People are voting emotionally.

Best movie of this year hands down!

Best movie ever!

Absolutely Brilliant!

Shocking, brilliant, unforgettable. The most brilliant indictment of the idiocy of war. Don't be discouraged by the title or the fact that it is a musical. It contrasts the propaganda and misinformation with the real horror and cost in lives of the war. It does it with music and song and with readings. All based on fact.A film that you will remember for ever.

Richard Attenborough's directorial debut, this brilliant satirical musical is a scathing exploration of the futility of war and a fascinating exploration of the affect that it has on ordinary people, both soldiers and those on the home front. Based on the 1963 stage play of the same name by Joan Littlewood which was itself based on the radio play "The Long Long Trail" by Charles Chilton of "Journey into Space" fame, it is a highly stylised depiction of World War I which uses the extremely catchy music hall songs of the period to great effect. A great contrast between the mostly incompetent officer class and the decent, honest, doomed Tommies is seen throughout the film.In the film, Brighton Pier is Britain in a microcosm and the early enthusiasm with which the war was greeted is conveyed by Field Marshal Haig selling tickets to it on the pier. The relentless slaughter of the war is wonderfully juxtaposed by the relentless jingoism of the songs. This is perhaps best illustrated by the scene of shell shocked soldiers, most of whom are exhibiting the thousand yard stare, set to the tune of "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag". Another great example is the fact that the number of British casualties (1,500,000) can be seen in the background while Haig and his staff sing "Oh! It's a Lovely War". The sheer traumatic effect of the fighting on the Tommies is depicted magnificently. My great-grandfather served in the Connaught Rangers on the Western Front and received two Distinguished Conduct Medals. He and his two brothers were all lucky enough to survive but he never recovered from his experiences. At night, he would often sit by the fire with his head in his hands. Like many of his fellow soldiers, he would probably be diagnosed with PTSD today.Towards the end of the film when the Armistice is signed in the Brighton Pier fantasy world, the dignitaries are unable to see Jack Smith. While he is later revealed to be a ghost, I took this as being representative of the elite being blind to the effect that the war had on the people. What is really interesting about the film is that, while millions of deaths are described or implied, we never actually see anyone die on screen. The closest that we come to it is near the beginning when the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie fall over after they get their photograph taken, which represents their assassination. Throughout the film, the appearance of poppies foreshadows death. The most powerful shot in the film is the final one featuring thousands of white crosses. It manages to be both beautiful and heartbreaking.The cast list of the film reads like a Who's Who of British cinema. John Mills was cast against type as the extremely unsympathetic Field Marshal Haig, the film's most memorable character and the closest thing that it has to a villain. He plays him brilliantly as an obstinate fool who cares little for human life. Dirk Bogarde and Susannah York are perfectly cast as a pair of toffs who believe that the war is a great game which the soldiers love. Vanessa Redgrave has a great cameo as the suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst who, interestingly, is the only character in the film who directly says anything against the war itself as opposed to its mismanagement. The role was not exactly a stretch for her as she was and is well known for her activism. At the time that the film was made, she was an active campaigner against the Vietnam War. Her father Michael plays General Sir Henry Wilson, one of the more sensible members of the general staff, while her younger brother Corin plays Bertie Smith but none of them have any scenes together. Laurence Olivier has a very entertaining cameo as Haig's predecessor Sir John French, who cannot remember the name of the woman who has accompanied him to the ball. It also features great appearances from John Gielgud, Kenneth More, Ian Holm and Maggie Smith, among many others.Overall, this is one of the best anti-war films and best musicals that I have ever seen. I think the reason that it was ignored by the Oscars was that it could easily be seen and was almost certainly intended as an indictment of not only World War I but the Vietnam War as well.

