Time for sacrifice… How I Won the War (1967) and Plod (1971), BFI Dual Format, out now!

John Lennon’s in How I won the War on this new BFI Blu-ray set, yeah, yeah, yeah… but Mike McGear, John Gorman and Roger McGough are in one of the supporting features, Plod (1971) a long-considered lost film from the lovable mop-top minstrel, comedian and poet. Together these Liverpool likely lads formed The Scaffold; part Gooney-Beatles (Mike is Paul’s brother)/part poetry collective, The Liverpool Scene – which had included McGough at one point. They were an unlikely pop group with hits including Thank You Very Much and Lilly The Pink a tribute to Lillian Pinkman who invented a rather alcoholic tonic for prohibition America.

In Plod, based on a poem in Roger McGough’s book, After the Merrymaking, they give full reign to their madcap impulses with a loosely formed Day in the Life of PC Plod (Gorman, typecast…) who encounters all sorts on his working day between Dirty Old Maggie May and her fellow streetwalkers up by the Cathedral – plus ca change eh girls? - and a mysterious dog-murderer via strange encounters at the Albert Dock with a yellow-faced McGear (oh dear…)

Stereophonic faith

Still, it was 1971 and Plod is fun, where else are you going to get a gospel song praising, praising, praising! those good old Jellied Eels. Fab lads, although I had to explain this to my children… but they think all Liverpudlians are daft anyway: half their relatives in fact. Funny, but daft, and why not?

Plod also gives some great location shots of Britain’s true second city as it was in the early 70s when I was but a lad. From Hope Street and the cathedrals down to the Albert Dock via Bold Street and the spaces in between, it presents a fascinating backdrop, especially if you look at how things are now with art galleries and retail centres. The humour though, that remains unchanged and The Scaffold are for the ages.

Roger, with whose words they made the movie.

Now for the main feature, a rather earnest How I Won the War starring their mate Johnny and some posh actor called Michael Crawford. Satire always plays with contemporary wisdoms and perhaps dates more than most comedy, but that’s less of an issue when you dig into the context. As the British Empire slowly excused itself from the Pink World and the war raged pointlessly in Vietnam, you would expect to find a film like this one. It pokes bitter fun at the very foundation of an army led by public school donkeys - even grammar school ones - officers who succeeded in spite of and not because of their leadership.

Michael Crawford’s character Lieutenant Goodbody certainly fits in with a donkey, he’s grammar and not public but tries his hardest to fit in with those above. As for those below, his men, including young Johnny Lennon, as Gripweed, the great Roy Kinnear as Musketeer Clapper, Jack MacGowran as Musketeer Juniper and Lee Montague as Sergeant given the fictional rank of "Corporal of Musket" Transom. All know what to do more than their leader and yet there he is trying to lead them to their deaths on a regular basis… like Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, they have do their duty knowing that  their death is as guaranteed as it is futile.

Michael Crawford

In these febrile times in which the achievements of war, dating back to the Napoleonic, via the Boer and the two World Wars, are regularly quoted in terms of the UK’s poltical relationship with modern Europe, this film is a timely reminder that we didn’t always respect our victories even 22 years after the last big one, or 15 years after Korea, ten after Suez and with Ireland about to really kick off. How I Won the War may feel a little over-egged and slightly sloppy BUT imagine Crawford not as Lieutenant Goodbody but as Captain Rees Mogg or Sergeant Francoise. If these people still invoke military conflict as if it were honourable and efficient success then they are mistaken, the Falklands and the Iraq wars have shown the reality if they care to look honestly.

Anyway, invoking Beyond the Fringe’s call for a “noble sacrifice…” Goodbody’s squad have been tasked with setting up a cricket pitch behind enemy lines in an effort to boost Our Boys’ morale: it’s a daft mission but one he intends to fulfil. Director Dick Lester moves the narrative lines around a fair bit to add an extra element of confused unreality, and we see the pitch under friendly fire before it is used. Now we know such issues were a problem – especially with French planes or British warships being used by enemies and friends during recent conflicts.

Goodbody gets captured but gets on so well with the erudite German commander that the agree a deal for the latter to hand over the key bridge in exchange for a business deal after the war. It goes wrong, as all these things do, because of communication and the fact that no one else in the British army knows what hands have been shaken.

Crawford’s character emerges thinking he’s won the war but the deaths of nearly all of his men are the price he happily pays for his own miraculous survival… it’s not too cynical a thought now as we approach another one of those “pointless sacrifices”, to give this conceit far more respect that we might have done in the 1990s-2000s.

The film is now on Blu-ray format for the first time in the UK and is presented in High Definition and Standard Definition. It comes with a set of great extras including a new commentary by Richard Lester authority Neil Sinyard, Richard Lester in Conversation with Steven Soderbergh, an audio interview from 1999 and illustrated books with new essays and notes on the extras.

It’s available now from the BFI Shop and all good retailers.Enjoy it yourself as it may well be later than you think.