
*[[Laurence Olivier]] as [[John French, 1st Earl of Ypres|Field Marshal Sir John French]]
*[[Michael Redgrave]] as [[Sir Henry Wilson, 1st Baronet|Sir Henry Wilson]]
*[[Vanessa Redgrave]] as [[Sylvia Pankhurst]]
*[[Ralph Richardson]] as [[Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon|Sir Edward Grey]]
*[[Maggie Smith]] as Music Hall Star
*[[Susannah York]] as Eleanor
*[[John Mills]] as [[Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig|General (later Field Marshal) Sir Douglas Haig]]

==Production==
The producers were the novelist [[Len Deighton]], photographer [[Brian Duffy (photographer)|Brian Duffy]]<ref name=indy06>{{Cite news | last = Scott | first = Robert Dawson | title = Len Deighton: The spy and I |work=The Independent |location=UK | date = 4 January 2006 | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/len-deighton-the-spy-and-i-521520.html | access-date = 14 January 2014}}</ref> and Richard Attenborough, who was making his directorial debut.<ref name="Dempsey_DW2001">{{cite web|last=Dempsey|first=Mike|title=Immaculate conception|work=Design Week|publication-date=2001-12-14 | url=http://www.mad.co.uk/Main/News/Disciplines/Design/Articles/e9b9bcb0f6fc43b58a0252154c35e868/Immaculate-conception.html|access-date=2007-12-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719095559/http://www.mad.co.uk/Main/News/Disciplines/Design/Articles/e9b9bcb0f6fc43b58a0252154c35e868/Immaculate-conception.html|archive-date=19 July 2011}} [http://mikedempsey.typepad.com/graphic_journey_blog/2009/01/an-eye-for-detail.html Alt URL]</ref> The Deighton Duffy production company had produced the film adaptation of Deighton’s ''[[Only When I Larf (film)|Only When I Larf]]'' starring Richard Attenborough.<ref>{{cite news|title=Fashion and portrait photographer Brian Duffy dies aged 76|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/7805616/Fashion-and-portrait-photographer-Brian-Duffy-dies-aged-76.html|work=The Telegraph|date=5 June 2010|access-date=5 June 2010 | location=London | first=Roya | last=Nikkhah}}</ref> Deighton wrote the screenplay for ''Oh! What a Lovely War'' and the opening title sequence was created by Len Deighton's lifelong friend [[Raymond Hawkey]], the designer responsible for many of Deighton's book covers in the 1960s.<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/books-obituaries/7971812/Raymond-Hawkey.html | newspaper = [[Daily Telegraph]] | date = 30 August 2010 | title = Books Obituaries: Raymond Hawkey | access-date = 2014-01-14}}</ref> In an attempt to shame other people who he thought were claiming credit for things they hadn't actually done, Deighton decided not to be listed in the film credits, a gesture he later described as "stupid and infantile".<ref name=indy06 />

The 1969 film transferred the [[mise-en-scène]] completely into the cinematic domain, with elaborate sequences shot at West Pier in Brighton, elsewhere in Brighton and on the [[South Downs]], interspersed with motifs from the stage production. These included the 'cricket' scoreboards showing the number of dead, but Deighton did not use the pierrot costumes. However, as many critics, including [[Pauline Kael]],<ref>Kael, Pauline (1971) 'Off with the statues' heads!' in ''Deeper into Movies'', Calder Boyars</ref> noted, the treatment diminished the effect of the numbers of deaths, which appear only fleetingly. Nonetheless, Deighton’s final sequence, ending in a helicopter shot of thousands of war graves is regarded as one of the most memorable moments of the film. According to Attenborough, 16,000 white crosses had to be hammered into individually dug holes due to the hardness of the soil. Although this is effective in symbolising the scale of death, the number of crosses was in fact fewer than the number of deaths in a single battle: depicting the actual number would have required the scale to have been [[World War I casualties|replicated more than 1000 times]].