First of all, I should probably point out that I am almost certainly one of the youngest to review this film. My parents both saw the original stage production and are often waxing lyrical about it, so naturally when I discovered we also owned the DVD, my interest was piqued.And...what a film it is!Having been raised watching films dating back to the 50s, the 'dated' (if you can call it that) cinematography didn't concern me a bit. Instead, I was captivated all the way through, from the opening where the initial preparations of war are played out like an absurd live action game of Risk, to the final heart-wrenching shot of what seem to be endless rows of crosses. Despite the film's unusually long running time I found I wasn't once bored (and that's quite an achievement). I was astonished to find out this was Richard Attenborough's directorial debut - it seemed as well directed as any, and better than some, long-time directors.The film begins on pier where the start of the war is heralded by the public like some sort of carnival, before degenerating into the bleak, shell-shocked atmosphere we've come to associate with both World Wars. The film follows the Smith family as each male in the family signs up to take part in WWI, as well as glimpses into historical figures such as Sir Douglas Haig (played to perfection by Sir John Mills). The film is deeply satirical and unashamedly critical in its views of these officers who ordered thousands to their deaths as part of misguided attrition tactics. A memorable shot occurs during the title song, where Haig stumbles around blindfolded as part of a game of Blind Man's Bluff while a large cricket scoreboard looms over him displaying horrifying statistics of men lost vs ground gained. The film holds much of this juxtaposition between gut-wrenching realism and pathos, and events so ridiculous you almost can't help but laugh - a prime example being the arrival of the Americans into the war (cheerfully singing 'Over There') and the astounded expressions on the faces of Haig and co., and a second later you're back in the trenches with one of the Smiths preparing for a final offensive. The film is also deeply symbolic: there is no blood and all deaths occur of screen but all are foreshadowed by the appearance of a poppy near the doomed soldiers so that their fate is left in no doubt, all the while an eerily cheerful Joe Melia continues to pop up giving significant glances and smirks to the viewer as each Smith signs up - a figure easily comparable to Joel Grey's Emcee in 'Cabaret'.As someone who has been disillusioned with the idea of Remembrance Day since it seemingly became a promotional tool for any war our country currently invites itself into, this film certainly helped me remember what that day is really about. In my opinion, this film holds up against modern WWI films such as War Horse or Saving Private Ryan; however this film has the advantage of having (quite literally) an all-star cast who are all at the top of their game: names like John Mills, Maggie Smith, Ian Holm, Laurence Olivier, several Redgraves, Susannah York - all of whom are still known and recognised today.I don't care if this film was made before I was born; we need more films like this nowadays: less 3D CGI gimmick-y, more geared towards delivering a structured film with stellar acting from all involved. An absolute perfect 10.

This allegorical musical based on the British view of World War I found a friendly audience in America which was going through the Vietnam war protests at the time it got to the big screen in 1969. It had run on Broadway for 125 performances in the 1964-65 season.One of the things that director Richard Attenborough did is populate the cast of the major war figures with some of the biggest names in British cinema. That certainly guaranteed a bit of box office for him, but I also think that Attenborough being a very well liked man he was able to get people like Laurence Olivier, Michael Redgrave, John Mills, and Ralph Richardson and many others for probably less than the usual going rate.The musical numbers however were done by a cast of unknown folks for the most part. Songs of the era and the acidly satirical versions of them popular in the trenches at the time are heard. The music is from a variety of sources, most I'm sure had passed into the public domain. As for satirical to give you an example the finale has a male chorus singing a version of Jerome Kern's They Didn't Believe Me. But Herbert Reynolds's lyrics get no credit and when you hear this version you'll know why.The causes of World War I is one of those great historical topics that historians amateur and professional will be writing about for years. My own opinion is that the end of it involved a race between how fast trained American troops could get to the western front to make the difference as Germany was transferring troops from the now abandoned eastern front against the Russians. The eastern front and the various far flung world wide fronts have stories all their own.I believe the same film could be made in Russia, France, Germany, and the Austrian remnant of the Hapsburg empire as they were the major players. The British and French colonial and commonwealth powers and other allies have a different slant on it. The American version is unique because the war had been going on for four years before appreciable American participation started in the spring of 1918.It was a colossal piece of human stupidity that people then could not comprehend after 100 years of relative peace in Europe. Automatic weapons made for the ultimate in defensive war, the trench. From about Antwerp in Belgium, through France to the Swiss border was a line of trenches as the Allies and Central Powers sought to just have that one big push that would make victory. An entire generation of the continent was wiped out, by the war and by the great influenza epidemic that followed as health services were depreciated badly because of the late conflict. Small wonder that a strong peace movement developed in the Twenties and Thirties. And smaller wonder that Germany who lost the attrition essentially was given total blame for the catastrophe and saddled with war reparations that crippled it. It's what made Adolph Hitler.World War I was also an era of magnificent poignant melodies that gained popularity. There's A Long Long Trail a Winding, Roses Of Picardy which had certainly no martial spirit gained eternal popularity and they're done straight. As is It's A Long Long Way to Tipperary whose lyrics have nothing to do with the war, but was enormously popular in the era, naturally among the Irish soldiers.Oh What A Lovely War was a great triumphal directorial debut for Richard Attenborough. For someone with no appreciable musical background he did well directing a musical. And the film absolutely betrays no stage origins, in fact it's almost hard to imagine it on stage. Try not to miss this one.