Oh! What a Lovely War
Encyclopedia
Oh! What a Lovely War is a musical film
based on the stage musical
Oh, What a Lovely War!
originated by Charles Chilton
as a radio play, The Long Long Trail in December 1961, and transferred to stage by Gerry Raffles in partnership with Joan Littlewood
and her Theatre Workshop
created in 1963
, which was itself inspired by "The Donkeys," Alan Clark
's 1961 attack on Great War generalship. The title is derived from the music hall
song Oh! It's a Lovely War, which is one of the major numbers in the productions. In 1969
Richard Attenborough
directed a cinematic adaptation of the musical. His cast included Dirk Bogarde
, John Gielgud
, John Mills
, Kenneth More
, Laurence Olivier
, Jack Hawkins
, Corin Redgrave
, Michael Redgrave
, Vanessa Redgrave
, Ralph Richardson
, Maggie Smith
, Ian Holm
, Paul Shelley
, Malcolm McFee
, Jean-Pierre Cassel
, Nanette Newman
, Edward Fox
, Susannah York
, John Clements
, Phyllis Calvert
and Maurice Roëves
. The film has been released on DVD.
using popular songs of the time, many of which were parodies of older popular songs.
The film uses a variety of symbolic settings to portray vast summations of historical and societal forces at work. Brighton
's West Pier, as a location, represents the First World War, with the British public entering at the turnstiles, and General Haig
selling tickets. The protagonists are named as the Smith family; which serve as an archetypal British family of the time. The film follows the young Smith men through their experiences in the trenches: Jack (Paul Shelley
), Freddy (Malcolm McFee
), Harry (Colin Farrell) and George (Maurice Roëves
).
The opening sequence is set in a fantasy location which resembles a pierhead pavilion. The diplomatic manoeuvrings, galas, and events involving aristocratic classes set against this location throughout the film, far from the trenches. After various diplomats and aristocrats walk over a huge map of Europe, an unnamed photographer takes a picture of the upper class. After handing two red poppies to the Archduke Ferdinand
and his wife, the Duchess of Hohenberg
he takes their picture, 'assassinating' them as the flash goes off.
The start of the war in 1914 is shown as a parade of optimism. A military band music rouses citizens lounging by the beach to rally round it and follow it - some even literally boarding a bandwagon. They are led to the idea of war, illustrated on film as a cheerful seaside carnival on Brighton West Pier. 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 shocked theatre audience is rallied by singing "Are We Downhearted? No!"
The curtains on the stage lift to reveal a chorus line
dressed in frilled yellow dresses, who recruit a volunteer army. They appeal to the patriotism of the crowd 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 as the curtain is drawn, and lures the roused but still doubtful young men in the audience into "taking the King's Shilling
" by singing a song 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 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 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 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, the figure of Sylvia Pankhurst
(Vanessa Redgrave
) is shown addressing a crowd on the futility of war, but is met with catcalls from the audience, whom she upbraids for believing everything they read in the newspapers. She is finally jeered off her podium by the hostile crowd.
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 chanteuse (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 versions of "Adieu la vie".
An interfaith
service is held in a ruined abbey. A priest tells the gathered masses of soldiers that each religion has endorsed the war by way of allowing soldiers to eat pork if Jewish
, red meat on Fridays if Catholic, and work through the sabbath if in service of the war for all religions. He also mentions 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. Harry Smith's silently-suffering face is often lingered upon by the camera.
The Americans arrive, but are shown only in the 'disconnected reality' of the pavilion , singing "Over There
" with the changed final line: "And we won't come back - we'll be buried over there!" Jack notices with disgust that after three years of this nightmare, he is literally back where he started, fighting at Mons.
As the 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. The film closes with a long slow pan out that ends in an aerial view of soldiers' graves, dizzying in their geometry and scale, as the voices of the dead sing "We'll Never Tell Them" (a parody
of the Jerome Kern
song "They Didn't Believe Me
").
, elsewhere in Brighton and on the South Downs
, interspersed with motif
s from the stage production. These included the 'cricket' scoreboards showing the number of dead, but Attenborough did not use the pierrot costumes. However, as many critics, including Pauline Kael
, noted, the treatment diminished the effect of the numbers of deaths, which appear only fleetingly. Nonetheless, Attenborough'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, sixteen thousand white crosses had to be hammered into individually-dug holes due to the hardness of the soil. Although this is effective at symbolising the scale of death, the number of crosses was in fact less than the number of deaths in a single battle.
