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Programme for the film preview of Oh! What a Lovely War

HW’s revised typescript review of Oh! What a Lovely War

Programme for the film preview of Oh! What a Lovely War:

HW was given this programme when he attended the press preview of the film; no doubt it would also have been distributed at the première a little later. The film went on general release on 10 April 1969. The programme consists of a landscape sheet divided into three panels, the end panels being folded inwards. The middle panel on the reverse therefore formed the back of the programme, and was left blank. It was on this that, while watching the film in the flickering gloom of the darkened auditorium, HW hastily scrawled some untidy notes. Understandably, this old soldier of the line was irritated by the film's historical inaccuracies, and this accordingly made it difficult for him to view its qualities and artistic merit impartially (as examples: 'Klaxon motor horns (1914) came in in 1924'; '1914 entanglements only 5 strands wire; here 1914 is a year ahead'; 'No gunfire Xmas Day, No snow').

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HW’s revised typescript review of Oh! What a Lovely War:

The Daily Express was sent a re-typed 'clean' copy, of course, but this heavily revised typescript draft may be indicative of how HW struggled with writing his review - note his rueful comment in red in the left margin: 'My first article ever rejected by the D. Express after ordering 1000 words'. HW's first article appeared in the Daily Express in January 1921, and the paper had been a staunch supporter of his work ever since.

This is a carbon copy of the first page of the re-typed 'clean' version (with still more amendments):

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