Eight years before Academy Award-winning director Richard Attenborough filmed his WWII epic A Bridge Too Far, he made his directorial debut with a satirical musical take on the First World War, with Oh! What a Lovely War. Based on the 1963 stage musical, Attenborough assembled an extraordinary ensemble cast for this lavish epic: Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Dirk Bogarde, Vanessa Redgrave, John Gielgud, John Mills, Kenneth More, Ralph Richardson, Michael Redgrave, Ian Holm, Edward Fox, and Susannah York. Following the working-class Smith family as they are swept up in the tide of war, the film unfolds against the stylised backdrop...

Eight years before Academy Award-winning director Richard Attenborough filmed his WWII epic A Bridge Too Far, he made his directorial debut with a satirical musical take on the First World War, with Oh! What a Lovely War.

Based on the 1963 stage musical, Attenborough assembled an extraordinary ensemble cast for this lavish epic: Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Dirk Bogarde, Vanessa Redgrave, John Gielgud, John Mills, Kenneth More, Ralph Richardson, Michael Redgrave, Ian Holm, Edward Fox, and Susannah York.

Following the working-class Smith family as they are swept up in the tide of war, the film unfolds against the stylised backdrop of Brighton's West Pier - a theatrical stage on which the entire catastrophe of 1914-1918 is played out with dark wit and growing horror.

Awarded four out of four stars by critic Roger Ebert, who described the film as "an elaborately staged tableau? Richard Attenborough has given us a breathtaking evening".

1500 copies only.