The film was shot in the Brighton, East Sussex, area of the U.K. in the summer of 1968. Many of the extras were local folk, but a great many were students from the University of Sussex
, Falmer, on the outskirts of the city. The film's locations included the West Pier (now virtually demolished), Ditchling Beacon
, Sheepcote Valley (the trench sequences), Old Bayham Abbey, near Lamberhurst
, Kent
(the church parade),Brighton Station and Ovingdean
(where hundreds of crosses were erected for the classic finale).
The screenwriter, future novelist Len Deighton
asked for his name to be removed from the film's credits after seeing rushes of the film, stating that what was filmed was not as he conceived it. He later stated that he regretted the decision.
Ella Shields
. Here is the first verse and the chorus:
Two pre-musical
renditions, one from 1918, can be found at Firstworldwar.com
, producer of the film, created a radio musical of World War I
songs called The Long Long Trail (1962), named for the popular music hall
song, There's a long, long trail a winding
. The piece was a radio documentary that used facts and statistics, juxtaposed with songs of the time, as an ironic critique of the reality of the war.
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
based on the stage musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
Oh, What a Lovely War!
Oh, What a Lovely War!
Oh, What a Lovely War! is an epic musical originated by Charles Chilton as a radio play, The Long Long Trail in December 1961, and transferred to stage by Gerry Raffles in partnership with Joan Littlewood and her Theatre Workshop in 1963...
originated by Charles Chilton
Charles Chilton
Charles Chilton MBE is a BBC radio presenter, a writer and a producer. Born in Bloomsbury in London, England, he never knew his father - who was killed during World War I - and when he was six his mother died as a result of having a botched abortion, so he was raised by his grandmother. He was...
as a radio play, The Long Long Trail in December 1961, and transferred to stage by Gerry Raffles in partnership with Joan Littlewood
Joan Littlewood
Joan Maud Littlewood was a British theatre director, noted for her work in developing the left-wing Theatre Workshop...
and her Theatre Workshop
Theatre Workshop
Theatre Workshop is a theatre group noted for their director, Joan Littlewood. Many actors of the 1950s and 1960s received their training and first exposure with the company...
created in 1963
1963 in literature
The year 1963 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*First United States printing of John Cleland's 1749 novel, Fanny Hill . The book is banned for obscenity, triggering a court case by its publisher.*Leslie Charteris publishes his final collection of stories...
, which was itself inspired by "The Donkeys," Alan Clark
Alan Clark
Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark was a British Conservative MP and diarist. He served as a junior minister in Margaret Thatcher's governments at the Departments of Employment, Trade, and Defence, and became a privy counsellor in 1991...
's 1961 attack on Great War generalship. The title is derived from the music hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
song Oh! It's a Lovely War, which is one of the major numbers in the productions. In 1969
1969 in film
The year 1969 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Last year for prize giving at the Venice Film Festival until it is revived in 1980...
Richard Attenborough
Richard Attenborough
Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...
directed a cinematic adaptation of the musical. His cast included Dirk Bogarde
Dirk Bogarde
Sir Dirk Bogarde was an English actor and novelist. Initially a matinee idol in such films as Doctor in the House and other Rank Organisation pictures, Bogarde later acted in art-house films such as Death in Venice...
, John Gielgud
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
, John Mills
John Mills
Sir John Mills CBE , born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills, was an English actor who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades.-Life and career:...
, Kenneth More
Kenneth More
Kenneth Gilbert More CBE was a highly successful English film actor during the post-World War II era and starred in many feature films, often in the role of an archetypal carefree and happy-go-lucky middle-class gentleman.-Early life:Kenneth More was born in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, the...
, Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
, Jack Hawkins
Jack Hawkins
Colonel John Edward "Jack" Hawkins CBE was an English actor of the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s.-Career:Hawkins was born at Lyndhurst Road, Wood Green, Middlesex, the son of master builder Thomas George Hawkins and his wife, Phoebe née Goodman. The youngest of four children in a close-knit family,...
, Corin Redgrave
Corin Redgrave
Corin William Redgrave was an English actor and political activist.-Early life:Redgrave was born in Marylebone, London, the only son and middle child of actors Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson...
, Michael Redgrave
Michael Redgrave
Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave, CBE was an English stage and film actor, director, manager and author.-Youth and education:...
, Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
, Ralph Richardson
Ralph Richardson
Sir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films....
