The film showing at Corrie film club on Sunday November 11th is Oh! What a Lovely War ( Richard Attenborough UK 1969 138 minutes Cert PG).
Based on a celebrated anti-war stage piece produced by Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop, the film chronicles the various madnesses of the First World War. Along with vignettes involving the members of the fictional Smith family, the film uses songs of the war, mostly patriotic; and by using the real-life words of various figures from WWI.
The film follows the Smith family, who initially view the war with sunny optimism. But after the Smith boys – Jack (Malcolm McFee), Freddie , Harry (Maurice Roëves) and George (Paul Shelley) – witness the reality of trench warfare, their illusions are shattered, and the best they can hope for is survival.
Attenborough enlisted a staggering who’s who of his fellow British actors for roles in the large ensemble: Olivier, Gielgud, and Richardson among them.
A printable schedule for the whole 2018/2019 season can be downloaded from this link.