All the King's Men (1999)

Simply Perfect

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

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.

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.

while I agree with other posters about the quality of this film (the characters, acting and storyline were impressive) I can't say the same for the "mystery" aspect of the incident in Gallipolli it is based on. It is a myth that no official explanation exists; the incident is recorded in detail in the regimental history of the Norfolk regiment, to which the Sandringham company belonged. It is also a myth that no trace of the men was ever found; whilst their fate was unknown during the war (hence the mystery) their graves were recorded in 1920. The sad truth seems to be that most of the men perished in the battle, and those that did not died as prisoners of war

One of the abiding mysteries of the First World War: What happened to the men of the Sandringham Company, volunteers from the King's estate in Norfolk?In an age where social rank defined one's behaviour, David Jason stars as Frank Beck, the estate manager determined to accompany his men to the front. Encouraged by Queen Alexandra (Maggie Smith) he defies the King's orders to stay at home. Together, the company faces the horror of war in an unfamiliar landscape, battling beauracratic inefficiency, and a determined and ruthless enemy.The brilliantly restrained acting by David Jason and Maggie Smith portray perfectly the affectionate but formal relationship between the estate worker and the Queen. This is complemented by the emotional highs and lows experienced by the families left behind. In a vivacious performance by Emma Cunnliffe, Peggy, the Queen's maid, marries her sweetheart just before the departure for Gallipoli. The upper classes are more reserved, but their stories none the less heartbreaking.This is the BBC at its best.