, Maggie Smith
Maggie Smith
Dame Margaret Natalie Smith, DBE , better known as Maggie Smith, is an English film, stage, and television actress who made her stage debut in 1952 and is still performing after 59 years...
, Ian Holm
Ian Holm
Sir Ian Holm, CBE is an English actor known for his stage work and for many film roles. He received the 1967 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor for his performance as Lenny in The Homecoming and the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance in the title role of King Lear...
, Paul Shelley
Paul Shelley
Paul Shelley is an English actor.Shelley trained at RADA and has mainly worked in the theatre as a classical actor...
, Malcolm McFee
Malcolm McFee
Malcolm McFee was an English actor best known for his role as Peter Craven in the TV series Please Sir!, the film of the same name, and the spin-off TV series The Fenn Street Gang.-Career:Malcolm McFee made his first appearance on television in 1967...
, Jean-Pierre Cassel
Jean-Pierre Cassel
Jean-Pierre Cassel was a French actor.-Life and career:Cassel was born Jean-Pierre Crochon in Paris, the son of Louise-Marguerite , an opera singer, and Georges Crochon, a doctor. Cassel was discovered by Gene Kelly as he tap danced on stage, and later cast in the 1957 film The Happy Road...
, Nanette Newman
Nanette Newman
-Early life:Newman was born in Northampton, England. She was educated at Sternhold College, the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts stage school and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.-Career:...
, Edward Fox
Edward Fox (actor)
Edward Charles Morice Fox, OBE is an English stage, film and television actor.He is generally associated with portraying the role of the upper-class Englishman, such as the title character in the film The Day of the Jackal and King Edward VIII in the serial Edward & Mrs...
, Susannah York
Susannah York
Susannah York was a British film, stage and television actress. She was awarded a BAFTA as Best Supporting Actress for They Shoot Horses, Don't They? and was nominated for an Oscar and Golden Globe for the same film. She won best actress for Images at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival...
, John Clements
John Clements
Sir John Selby Clements, CBE was an English actor and producer who worked in theatre, television and film.Clements attended St Paul's School and St John's College, Cambridge University then worked with Nigel Playfair and afterwards spent a few years in Ben Greet's Shakespearean Company. He made...
, Phyllis Calvert
Phyllis Calvert
Phyllis Calvert was an English film, stage and television actress. She was one of the leading stars of the Gainsborough melodramas of the 1940s....
and Maurice Roëves
Maurice Roëves
Maurice Roëves is a British actor, born in Sunderland, County Durham on 19 March 1937.His television roles include Danger UXB , The Nightmare Man , the 1984 Doctor Who serial The Caves of Androzani, Days of our Lives , Tutti Frutti , Rab C...
. The film has been released on DVD.
Synopsis
Oh! What A Lovely War summarizes and comments on the story of World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
using popular songs of the time, many of which were parodies of older popular songs.
The film uses a variety of symbolic settings to portray vast summations of historical and societal forces at work. Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
's West Pier, as a location, represents the First World War, with the British public entering at the turnstiles, and General Haig
Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig
Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, KT, GCB, OM, GCVO, KCIE, ADC, was a British senior officer during World War I. He commanded the British Expeditionary Force from 1915 to the end of the War...
selling tickets. The protagonists are named as the Smith family; which serve as an archetypal British family of the time. The film follows the young Smith men through their experiences in the trenches: Jack (Paul Shelley
Paul Shelley
Paul Shelley is an English actor.Shelley trained at RADA and has mainly worked in the theatre as a classical actor...
), Freddy (Malcolm McFee
Malcolm McFee
Malcolm McFee was an English actor best known for his role as Peter Craven in the TV series Please Sir!, the film of the same name, and the spin-off TV series The Fenn Street Gang.-Career:Malcolm McFee made his first appearance on television in 1967...
), Harry (Colin Farrell) and George (Maurice Roëves
Maurice Roëves
Maurice Roëves is a British actor, born in Sunderland, County Durham on 19 March 1937.His television roles include Danger UXB , The Nightmare Man , the 1984 Doctor Who serial The Caves of Androzani, Days of our Lives , Tutti Frutti , Rab C...
).
