All the King's Men

Not another version of Robert Penn Warren's novel, but rather a speculative retelling of an enduring World War I story of adolescent heroism and wrenching loss, Julian Jarrold's Masterpiece Theatre-aired All the King's Men, based on the book of the same name by Nigel McCrery, focuses on a squadron recruited from the staff of the royal estate of Sandringham—led by one of King George V's trusted aides—that vanished in 1915 during the battle of Gallipoli in the Balkans. Opening with domestic scenes exploring the men's relationships with their loving, supportive families and their training under the leadership of Captain Frank Beck (David Jason), the film proceeds to the dismal realities of the campaign—one of the most misguided operations in a war filled with them. After the mysterious disappearance was investigated at the behest of the Queen Mother (Maggie Smith), it was surmised that the unit was wiped out after wandering behind Turkish lines, massacred by an enemy that had a policy of not taking prisoners. Handsomely mounted, this 1999 film nicely conveys the naïve confidence of combatants in the early days of the war (which soon changed to gloomy depression as the conflict dragged on), but there's also an arch quality here that occasionally irritates, especially in Jason's one-note performance as the rigidly by-the-book Beck. Still, it's always fun to watch Smith portray a slightly flustered old biddy, and Star Wars fans will be amused to see Ian McDiarmid, the evil Chancellor Palpatine, play a more sympathetic figure as the queen's dogged investigator. Recommended, overall. (F. Swietek)