The film was shot in the summer of 1968 in Sussex, mostly in the Brighton area. Many of the extras were local people, but a great many were students from the [[University of Sussex]], [[Falmer]], on the outskirts of the town. The film's locations included the West Pier (now gutted by fire and wrecked), [[Ditchling Beacon]], Sheepcote Valley (the trench sequences), Old [[Bayham Abbey]], near [[Frant]] (the church parade), [[Brighton railway station|Brighton station]] and [[Ovingdean]] (where thousands of crosses were erected for the classic finale).{{Citation needed|date=March 2011}}

===The song===
The song was written by J. P. Long and Maurice Scott in 1917 and was part of the repertoire of music hall star and male impersonator [[Ella Shields]].<ref>Max Arthur (2001) ''When This Bloody War Is Over''. London, Piatkus: 47</ref> The first verse and the chorus follow:

{{poemquote|Up to your waist in water,
Up to your eyes in slush –
Using the kind of language,
That makes the sergeant blush;
Who wouldn't join the army?
That's what we all inquire,
Don't we pity the poor civilians sitting beside the fire.

''Chorus:''
Oh! Oh! Oh! it's a lovely war,
Who wouldn't be a soldier eh?
Oh! It's a shame to take the pay.
As soon as reveille is gone
We feel just as heavy as lead,
But we never get up till the sergeant brings
Our breakfast up to bed
Oh! Oh! Oh! it's a lovely war,
What do we want with eggs and ham
When we've got plum and apple jam?
Form fours! Right turn!
How shall we spend the money we earn?
Oh! Oh! Oh! it's a lovely war.}}

Two pre-musical renditions, one from 1918, can be found at Firstworldwar.com.<ref>[http://www.firstworldwar.com/audio/ohitsalovelywar.htm firstworldwar.com]</ref> Almost all of the songs featured in the film also appear on the CD41 album series ''Oh! It's a Lovely War'' (four volumes).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ltmrecordings.com/oh!itsalovelywar.html|title = Automatic Redirect}}</ref>

==Reception==
[[Vincent Canby]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' called it "a big, elaborate, sometimes realistic film whose elephantine physical proportions and often brilliant all-star cast simply overwhelm the material with a surfeit of good intentions."<ref>{{cite news|author-link=Vincent Canby |last=Canby |first=Vincent |date=3 October 1969 |title=Film Festival: Jolly Satire |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |page=34 }}</ref> ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' called the film "dedicated, exhilarating, shrewd, mocking, funny, emotional, witty, poignant and technically brilliant."<ref>{{cite magazine |date=16 April 1969 |title=Oh! What a Lovely War |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |page=6 }}</ref> [[Roger Ebert]] of the ''[[Chicago Sun Times]]'' gave the film 4 stars out of 4, writing that it was not a movie but "an elaborately staged tableau, a dazzling use of the camera to achieve essentially theatrical effects. And judged on that basis, Richard Attenborough has given us a breathtaking evening."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/oh-what-a-lovely-war-1969 |title=Oh! What a Lovely War |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |date=30 October 1969 |newspaper=[[Chicago Sun Times]] |access-date=7 October 2020|via=[[RogerEbert.com]] }}{{rating|4|4}}</ref> [[Gene Siskel]] of the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' also gave the film a perfect grade of 4 stars and wrote it "deserves an Academy Award nomination for the best picture of the year ... You can sit back and enjoy this film on any one of many levels. The songs are good, the lyrics are biting; the staging and costuming blend with the story rather than overshadow it. The acting seems effortless."<ref>{{cite news|author-link=Gene Siskel|last=Siskel|first=Gene|date=31 October 1969|title=O! what a lovely motion picture!|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|page=17, Section 2 }}{{rating|4|4}}</ref> Kevin Thomas of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' wrote: "What noted British actor Richard Attenborough, in a dazzling directorial debut, and his principal writers Len Deighton and Brian Duffy have done is to transform the highly political and one-dimensional Joan Littlewood theatre piece into timeless—and painfully timely—tragic allegory."<ref>{{cite news|author-link=Kevin Thomas (film critic)|last=Thomas|first=Kevin|date=17 September 1969|title='Lovely War' Accomplishes a Difficult Artistic Task|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|page=1, Part IV}}</ref> Gary Arnold of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' wrote: "The conception is intriguing, but the film turns into an infernal, precision machine. As one big production number succeeded the other and one perfectly measured and symmetrical tableau faded into the next, I began to feel stupefied rather than touched. The physical production was rolling over the songs, the characters and the vignettes."<ref>{{cite news |last=Arnold |first=Gary |date=17 October 1969 |title='Lovely War' |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |page=B13 }}</ref> David Wilson of ''[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' wrote that "one is simply left admiring a worthy mosaic of bits and pieces, full of good ideas but nowhere near to being a self-contained dramatic entity."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wilson |first=David |date=May 1969 |title=Oh! What A Lovely War |journal=[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=36 |issue=424 |page=94 }}</ref>