The opening sequence is set in a fantasy location which resembles a pierhead pavilion. The diplomatic manoeuvrings, galas, and events involving aristocratic classes set against this location throughout the film, far from the trenches. After various diplomats and aristocrats walk over a huge map of Europe, an unnamed photographer takes a picture of the upper class. After handing two red poppies to the Archduke Ferdinand
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria
Franz Ferdinand was an Archduke of Austria-Este, Austro-Hungarian and Royal Prince of Hungary and of Bohemia, and from 1889 until his death, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. His assassination in Sarajevo precipitated Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia...
and his wife, the Duchess of Hohenberg
Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg
Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg ; 1 March 1868 – 28 June 1914) was a Czech aristocrat, the morganatic wife of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. Their assassination sparked World War I.- Early life :...
he takes their picture, 'assassinating' them as the flash goes off.
The start of the war in 1914 is shown as a parade of optimism. A military band music rouses citizens lounging by the beach to rally round it and follow it - some even literally boarding a bandwagon. They are led to the idea of war, illustrated on film as a cheerful seaside carnival on Brighton West Pier. The first Battle of Mons
Battle of Mons
The Battle of Mons was the first major action of the British Expeditionary Force in the First World War. It was a subsidiary action of the Battle of the Frontiers, in which the Allies clashed with Germany on the French borders. At Mons, the British army attempted to hold the line of the...
is similarly cheerfully depicted yet more realistic in portrayal. Both scenes are flooded in pleasant sunshine. When the casualties start to mount, a shocked theatre audience is rallied by singing "Are We Downhearted? No!"
The curtains on the stage lift to reveal a chorus line
Chorus line
A chorus line is a substantial group of dancers who together perform synchronized routines, usually in musical theatre. Sometimes, singing is also performed. Chorus line dancers in Broadway musicals and revues have been referred to by slang terms such as ponies, gypsies and twirlies...
dressed in frilled yellow dresses, who recruit a volunteer army. They appeal to the patriotism of the crowd with "We don't want to lose you, but we think you ought to go". A music hall star (Maggie Smith
Maggie Smith
Dame Margaret Natalie Smith, DBE , better known as Maggie Smith, is an English film, stage, and television actress who made her stage debut in 1952 and is still performing after 59 years...
) then enters a lone spotlight as the curtain is drawn, and lures the roused but still doubtful young men in the audience into "taking the King's Shilling
King's shilling
For many years a soldier's daily pay, before stoppages, was the shilling given as an earnest payment to recruits of the British Army and the Royal Navy of the 18th and 19th centuries...
" by singing a song 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 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
Harridan
Harridan may refer to:* Wiktionary's entry: * Tyranid Titans#Harridan...
.
The 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 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, the figure of Sylvia Pankhurst
Sylvia Pankhurst
Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst was an English campaigner for the suffragist movement in the United Kingdom. She was for a time a prominent left communist who then devoted herself to the cause of anti-fascism.-Early life:...
(Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
) is shown addressing a crowd on the futility of war, but is met with catcalls from the audience, whom she upbraids for believing everything they read in the newspapers. She is finally jeered off her podium by the hostile crowd.
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 chanteuse (Pia Colombo) leads them in a jolly chorus of "The Moon Shines Bright On Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
", a reworking of an American song then shifts the mood back to darker tone by singing a soft and sombre versions of "Adieu la vie".
An interfaith
Interfaith
The term interfaith dialogue refers to cooperative, constructive and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels...
service is held in a ruined abbey. A priest tells the gathered masses of soldiers that each religion has endorsed the war by way of allowing soldiers to eat pork if Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, red meat on Fridays if Catholic, and work through the sabbath if in service of the war for all religions. He also mentions the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
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
The Bells Of Hell Go Ting-a-ling-a-ling
The Bells Of Hell Go Ting-a-ling-a-ling was a British airmen's song from World War I. It is apparently a parody of another popular song of the time entitled "She Only Answered 'Ting-a-ling-a-ling'". It is featured in the musical film Oh! What a Lovely War...
", "If The Sergeant Steals Your Rum, Never Mind" and "Hanging on the Old Barbed Wire
Hanging on the Old Barbed Wire
Hanging on the Old Barbed Wire is a war song of World War I. The song sarcastically recounts the location of various army members, not to be found in the combat zone, and concludes by describing the location of the old battalion: "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. Harry Smith's silently-suffering face is often lingered upon by the camera.
The Americans arrive, but are shown only in the 'disconnected reality' of the pavilion , singing "Over There
Over There
"Over There" is a 1917 song popular with United States soldiers in both world wars.It was written by George M. Cohan during World War I. Notable early recordings include versions by Nora Bayes, Enrico Caruso, Billy Murray, and Charles King....
