All the King's Men (1999)

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

The United States only had a year's worth of involvement in the first World War war, with our British brothers giving their lives long before we went over there. This is one story of one troop, all servants of the Queen Mother (Maggie Smith), who go off to battle and never return. David Jason is excellent as the Queen's former butler who is in command of the battalion. The fact that he is joined in this battle by several of his own sons is reminiscent of the American Sullivan brothers, all killed on the same navy ship during the second World War.While this is set during historical times also covered in the second season of "Downton Abbey", it is ironic to see two of its cast members (Dame Maggie Smith and Phyllis Logan) here playing two totally different kind of characters. As Lady Violent on "Downton Abbey", Smith is extremely imperious and sardonic; Here, she is the mother of King George V, one that Lady Violet would have to curtsy towards. However, this Queen Mum is not at all imperious; She shows extreme loyalty to her servants who have been loyal to her, stops by a country wedding to comment on the beautiful bride, and is the force behind the investigation as to what happened. Every word out of mouth denotes gentility and kindness, and in a few spots, I thought I was seeing Vanessa Redgrave, not Dame Maggie. Logan here plays a lady of some means, also quite different than her "Downton Abbey" housekeeper.While this is an intriguing movie and certainly well filmed, I thought that the battle scenes were blurry and somewhat dizzying. This made the impact of what happens somewhat lessened for me, although what the final outcome ends up being is certainly horrifying and definitely shocking.

Firstly, I'm not a fan of 'war' movies, per se, but I got this because it starred a young actor, James Murray (22 at the time).What struck me forcibly was how the film made these men so much more real than just patriots going off to fight for King and Country. There is such emotion and heartache, love and loss, from the housemaid wedding her sweetheart, to a unrequited romance between a young Lord and his groom. All these people were ill prepared for the reality of war, and you experience it right along with them - right to the bitter and inglorious end.I found it very moving and incredibly detailed, a sad indictment on war in general, and the lengths men will go to following orders. Everyone, whether well known actor or only a bit part did their best for this production, and it shows. Well worth seeing, and a classic anti-war movie.I'd recommend it to anyone.oh...and James Murray (Pvt Will Needham)....he was perfect in his part - accepting of his fate, but wonderfully full of life and love as well - an example of the flower of youth thrown away on the battlefield. Yes, I know, gushy but it's true. His character embodied all those young men sent away to war, and who lost their lives in a pointless conflict.

This is the story of the Sandringham Company of the Royal Norfolk Regiment. The Sandringhams were made up out of servants or tenants of the Royal Family's estate at Sandringham. It follows there loves, hopes, fears throughout early 1915, as some lads want to see the world, another wants to marry before leaving, the officers are the same. The Medical Officer's wife has left him but is quite happy to go around with other women, other officers are uneasy about leaving home or their inexperience gets to them. The main character is Captain Frank Beck a respected figure at Sandringham and friend of the Royal Family, together with most of the others in the film he was a person in real life. The film passed to the Sandrighams deployment to the Dardenelles. It shows the chaos at Gallipoli with regards to logistics and discipline. Now we come to the attack the Sandringhams make. The film erroneously portrays the Sandringhams as going over the top without a preparatory barrage and from behind a sandbag barricade. In actual fact they went over with their brigade, with a short barrage and from trenches, the Sandrighams objective was to capture a farm. They were not led by Captain Beck, they were led by Lt Col Proctor with Beck as second in command, their battalion commander. The film gets it correct in showing the Sandringhams getting minced up by shell and sniper fire and there being few left once they reach the farm. They pushed the Turks out of the farm but the Turks regrouped and surrounded the farm. Proctor decided to surrender. The 40 or so survivors out of a company of 150 were marched out of the farm by the Turks and forced to kneel where they were then shot in the back of the head. The film shows Beck getting executed but it was later reported that he was fatally wounded just as the men got out of the trenches. After the war their remains were discovered and given a proper burial albeit there was nothing to identify a person with though except for the Royal Norfolk shoulder flashes. This film is very good and I believe the historical adviser wrote a fine book about the Sandringhams which should be interesting to many. If you want to see the forgotten story of a very sad but heroic tale, then this is the film for you.

Few screen depictions ever hammer home the blunt and pointless nature of the Great War, especially the futile Gallipoli Campaign. This much under-rated BBC film achieves just that, an historical tableau never matched since on the small screen.The cast contains the cream of British acting talent, including David Jason, Maggie Smith, David Troughton and Patrick Malahide. The story, in a nutshell, is that of the Sandringham Company, a territorial unit formed by Frank Beck, agent on the Sandringham Royal Estate for King George V and his mother Queen Alexandria. The Company is dispatched to Turkey and go down in legend as advancing into action whilst being enveloped in a cloud, rumoured to be the hand of God. Their fate is determined after their bodies are discovered several years later with bullet wounds to the skulls. They had, for the most part, been executed by the Turks after surrendering.The graphic nature of the conflict is commendably realised and the veneer of heroism and medals stripped when we see the horrors and cruelty of war in it's starkest form. The death of Captain Claude Howlett, the tortured Boer War veteran, is one of the most moving ever witnessed on film. Patrick Malahide once again displays his unique gift like few others are able to.This is certainly not for those who are used to the rather bloodless 'Gunga Din' depiction of warfare that has been made but if you desire a few hours of historical enlightenment and superb performances by some of the finest actors in the world, then this made for television film is the piece de resistance.