Editing Oh! What a Lovely War (section)

==Reception==
[[Vincent Canby]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' called it "a big, elaborate, sometimes realistic film whose elephantine physical proportions and often brilliant all-star cast simply overwhelm the material with a surfeit of good intentions."<ref>{{cite news|author-link=Vincent Canby |last=Canby |first=Vincent |date=3 October 1969 |title=Film Festival: Jolly Satire |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |page=34 }}</ref> ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' called the film "dedicated, exhilarating, shrewd, mocking, funny, emotional, witty, poignant and technically brilliant."<ref>{{cite magazine |date=16 April 1969 |title=Oh! What a Lovely War |magazine=Variety |page=6 }}</ref> [[Roger Ebert]] of the ''[[Chicago Sun Times]]'' gave the film 4 stars out of 4, writing that it was not a movie but "an elaborately staged tableau, a dazzling use of the camera to achieve essentially theatrical effects. And judged on that basis, Richard Attenborough has given us a breathtaking evening."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/oh-what-a-lovely-war-1969 |title=Oh! What a Lovely War |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |date=30 October 1969 |newspaper=[[Chicago Sun Times]] |access-date=7 October 2020|via=[[RogerEbert.com]] }}{{rating|4|4}}</ref> [[Gene Siskel]] of the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' also gave the film a perfect grade of 4 stars and wrote it "deserves an Academy Award nomination for the best picture of the year ... You can sit back and enjoy this film on any one of many levels. The songs are good, the lyrics are biting; the staging and costuming blend with the story rather than overshadow it. The acting seems effortless."<ref>{{cite news|author-link=Gene Siskel|last=Siskel|first=Gene|date=31 October 1969|title=O! what a lovely motion picture!|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|page=17, Section 2 }}{{rating|4|4}}</ref> Kevin Thomas of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' wrote: "What noted British actor Richard Attenborough, in a dazzling directorial debut, and his principal writers Len Deighton and Brian Duffy have done is to transform the highly political and one-dimensional Joan Littlewood theatre piece into timeless—and painfully timely—tragic allegory."<ref>{{cite news|author-link=Kevin Thomas (film critic)|last=Thomas|first=Kevin|date=17 September 1969|title='Lovely War' Accomplishes a Difficult Artistic Task|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|page=1, Part IV}}</ref> Gary Arnold of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' wrote: "The conception is intriguing, but the film turns into an infernal, precision machine. As one big production number succeeded the other and one perfectly measured and symmetrical tableau faded into the next, I began to feel stupefied rather than touched. The physical production was rolling over the songs, the characters and the vignettes."<ref>{{cite news |last=Arnold |first=Gary |date=17 October 1969 |title=Lovely War |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |page=B13 }}</ref> David Wilson of ''[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' wrote that "one is simply left admiring a worthy mosaic of bits and pieces, full of good ideas but nowhere near to being a self-contained dramatic entity."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wilson |first=David |date=May 1969 |title=Oh! What A Lovely War |journal=[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=36 |issue=424 |page=94 }}</ref>

The film presently has a score of 75% on [[Rotten Tomatoes]] based on 16 reviews, with an average grade of 8.2 out of 10.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/oh_what_a_lovely_war/ |title=Oh! What A Lovely War |publisher=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |date=22 September 2015 |access-date= 6 February 2024 }}</ref>

The ''[[Toronto Star]]'' received complaints from veteran organizations about the advertisement for the film that featured cemetery crosses and later ran the adverts without the image.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=15 October 1969 |title=Toronto Star 'Censors' Ads For 'Lovely War'; 'Cemetery' Irks Vets |magazine=Variety |page=22 }}</ref>

===Box office===
It ranked the 16th film at the UK box office in 1969.<ref>"The World's Top Twenty Films." Sunday Times [London, England] 27 Sept. 1970: 27. The Sunday Times Digital Archive. accessed 5 April 2014</ref>

===Accolades===
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! Award
! Category
! Nominee(s)
! Result
! Ref.
|-
| rowspan="10"| [[23rd British Academy Film Awards|British Academy Film Awards]]
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Film|Best Film]]
| rowspan="2"| [[Richard Attenborough]]
| {{nom}}
| rowspan="10" align="center"| <ref>{{cite web |title=BAFTA Awards (1970) |publisher=[[British Academy of Film and Television Arts]] |url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/1970/film |access-date=23 November 2013}}</ref>
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Direction|Best Direction]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role|Best Actor in a Supporting Role]]
| [[Laurence Olivier]]
| {{won}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role|Best Actress in a Supporting Role]]
| [[Mary Wimbush]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Production Design|Best Art Direction]]
| [[Donald M. Ashton]]
| {{won}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]]
| [[Gerry Turpin]]
| {{won}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design|Best Costume Design]]
| [[Anthony Mendleson]]
| {{won}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Editing|Best Editing]]
| [[Kevin Connor (director)|Kevin Connor]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Sound|Best Soundtrack]]
| [[Don Challis]] and [[Simon Kaye]]
| {{won}}
|-
| United Nations Award
| Richard Attenborough
| {{won}}
|-
| [[British Society of Cinematographers#Award categories|British Society of Cinematographers Awards]]
| [[British Society of Cinematographers Award for Best Cinematography in a Theatrical Feature Film|Best Cinematography in a Theatrical Feature Film]]
| Gerry Turpin
| {{won}}
| align="center"| <ref>{{cite web|url=https://bscine.com/media/uploads/awards/bsc-cinematography-feature-film.pdf?v |title=Best Cinematography in Feature Film |access-date=3 June 2021}}</ref>
|-
| [[22nd Directors Guild of America Awards|Directors Guild of America Awards]]
| [[Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film|Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures]]
| Richard Attenborough
| {{nom}}
| align="center"| <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dga.org/Awards/History/1960s/1969.aspx?value=1969|title=22nd DGA Awards |website=[[Directors Guild of America Awards]] |access-date=5 July 2021}}</ref>
|-
| [[27th Golden Globe Awards|Golden Globe Awards]]
| colspan="2"| [[Golden Globe Award for Best English-Language Foreign Film|Best English-Language Foreign Film]]
| {{won}}
| align="center"| <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.goldenglobes.com/film/oh-what-lovely-war |title=Oh! What a Lovely War – Golden Globes |website=[[HFPA]] |access-date=5 July 2021 |ref={{harvid|HFPA|1970}}}}</ref>
|-
| [[Mar del Plata International Film Festival]]
| Best Feature Film
| Richard Attenborough
| {{nom}}
| align="center"| <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mardelplatafilmfest.com/37/en/edicion/11 |title=37th Mar del Plata International Film Festival |website=[[Mar del Plata International Film Festival]] |date=26 December 2022 |access-date=26 December 2022}}</ref>
|-
| rowspan="2"| [[1969 New York Film Critics Circle Awards|New York Film Critics Circle Awards]]
| colspan="2"| [[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film|Best Film]]
| {{Runner-up}}
| rowspan="2" align="center"| <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nyfcc.com/awards/?awardyear=1969 |title=1969 New York Film Critics Circle Awards |website=[[New York Film Critics Circle]] |access-date=3 June 2021}}</ref>
|-
| [[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
| Richard Attenborough
| {{Runner-up}}
|}