" with the changed final line: "And we won't come back - we'll be buried over there!" Jack notices with disgust that after three years of this nightmare, he is literally back where he started, fighting at Mons.
As the Armistice
Armistice
An armistice is a situation in a war where the warring parties agree to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, but may be just a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace...
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. The film closes with a long slow pan out that ends in an aerial view of soldiers' graves, dizzying in their geometry and scale, as the voices of the dead sing "We'll Never Tell Them" (a parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of the Jerome Kern
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
song "They Didn't Believe Me
They Didn't Believe Me
"They Didn't Believe Me" is a song with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Herbert Reynolds.First introduced in the 1914 musical The Girl from Utah it was one of five numbers added to the show by Kern and Reynolds for its Broadway debut at the Knickerbocker Theatre on August 14, 1914...
").
The Smith Family
- Wendy Allnutt as Flo Smith
- Colin Farrell as Harry Smith
- Malcolm McFeeMalcolm McFeeMalcolm McFee was an English actor best known for his role as Peter Craven in the TV series Please Sir!, the film of the same name, and the spin-off TV series The Fenn Street Gang.-Career:Malcolm McFee made his first appearance on television in 1967...
as Freddie Smith - John Rae as Grandpa Smith
- Corin RedgraveCorin RedgraveCorin William Redgrave was an English actor and political activist.-Early life:Redgrave was born in Marylebone, London, the only son and middle child of actors Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson...
as Bertie Smith - Maurice RoëvesMaurice RoëvesMaurice Roëves is a British actor, born in Sunderland, County Durham on 19 March 1937.His television roles include Danger UXB , The Nightmare Man , the 1984 Doctor Who serial The Caves of Androzani, Days of our Lives , Tutti Frutti , Rab C...
as George Smith - Paul ShelleyPaul ShelleyPaul Shelley is an English actor.Shelley trained at RADA and has mainly worked in the theatre as a classical actor...
as Jack Smith - Kim Smith as Dickie Smith
- Angela ThorneAngela ThorneAngela Thorne is an English actress who is best known for her roles in To the Manor Born and Anyone for Denis?-Early life:Angela Thorne was born in Karachi, British India, , in 1939...
as Betty Smith - Mary WimbushMary WimbushMary Wimbush was an English actress, whose career spanned sixty years from the 1940s to the 2000s...
as Mary Smith
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as Staff Officer in Gassed Trench - Meriel ForbesMeriel ForbesMeriel Forbes was a British actress. She was married to the actor Ralph Richardson.-Selected filmography:* Girls Please! * The Belles of St. Clements * The Day Will Dawn * The Gentle Sex...
as Lady Grey - Ian HolmIan HolmSir Ian Holm, CBE is an English actor known for his stage work and for many film roles. He received the 1967 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor for his performance as Lenny in The Homecoming and the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance in the title role of King Lear...
as President PoincaréRaymond PoincaréRaymond Poincaré was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France on five separate occasions and as President of France from 1913 to 1920. Poincaré was a conservative leader primarily committed to political and social stability... - David LodgeDavid Lodge (actor)David William Frederick Lodge was a British character actor.Before turning to acting he worked as a circus clown...
as Recruiting Sergeant - Joe MeliaJoe Melia-Films:* Too Many Crooks * Follow a Star * The Intelligence Men * Four in the Morning * Modesty Blaise * Oh! What a Lovely War * Antony and Cleopatra * Sweeney!...
as The Photographer - Guy MiddletonGuy MiddletonGuy Middleton Powell, usually credited as Guy Middleton, was an English film character actor.Middleton was born in Hove, England and originally worked in the London Stock Exchange, before turning to acting in the 1930s...
as Sir William Robertson - Juliet Mills as Nurse
- Nanette NewmanNanette Newman-Early life:Newman was born in Northampton, England. She was educated at Sternhold College, the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts stage school and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.-Career:...
as Nurse - Cecil ParkerCecil ParkerCecil Parker was an English character and comedy actor with a distinctive husky voice, who usually played supporting roles in his 91 films made between 1928 and 1969....
as Sir John - Natasha ParryNatasha Parry-Selected filmography:* Dance Hall * Crow Hollow * Knave of Hearts * Windom's Way * The Rough and the Smooth * The Fourth Square * Girl in the Headlines * Romeo and Juliet...
as Sir William Robertson's Lady - Gerald SimGerald SimGerald Grant Sim is an English actor who is perhaps best known for playing the Rector in To the Manor Born. He is the younger brother of actress Sheila Sim and brother-in-law of actor/director Lord Attenborough.- Career :...
