Fabrica Film Club: Oh! What a Lovely War (1969, 144mins, PG)
Fabrica Film Club is marking the Centenary of the First World War with this classic musical, directed by Sir Richard Attenborough and partly filmed on our very own West Pier of Brighton.
Based on Joan Littlewood’s 1963 stage musical, Oh, What a Lovely War! this adaptation is packed with British stars (Olivier, Gielgud, Redgraves’) follows some of the most noted stages of the war, and revolves around the marching songs of the soldiers. Filled with satire, this daring anti-war film reflects Britains experience of losing an entire generation to the conflict.
“Oh! What a Lovely War” does recreate this time, in a bitter mixture of history, satire, detail, panorama and music. Especially music. There is something paradoxical in the thought of singing about a war, and yet cheap popular songs often capture the spirit of a time better than any collection of speeches and histories. Miss Littlewood, and Attenborough after her, present the war as a British music hall review; there’s a lot of smiling up front, but backstage you can see the greasepaint and smell the sweat, and the smiles become desperate, and there begins to be blood. – Roger Ebert
Comfy chairs, bean bags, blankets and free nibbles. Low-cost pay bar. Doors open 6pm, film starts promptly at 6.30pm.
Film Club is free to book, but please ensure if you have booked that you come, or if you find you can’t attend, let us know so someone on the waiting list can attend instead – we hate wasted seats!