Oh! What a Lovely War poster
Director Richard Attenborough
Screenplay Len Deighton

Oh! What a Lovely War

Tagline: The ever popular war games. With songs, battles & a few jokes

Release Date: 1969-03-10

Duration: 138 minutes

Synopsis

Satire about the First World War based on a stage musical of the same name, portraying the "Game of War" and focusing mainly on the members of one family (last name Smith) who go off to war. Much of the action in the movie revolves around the words of the marching songs of the soldiers, and many scenes portray some of the more famous (and infamous) incidents of the war, including the assassination of Duke Ferdinand, the Christmas meeting between British and German soldiers in no-mans-land, and the wiping out by their own side of a force of Irish soldiers newly arrived at the front, after successfully capturing a ridge that had been contested for some time.

Casting

  • Maggie Smith
    Music Hall Star
  • Jane Seymour
    Chorus Girl (uncredited)
  • Edward Fox
    Aide to Field-Marshal Haig
  • Ian Holm
    President Poincare
  • Laurence Olivier
    Field Marshal Sir John French
  • Vanessa Redgrave
    Sylvia Pankhurst
  • Colin Farrell
    Harry Arnold Smith
  • Jean-Pierre Cassel
    French Colonel
  • Juliet Mills
    Nurse
  • Dirk Bogarde
    Stephen