as Chaplain - Thorley WaltersThorley WaltersThorley Walters was an English character actor.He is probably best remembered for his comedy film roles such as in Two-Way Stretch and Carlton-Browne of the FO...
as Staff Officer in Ballroom - Anthony AinleyAnthony AinleyAnthony Ainley was an English actor best known for his work on British television and particularly for his role as the third Master in Doctor Who. He was the fourth actor to play the role of the Master, and the first actor to portray the Master as a recurring role after the death of Roger Delgado...
as Third Aide - Penelope Allen as Solo Chorus Girl
- Maurice Arthur as Soldier Singer
- Freddie Ascott as 'Whizzbang' Soldier
- Michael BatesMichael Bates (actor)Michael Bates was a British actor born in Jhansi, United Provinces, India.-Biography:Bates served as a Major serving with the Brigade of Gurkhas in Burma before his discharge at the end of World War II...
as Drunk Lance Corporal - Fanny Carby as Mill Girl
- Cecilia Darby as Sir Henry Wilson's Lady
- Geoffrey DaviesGeoffrey DaviesGeoffrey Davies is a British actor. The son of an accountant, he was educated at Grammar School and studied at Art College to be a commercial artist before becoming an actor...
as Aide - Edward FoxEdward Fox (actor)Edward Charles Morice Fox, OBE is an English stage, film and television actor.He is generally associated with portraying the role of the upper-class Englishman, such as the title character in the film The Day of the Jackal and King Edward VIII in the serial Edward & Mrs...
as Aide - George Ghent as Heckler
- Peter GilmorePeter GilmorePeter Gilmore is a British actor, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Captain James Onedin in the BBC Television period drama The Onedin Line. He also had roles in eleven Carry On films, and played the heroic lead in the adventure film Warlords of Atlantis...
as Private Burgess - Ben Howard as Private Garbett
- Norman JonesNorman Jones (actor)Norman Jones is an English actor, primarily on television. He has appeared in three Doctor Who serials — The Abominable Snowmen , Doctor Who and the Silurians and The Masque of Mandragora .A native of Shropshire, Norman Jones began his screen career in 1962, at the age of 27, appearing over...
as Scottish Soldier - Paddy Joyce as Irish Soldier
- Angus LennieAngus LennieAngus Lennie is a Scottish actor best known for his film appearance as Steve McQueen's friend Archibald Ives in the 1963 film The Great Escape. He was also known for being in the television soap opera Crossroads....
as Scottish Soldier - Harry LockeHarry LockeHarry Locke was a British character actor.He was born and died in London. He was a familiar face in three decades of British cinema, with appearances including Passport to Pimlico , Reach for the Sky , Carry On Nurse , The Devil-Ship Pirates and The Family Way .In 1969 he appeared in Randall...
as Heckler - Clifford MollisonClifford MollisonClifford Lely Mollison was a British film and television actor. He was married to the actress Avril Wheatley. His younger brother was the actor Henry Mollison.-Selected filmography:* The Lucky Number...
as Heckler - Derek NewarkDerek NewarkDerek Newark was an English actor.He appeared in a large number of film and television roles, including The Baron , The Avengers , Z Cars , Barlow at Large in the recurring role of Det. Insp...
as Shooting Gallery Proprietor - John Owens as Seamus Moore
- Ron PemberRon PemberRon Pember is a British actor, best known for his role as Alain Muny in the 1970s BBC drama series Secret Army.Pember played the part of the psychopathic taxman in the Red Dwarf episode "Better Than Life"...
as Corporal at Station - Dorothy Reynolds as Heckler
- Norman ShelleyNorman ShelleyNorman Shelley was an English actor, best known for his work in radio, in particular for the BBC's Children's Hour. He also had a recurring role as Colonel Danby in the long-running radio soap opera The Archers....
as Staff Officer in Ballroom - Marianne StoneMarianne StoneMarianne Stone was a British character actress. She appeared in many films from the early 1940s to the late 1980s...
as Mill Girl - John Trigger as Officer at Station
- Kathleen Wileman as Emma Smith at Age 4
Guest Stars
- Dirk BogardeDirk BogardeSir Dirk Bogarde was an English actor and novelist. Initially a matinee idol in such films as Doctor in the House and other Rank Organisation pictures, Bogarde later acted in art-house films such as Death in Venice...
