OH! WHAT A LOVELY WAR (1969)

Richard Attenborough was an accomplished actor and Academy Award-winning filmmaker, but to younger generations he’s best known as “the old man who welcomed us to Jurassic Park.” When Dickie first sat in the director’s chair in March 1968, fifty years after the guns fell silent on the Western Front, he welcomed audiences to World War I, but not in the way they expected, with the extravagant classic, Oh! What a Lovely War – Available now on Blu-ray from Eureka Entertainment in the UK.

Attenborough presents the looming outbreak of war as a coming attraction with tickets on sale at Brighton’s Palace Pier. It’s a creative means to convey the eagerness of England and its empire to put on a show for the world, for what will be its first major conflict of the 20th century. However, the reality that awaits is far from anything they anticipated.

Oh! What a Lovely War is a well-dressed affair, as you might imagine, with a gathering of minds and egos from government, military, and the aristocracy in an unnamed ballroom that acts as the film’s central location. While obviously light in tone compared to most war pictures of the time, the regular segue into song and dance routines is not in any way disrespectful to the fallen. They mostly serve as a biting commentary on the public perception and how the powers that be are downplaying the unprecedented loss of life due to the developing nightmare of trench warfare. The pacing can be a little jarring as we often shift from the battlefield back to the shores of Britain, and some of the songs are a little long-winded, which have the tendency to stall the narrative’s momentum.

There are too many actors to name in what is largely a male-dominated cast with esteemed performers such as Ralph Richardson, Laurence Olivier, and John Gielgud in semi-leading roles. However, if there’s any one figure in command for the majority of the film, then it’s John Mills as Field Marshal Douglas Haig who’s conducting Britain’s war strategy, like how I used to play Command & Conquer with the A.I. set to “Brutal”. To point out two of my personal favourites, Susannah York and Dirk Bogarde appear briefly but memorably in guest roles as a sassy upmarket duo critiquing the conflict from afar with drinks in hand.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Limited edition O-card slipcase featuring original poster artwork [2000 copies]
Limited edition booklet featuring new writing on Oh! What a Lovely War by Andy Dougan, author of The Actors’ Director: Richard Attenborough Behind the Camera (2000 copies)
New audio commentary with British cinema scholars Melanie Williams and Lawrence Napper
Archival audio commentary with director Richard Attenborough
Your Country Needs You – new interview with film historian Simon Brown on depictions of World War I in British cinema, from The Battle of the Somme to 1917
Extensive making-of documentary presented in three parts: “Welcome to World War I,” “The Smith Family Album” and “Keep the Home Fires Burning”

As someone who generally sleeps on movies about the First World War, I now feel a lot more enlightened thanks to Simon Brown’s journey through the various titles in British cinema in Your Country Needs You. No period epic would be complete without a feature-length documentary, and like the good ol’ DVD days, Eureka has included a three-part making of from the SD era with Attenborough recounting his directorial debut. Commentaries and the limited edition booklet add to the rich history of the film itself and the history it unconventionally encompasses.

VIDEO AND AUDIO

Paramount Pictures have done better restorations in the past, but this’ll do nicely for an edition that’s a few years short of the 60^th anniversary. Given that Britain is seldom exposed to sunlight at the best of times, the image isn’t particularly bright, but there’s a palette of natural colours on display. The only main drawback is that the image lacks texture, which dilutes the level of sharpness.

The disc’s original English Mono track does the job, given the amount of dialogue, but if the film had more action in ‘No Man’s Land ’, it would’ve been underwhelming. Optional English subtitles are included.

Oh! What a Lovely War was not my cup of tea, despite tea being the most appropriate beverage to accompany one’s viewing. It’s an ambitious feature without question, which would probably be a hard sell to major studios today, but at the very least, if you have any sort of affinity for English actors from over fifty years ago, the whole gang’s here.

OH! WHAT A LOVELY WAR
(1969, director: Richard Attenborough)