Search - Oh! What a Lovely War [Special Collector's Edition]

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, All Movie Guide

Ralph Richardson - Sir Edward Grey
Meriel Forbes - Lady Grey
Wensley Pithey - Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Ruth Kettlewell - Duchess Sophie
Ian Holm - President Poincare

1969	Best Art Direction (winner)	British Academy of Film and Television	Don Ashton
1969	Best Cinematography (winner)	British Academy of Film and Television	Gerry Turpin
1969	Best Costume Design (winner)	British Academy of Film and Television	Anthony Mendleson
1969	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Pic (winner)	British Academy of Film and Television	Laurence Olivier
1969	United Nations Award (winner)	British Academy of Film and Television	Richard Attenborough
1969	Best Director (nominee)	Directors Guild of America	Richard Attenborough

These movies share cast/crew with Oh! What a Lovely War [Special Collector's Edition]...
16	Gandhi (PG)
S	Seance on a Wet Afternoon
13	Shadowlands (PG)
2	Cry Freedom (PG)
8	Chaplin (PG-13)
43	In Love and War [Widescreen/Fullscreen] (PG-13)
2	The Magic Christian (PG)
18	A Bridge Too Far (PG)
12	David Copperfield
2	Trial and Error (The Dock Brief) (NR)
6	Magic (NR)
22	A Chorus Line (PG-13)
These movies cover the same subjects as Oh! What a Lovely War [Special Collector's Edition]...
S	How I Won the War (NR)