as Stephen - Phyllis CalvertPhyllis CalvertPhyllis Calvert was an English film, stage and television actress. She was one of the leading stars of the Gainsborough melodramas of the 1940s....
as Lady Haig - Jean-Pierre CasselJean-Pierre CasselJean-Pierre Cassel was a French actor.-Life and career:Cassel was born Jean-Pierre Crochon in Paris, the son of Louise-Marguerite , an opera singer, and Georges Crochon, a doctor. Cassel was discovered by Gene Kelly as he tap danced on stage, and later cast in the 1957 film The Happy Road...
as French Colonel - John ClementsJohn ClementsSir John Selby Clements, CBE was an English actor and producer who worked in theatre, television and film.Clements attended St Paul's School and St John's College, Cambridge University then worked with Nigel Playfair and afterwards spent a few years in Ben Greet's Shakespearean Company. He made...
as General von Moltke - John GielgudJohn GielgudSir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
as Count Leopold Berchtold - Jack HawkinsJack HawkinsColonel John Edward "Jack" Hawkins CBE was an English actor of the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s.-Career:Hawkins was born at Lyndhurst Road, Wood Green, Middlesex, the son of master builder Thomas George Hawkins and his wife, Phoebe née Goodman. The youngest of four children in a close-knit family,...
as Emperor Franz Josef IFranz Joseph I of AustriaFranz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I was Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Galicia and Lodomeria and Grand Duke of Cracow from 1848 until his death in 1916.In the December of 1848, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated the throne as part of... - Kenneth MoreKenneth MoreKenneth Gilbert More CBE was a highly successful English film actor during the post-World War II era and starred in many feature films, often in the role of an archetypal carefree and happy-go-lucky middle-class gentleman.-Early life:Kenneth More was born in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, the...
as Kaiser Wilhelm IIWilliam II, German EmperorWilhelm II was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, ruling the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia from 15 June 1888 to 9 November 1918. He was a grandson of the British Queen Victoria and related to many monarchs and princes of Europe... - Laurence OlivierLaurence OlivierLaurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
as Field Marshal Sir John FrenchJohn French, 1st Earl of YpresField Marshal John Denton Pinkstone French, 1st Earl of Ypres, KP, GCB, OM, GCVO, KCMG, ADC, PC , known as The Viscount French between 1916 and 1922, was a British and Anglo-Irish officer... - Michael RedgraveMichael RedgraveSir Michael Scudamore Redgrave, CBE was an English stage and film actor, director, manager and author.-Youth and education:...
as General Sir Henry Wilson - Vanessa RedgraveVanessa RedgraveVanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
as Sylvia PankhurstSylvia PankhurstEstelle Sylvia Pankhurst was an English campaigner for the suffragist movement in the United Kingdom. She was for a time a prominent left communist who then devoted herself to the cause of anti-fascism.-Early life:... - Ralph RichardsonRalph RichardsonSir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films....
as Sir Edward GreyEdward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of FallodonEdward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon KG, PC, FZL, DL , better known as Sir Edward Grey, Bt, was a British Liberal statesman. He served as Foreign Secretary from 1905 to 1916, the longest continuous tenure of any person in that office... - Maggie SmithMaggie SmithDame Margaret Natalie Smith, DBE , better known as Maggie Smith, is an English film, stage, and television actress who made her stage debut in 1952 and is still performing after 59 years...
as Music Hall Star - Susannah YorkSusannah YorkSusannah York was a British film, stage and television actress. She was awarded a BAFTA as Best Supporting Actress for They Shoot Horses, Don't They? and was nominated for an Oscar and Golden Globe for the same film. She won best actress for Images at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival...
as Eleanor - John MillsJohn MillsSir John Mills CBE , born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills, was an English actor who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades.-Life and career:...
as Field Marshal Sir Douglas HaigDouglas Haig, 1st Earl HaigField Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, KT, GCB, OM, GCVO, KCIE, ADC, was a British senior officer during World War I. He commanded the British Expeditionary Force from 1915 to the end of the War...
Production
The 1969 film transferred the mise-en-scene completely into the cinematic domain, with elaborate sequences shot at West Pier, BrightonWest Pier, Brighton
The West Pier is a pier in Brighton, England. It was built in 1866 by Eugenius Birch and has been closed and deteriorating since 1975, awaiting renovation...
, elsewhere in Brighton and on the South Downs
South Downs
The South Downs is a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen Valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, East Sussex, in the east. It is bounded on its northern side by a steep escarpment, from whose...
