Richard Attenborough: Oh! What a Lovely War

Oh! What a Lovely War (1969). I remember seeing this as a kid at the theater with my family. It stuck with me. Eventually, I created and taught a course called "The Great War and the 1920s" and would definitely recommend this film for such a course, though it wasn't yet available on DVD during the years I conducted my class. The DVD version was released in November 2006 and includes an excellent three-part documentary on the making of the film, with plenty of discussion about the First Workd War and its impact on the UK.

I'm not usually a fan of musicals, but here is a case where actual wartime songs are used brilliantly -- often with soldiers' versions of the lyrics, which are considerably more powerful than the orginal printed compositions.

There are many powerful scenes, some realistic (in the trenches), some surreal, on Brighton's West Pier. Based on a popular stage musical by Joan Littlewood, the film takes a comprehensive look at the Great War (focusing on the Western Front and the Home Front in England) from the British Empire's point of view at multi-levels of society. This is certainly not your typical war or anti-war movie. I remember the humor, and the horror -- mixed together in an unforgettable way.

General Haig (John Mills): "I ask Thee for victory, Oh Lord, before the Americans arrive." (This about an ally, not the enemy -- which speaks volumes even now).

General Haig's assessment of the war: "Our population is greater than theirs, and their losses are greater than ours. In the end we shall have 10,000 left. They shall have 5,000, and we shall have won." Forty years later, those lines still stick. As does a scene wherein horse cavalrymen are spun around a carousel; and many images of poppies as precursors to death. The cast is stellar -- many of the great British actors of the twentieth century are in it at one point or another.

Today's Rune: Harvest.