Bertolt Brecht ‘Epic’ Theater meets British New Wave Cinema meets Anti-War Counter-Culture meets The Beatles (make that Beatle) in the non-linear narrative structure of Richard Lester’s regrettably toothless WWII satire. Michael Crawford, grave, glib & gangly, is the inept Lieutenant with orders to build a cricket field/pitch in not yet secure North Africa with his motley, undisciplined unit of misfits & malcontents. Using multiple perspectives, and jumping in time & space, the film pauses to break the fourth wall with small confidences from players; stops at a movie theater where this very film is playing as a pair of old biddies offer critical commentary; drop naturalistic color for tinted b&w film stock & surreal painted players; black up for a nighttime raid with Jack MacGowran putting on full Minstrel Show BlackFace; and mix in bits of Crawford’s P.O.W. days willy-nilly all thru the pic. It's too good-natured to be despised; too arbitrary to make much of an effect. As for that solitary Beatle, John Lennon, stiff Liverpool accent intact, wisely thought better about pursuing an acting career after this. Billed larger than his role as ‘batman’ to Crawford deserves, he did find his signature eye-glasses in the regulation period frames seen here. While in this third film for director Richard Lester, and budding up with Crawford on set, Lennon rarely looked so sunny & comfortable again.
DOUBLE-BILL: Out the previous year, Blake Edwards’ WHAT DID YOU DO IN THE WAR, DADDY? takes a while to find its footing (a common Edwardian fault), but is ultimately more farcical and more serious at finding absurdity & meaning in WWII. Perhaps Edward's actual war service helped. (Note poster copy line worried over confusion with the earlier film.)
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