Leofwine_draca Review of Oh! What a Lovely War

Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)

Lavish, colourful, with an all star cast

[6/10 · 1 March 2018]

OH! WHAT A LOVELY WAR is Richard Attenborough's lavish, colourful, all-star-cast feature film version of the popular Broadway stage musical satire of WW1. It presents a heavily stylised look at the war, from its inception in the rivalries between various European dynasties, through to the massive toll on the armies of those taking part. It's an outlandish production that time and again hits the mark in skewering the craziness of the whole war, particularly focusing on the propaganda dished out to both the soldiers and those they left behind at home. The cast is incredible and features more big and small stars than you'd expect to see in a single movie. In the end, however, a musical lives or dies on the strength of the songs it contains, and this film's songs are very well written, highly catchy, and most of all, funny. The second half in particular features one song after another and it makes the running time just fly past.