On March 31, Toronto's Revue Cinema screens a 35mm print of director Richard Lester's 1967 black comedy How I Won the War, co-starring John Lennon as an infantry soldier. We spoke to event host Piers Hemmingsen (the author of The Beatles in Canada: The Origins of Beatlemania), who will play the audio of a recent phone interview he conducted with the London-based 84-year-old Lester.
How the film happened: "Richard Lester's previous Beatles films, A Hard Day's Night and Help!, were big box-office films that gave him a budget to do other stuff. He followed Help! with A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in 1966, with Zero Mostel. And Mostel was the one who approached Richard with the idea of doing an anti-war film. The original idea was to do Joseph Heller's Catch-22, but they couldn't get the rights to the book. Then Richard approached Patrick Ryan, who had written the novel How I Won the War. I don't think he really liked the book that much, but he made do with it."
How the film was inspired: "Richard was an American, but he did work for the CBC in the 1950s. He had a little pit-stop in Toronto, working as a comedy writer for Norman Jewison. A lot of people don't know that. He ended up in England, where he felt more at home. There he felt there were a lot of Second World War veterans, especially generals and colonels, who were relishing the roles they played in the war. He wanted to deflate some of the self-aggrandizement that was being tossed around in English society by those older men in three-piece suits, who were going back to the beaches of Normandy and reliving some kind of glory, but not really thinking too much about the people who had died. With How I Won the War, he wanted to say something about this puffed-up bravery that people were spouting at the time."
How John Lennon was enlisted: "Richard mentioned the film to John, and John offered his services. At that time, who wouldn't have wanted John Lennon to be in their movie? And especially if he was going to cut his hair and put on some National Health glasses and look totally different. It was unfortunate that some people who went to see the film expected Lennon to whip out his guitar somewhere in the film to play a song. It wasn't going to happen. In Richard's opinion, people may have left the theatre disappointed because they didn't get any Beatles music. But he was happy with Lennon's acting skills. He had done two films with him, but How I Won the War was more serious. John was trying to do something different. And that's really the story of John Lennon, isn't it? That he was always doing something different."
How I Won the War will be screened March 31, 6:45 p.m., $10 to $13. Revue Cinema, 400 Roncesvalles Ave., eventbrite.ca.