Oh! What A Lovely War

Starring: Ralph Richardson, Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, et al.

Vanessa Redgrave, Maggie Smith and Dirk Bogarde also star in the anti-war revue of World War I. Directed by Richard Attenborough.

• Format: DVD
• UPC: 097360690125
• Release Date: January 1
• Rating: G
• Publisher: Paramount Home Video
• Director: Richard Attenborough
• Starring: Ralph Richardson, Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Kenneth More, John Clements, Ian Holm, Meriel Forbes, Wensley Pithey, Ruth Kettlewell, Paul Daneman
• Runtime: 2 hours, 14 minutes
• Other Video Info: DVD
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.

Customer Reviews

60's avant-garde musical revue mangling the Great War.

This film (which started as a radio play) takes as long as the war and muddles history, replacing standard songs with words (one respirator for the four of us). For a little while, you can tolerate metaphors and Monty Python skits. However, eventually, it becomes quite dull. You need to know history to follow the skits; if you do, then it's pointless to imitate it. Brightly staged in a pavilion in Brighton by the sea, the prologue sets up the pre-war positions. The scattered references to red poppies are quite intriguing, but not worth enduring the whole film. There is a brief, well-done recreation of the Christmas meeting in no-man's land. In the tradition of "The Longest Day," we see cameos of many famous actors of the time. It's quite fun to guess where we've seen them before. Some of the singing and dancing is reminiscent of the quality in "Springtime for H-i-t-l-e-r." Ultimately, if you missed this film, you haven't missed much. The DVD includes Richard Attenborough's explanation for how it was presented.