The working-class Smiths change their initially sunny views on World War I after the five boys of the family witness the harsh reality of trench warfare.
Direction
Attenborough's debut — ambitious theatrical staging meets cinema.
Production
Bright Pierrot costumes vs. muddy trenches — deliberate visual clash.
Acting
Olivier's French: silent film villainy in a 'realistic' war epic.
Director
Richard Attenborough
Laurence Olivier
Field Marshal Sir John French
Vanessa Redgrave
Sylvia Pankhurst
Maggie Smith
Music Hall Star
John Mills
Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig
Corin Redgrave
Bertie Smith
Maurice Roëves
George Smith
Ian Holm
President Poincare
Juliet Mills
Nurse
Michael Bates
Drunk Lance Corporal
Edward Fox
Aide to Field-Marshal Haig
Dirk Bogarde
Stephen
Jean-Pierre Cassel
French Colonel
John Clements
Gen. von Moltke
John Gielgud
Count Leopold Von Berchtold
Jack Hawkins
Emperor Franz Josef
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Based on Joan Littlewood's 1963 stage production that pioneered 'Brechtian' anti-war theatre in Britain — Attenborough essentially filmed radical agitprop with a Hollywood budget.
The Brighton Pavilion scenes used the actual location where WWI Indian soldiers were treated — Littlewood's original staging made this connection explicit, while Attenborough's film buried it in visual grandeur.
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