The film presently has a score of 79% on [[Rotten Tomatoes]] based on 14 reviews, with an average grade of 8.2 out of 10.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/oh_what_a_lovely_war/ |title=Oh! What A Lovely War |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date= 2 January 2019 }}</ref>

The ''[[Toronto Star]]'' received complaints from veteran organizations about the advertisement for the film that featured cemetery crosses and later ran the adverts without the image.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=15 October 1969 |title=Toronto Star 'Censors' Ads For 'Lovely War'; 'Cemetery' Irks Vets |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |page=22 }}</ref>

===Box office===
It ranked the 16th film at the UK box office in 1969.<ref>"The World's Top Twenty Films." Sunday Times [London, England] 27 Sept. 1970: 27. The Sunday Times Digital Archive. accessed 5 Apr. 2014</ref>

==Awards==
* [[Golden Globe]], Best Cinematography ([[Gerry Turpin]]) 1969
* [[BAFTA]] Film Award, Best Art Direction ([[Donald M. Ashton]]) 1970
* BAFTA Film Award, Best Cinematography (Gerry Turpin) 1970
* BAFTA Film Award, Best Costume Design ([[Anthony Mendleson]]) 1970
* BAFTA Film Award, Best Sound Track ([[Don Challis]] and [[Simon Kaye]]) 1970
* BAFTA Film Award, Best Supporting Actor ([[Laurence Olivier]]) 1970

==References in popular culture==

* English rock band [[Colonel Bagshot]] released an anti-war album of the same name in 1971, their first and only long play.
* BBC Radio 4's ''[[15 Minute Musical]]'' portrayed [[Tony Blair]]'s premiership in the style of ''Oh! What a Lovely War'' in a September 2006 episode entitled "Oh! What a Lovely Blair".
* At a Google Talks event, James Rado, one of the original writers and creators of ''[[Hair (musical)|Hair]]'', stated that ''Oh! What a Lovely War'' was what made him want to work on a musical dealing with war.Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/T_o7mk4U2do Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20140506134341/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_o7mk4U2do&list=PL77B65A8070130181 Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web |url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_o7mk4U2do |title=@Google: The Public Theatre's Revival of Hair |access-date=26 August 2008 |publisher=youtube }}{{cbignore}}
* The song "The Bells of Hell Go Ting-a-ling-a-ling" was used as the play-out music for Ned Sherrin's 1964 BBC-TV show ''Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life''.
* [[Babyshambles]] named their live album ''[[Oh! What a Lovely Tour]]'' after this film.

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* Banham, Martin, ed. 1998. ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre.'' Cambridge: [[Cambridge University Press]]. {{ISBN|0-521-43437-8}}.
* Brockett, Oscar G. and Franklin J. Hildy. 2003. ''History of the Theatre''. Ninth edition, International edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. {{ISBN|0-205-41050-2}}.
* [[Richard Eyre|Eyre, Richard]] and Nicholas Wright. 2000. ''Changing Stages: A View of British Theatre in the Twentieth Century''. London: Bloomsbury. {{ISBN|0-7475-4789-0}}.
{{refend}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|id=0064754|title=Oh! What a Lovely War}}
*{{Rotten Tomatoes|oh_what_a_lovely_war}}
*[http://www.ltmrecordings.com/oh!itsalovelywar.html ''Oh! It's A Lovely War'' album series at CD41]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150801042816/http://www.deightondossier.net/Films/owalwbackground.html Len Deighton article on producing the film, on the Deighton Dossier website]

{{Richard Attenborough}}
{{Len Deighton}}
{{Golden Globe Award for Best English-Language Foreign Film}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2013}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oh! What A Lovely War}}
[[Category:1969 films]]
[[Category:1960s musical films]]
[[Category:1969 war films]]
[[Category:British musical films]]
[[Category:British war films]]
[[Category:Western Front (World War I) films]]
[[Category:Anti-war films about World War I]]
[[Category:Films directed by Richard Attenborough]]
[[Category:Films set in Brighton]]
[[Category:Films produced by Richard Attenborough]]
[[Category:Paramount Pictures films]]
[[Category:Christmas truce]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Nicholas II of Russia]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Wilhelm II]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Woodrow Wilson]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig]]
[[Category:Anti-war comedy films]]
[[Category:1969 directorial debut films]]
[[Category:Films based on musicals]]
[[Category:Musical films based on actual events]]
[[Category:1960s English-language films]]
[[Category:1960s British films]]