The obvious question for the filmmakers responsible for this is: Why? Why give us yet another take on War Is Hell especially when the superior Paths Of Glory was still fresh in the mind and, perhaps more pertinently, when you can't bring anything new to the table and therefore seem content - if not happy - to trot out the same old clichés left over from Journey's End and All Quiet On The Western Front, the mud, the rain, the rats, the duck-boards, the bombardments, the soldiers-as-ciphers bit. All we can do now is vote on the acting which is adequate-to-good with Bogarde and Courtenay leading a company of Elstree-hardened veterans. Bogarde apparently was bitterly disappointed by the poor reception the film drew on its initial release but what, realistically, could he expect from what is essentially a photographed stage play which wallows in rather than attempting to erase its origins.
Review of King & Country