, interspersed with motif
Motif (narrative)
In narrative, a motif is any recurring element that has symbolic significance in a story. Through its repetition, a motif can help produce other narrative aspects such as theme or mood....
s from the stage production. These included the 'cricket' scoreboards showing the number of dead, but Attenborough did not use the pierrot costumes. However, as many critics, including Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Earlier in her career, her work appeared in City Lights, McCall's and The New Republic....
, noted, the treatment diminished the effect of the numbers of deaths, which appear only fleetingly. Nonetheless, Attenborough's final sequence, ending in a helicopter shot
Helicopter shot
In Cricket the helicopter shot is one invented by Mahendra Singh Dhoni. It is played by swinging the bat like a propeller.You can see this shot is already used by Sachin Tendulkar during 2002 so its still not concludent that Mahendra Singh Dhoni invented it on whole. Dhoni used it for straight...
of thousands of war graves is regarded as one of the most memorable moments of the film. according to Attenborough, sixteen thousand white crosses had to be hammered into individually-dug holes due to the hardness of the soil. Although this is effective at symbolising the scale of death, the number of crosses was in fact less than the number of deaths in a single battle.
The film was shot in the Brighton, East Sussex, area of the U.K. in the summer of 1968. Many of the extras were local folk, but a great many were students from the University of Sussex
University of Sussex
The University of Sussex is an English public research university situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, within the city of Brighton and Hove. The University received its Royal Charter in August 1961....
, Falmer, on the outskirts of the city. The film's locations included the West Pier (now virtually demolished), Ditchling Beacon
Ditchling Beacon
Ditchling Beacon is the third-highest point on the South Downs in south-east England, behind Butser Hill and Crown Tegleaze . It consists of a large chalk hill with a particularly steep northern face, covered with open grassland and sheep-grazing areas...
, Sheepcote Valley (the trench sequences), Old Bayham Abbey, near Lamberhurst
Lamberhurst
Lamberhurst is a village and civil parish in Kent although the latter parish was at first in both Kent and East Sussex. The line of the county border was adjusted following the Local Government Act 1894, which required that parish boundaries be aligned with counties...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
(the church parade),Brighton Station and Ovingdean
Ovingdean
Ovingdean is a small formerly agricultural village which was absorbed into the borough of Brighton, East Sussex, UK, in 1928, and now forms part of the city of Brighton and Hove. It has expanded through the growth of residential streets on its eastern and southern sides, and now has a population of...
(where hundreds of crosses were erected for the classic finale).
The screenwriter, future novelist Len Deighton
Len Deighton
Leonard Cyril Deighton is a British military historian, cookery writer, and novelist. He is perhaps most famous for his spy novel The IPCRESS File, which was made into a film starring Michael Caine....
asked for his name to be removed from the film's credits after seeing rushes of the film, stating that what was filmed was not as he conceived it. He later stated that he regretted the decision.
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 impersonatorDrag king
Drag kings are mostly female performance artists who dress in masculine drag and personify male gender stereotypes as part of their performance. A typical drag king routine may incorporate dancing and singing, live as in the Momma's Boyz of San Francisco's performances or lip-synching...
Ella Shields
Ella Shields
Ella Shields was a music hall singer and male-impersonator. Her famous signature song, "Burlington Bertie from Bow", written by her manager and first husband, William Hargreaves, was an immediate hit. Though American-born, Ella achieved her greatest success in England.-Biography:Ella Shields was...
. Here is the first verse and the chorus:
- 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 sergeantSergeantSergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
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
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
renditions, one from 1918, can be found at Firstworldwar.com
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 OlivierLaurence OlivierLaurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
) 1970
Radio musical documentary
Charles ChiltonCharles Chilton
Charles Chilton MBE is a BBC radio presenter, a writer and a producer. Born in Bloomsbury in London, England, he never knew his father - who was killed during World War I - and when he was six his mother died as a result of having a botched abortion, so he was raised by his grandmother. He was...
, producer of the film, created a radio musical of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
songs called The Long Long Trail (1962), named for the popular music hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
song, There's a long, long trail a winding
There's A Long Long Trail A-Winding
"There's a Long, Long Trail" is a popular song of World War I. The lyrics were by Stoddard King and the music by Alonzo "Zo" Elliott, both seniors at Yale....
. The piece was a radio documentary that used facts and statistics, juxtaposed with songs of the time, as an ironic critique of the reality of the war.