Editing Oh! What a Lovely War (section)

==Production==
The producers were the novelist [[Len Deighton]], photographer [[Brian Duffy (photographer)|Brian Duffy]]<ref name=indy06>{{Cite news | last = Scott | first = Robert Dawson | title = Len Deighton: The spy and I |work=The Independent|location=UK | date = 4 January 2006 | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/len-deighton-the-spy-and-i-521520.html | access-date = 14 January 2014}}</ref> and Richard Attenborough, who was making his directorial debut.<ref name="Dempsey_DW2001">{{cite web|last=Dempsey|first=Mike|title=Immaculate conception|work=Design Week|publication-date=2001-12-14 | url=http://www.mad.co.uk/Main/News/Disciplines/Design/Articles/e9b9bcb0f6fc43b58a0252154c35e868/Immaculate-conception.html|access-date=2007-12-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719095559/http://www.mad.co.uk/Main/News/Disciplines/Design/Articles/e9b9bcb0f6fc43b58a0252154c35e868/Immaculate-conception.html|archive-date=19 July 2011}} [http://mikedempsey.typepad.com/graphic_journey_blog/2009/01/an-eye-for-detail.html Alt URL]</ref> The Deighton Duffy production company had produced the film adaptation of Deighton's ''[[Only When I Larf (film)|Only When I Larf]]'' starring Richard Attenborough.<ref>{{cite news|title=Fashion and portrait photographer Brian Duffy dies aged 76|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/7805616/Fashion-and-portrait-photographer-Brian-Duffy-dies-aged-76.html|work=The Telegraph|date=5 June 2010|access-date=5 June 2010 | location=London | first=Roya | last=Nikkhah}}</ref> Deighton wrote the screenplay for ''Oh! What a Lovely War'' and the opening title sequence was created by Len Deighton's lifelong friend [[Raymond Hawkey]], the designer responsible for many of Deighton's book covers in the 1960s.<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/books-obituaries/7971812/Raymond-Hawkey.html | newspaper = [[The Daily Telegraph]]|location=London | date = 30 August 2010 | title = Books Obituaries: Raymond Hawkey | access-date = 2014-01-14}}</ref> In an attempt to shame other people who he thought were claiming credit for things they hadn't actually done, Deighton decided not to be listed in the film credits, a gesture he later described as "stupid and infantile".<ref name=indy06 />

The 1969 film transferred the [[mise-en-scène]] completely into the cinematic domain, with elaborate sequences shot at West Pier in Brighton, elsewhere in Brighton and on the [[South Downs]], interspersed with motifs from the stage production. These included the 'cricket' scoreboards showing the number of dead, but Deighton did not use the pierrot costumes. However, as many critics, including [[Pauline Kael]],<ref>Kael, Pauline (1971) 'Off with the statues' heads!' in ''Deeper into Movies'', Calder Boyars</ref> noted, the treatment diminished the effect of the numbers of deaths, which appear only fleetingly. Nonetheless, Deighton's final sequence, ending in a helicopter shot of thousands of war graves is regarded as one of the most memorable moments of the film. According to Attenborough, 16,000 white crosses had to be hammered into individually dug holes due to the hardness of the soil. Although this is effective in symbolising the scale of death, the number of crosses was in fact fewer than the number of deaths in a single battle: depicting the actual number killed in the entire war would have required the scale to have been [[World War I casualties|replicated more than 1000 times]].

The film was shot in the summer of 1968 in Sussex, mostly in the Brighton area. Many of the extras were local people, but a great many were students from the [[University of Sussex]], [[Falmer]], on the outskirts of the town. The film's locations included the West Pier (now gutted by fire and wrecked), [[Ditchling Beacon]], Sheepcote Valley (the trench sequences), Old [[Bayham Abbey]], near [[Frant]] (the church parade), [[Brighton railway station|Brighton station]] and [[Ovingdean]] (where thousands of crosses were erected for the classic finale).{{Citation needed|date=March 2011}}

===The song===
The song was written by J. P. Long and Maurice Scott in 1917 and was part of the repertoire of music hall star and male impersonator [[Ella Shields]].<ref>Max Arthur (2001) ''When This Bloody War Is Over''. London, Piatkus: 47</ref> The first verse and the chorus follow:

{{poemquote|Up to your waist in water,
Up to your eyes in slush –
Using the kind of language,
That makes the sergeant blush;
Who wouldn't join the army?
That's what we all inquire,
Don't we pity the poor civilians sitting beside the fire.

''Chorus:''
Oh! Oh! Oh! it's a lovely war,
Who wouldn't be a soldier eh?
Oh! It's a shame to take the pay.
As soon as reveille is gone
We feel just as heavy as lead,
But we never get up till the sergeant brings
Our breakfast up to bed
Oh! Oh! Oh! it's a lovely war,
What do we want with eggs and ham
When we've got plum and apple jam?
Form fours! Right turn!
How shall we spend the money we earn?
Oh! Oh! Oh! it's a lovely war.}}

Two pre-musical renditions, one from 1918, can be found at Firstworldwar.com.<ref>[http://www.firstworldwar.com/audio/ohitsalovelywar.htm firstworldwar.com]</ref> Almost all of the songs featured in the film also appear on the CD41 album series ''Oh! It's a Lovely War'' (four volumes).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ltmrecordings.com/oh!itsalovelywar.html|title = Automatic Redirect}}</ref>