Monday | November 28, 2005 8:45 pm

Oh! What A Lovely War

Screening on Film

Directed by Richard Attenborough.
With Maggie Smith, John Mills, Laurence Olivier.
UK, 1969, 35mm, color, 144 min.

Attenborough's directorial debut is a satirical musical history of WWI, adapted from Joan Littlewood's stage play and told mostly through soldiers' marching songs (with sarcastic revisions intact). The war is promoted as an exciting boardwalk amusement; death tolls are displayed on a cricket scoreboard; generals play leapfrog. Monty Python-esque touches notwithstanding, the devastating ironies and absurdities of large-scale conflict are driven home via a decidedly black sense of humor. Featuring all-star English thespian cameos from Olivier, Michael Redgrave, Smith and others.