ⓘ Details

Movie Title1917

Release DateDecember 25, 2019 limited release in the United States / January 10, 2020 wide release

TaglineTime is the enemy.

Runtime119 minutes / 1 hour 59 minutes

DirectorSam Mendes

Screenplay Written BySam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns

Based OnOriginal screenplay inspired in part by stories Mendes heard from his grandfather, Alfred Mendes, who served in World War I

Is It a Remake?No. It is an original World War I drama, not a remake or direct adaptation.

BudgetApproximately $90 million to $100 million

Box OfficeApprox. $159.2 million domestic / approx. $446 million worldwide

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👥 Main Cast

George MacKayLance Corporal William Schofield

Dean-Charles ChapmanLance Corporal Tom Blake

Mark StrongCaptain Smith

Andrew ScottLieutenant Leslie

Richard MaddenLieutenant Joseph Blake

Claire DuburcqLauri

Colin FirthGeneral Erinmore

Benedict CumberbatchColonel MacKenzie

Daniel MaysSergeant Sanders

Adrian ScarboroughMajor Hepburn

Jamie ParkerLieutenant Richards

Nabhaan RizwanSepoy Jondalar

Richard McCabeColonel Collins

Justin EdwardsCaptain Ivins

Gerran HowellPrivate Parry

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🏆 Awards

⭐ Academy Award Winner — Best Cinematography, Roger Deakins

⭐ Academy Award Winner — Best Sound Mixing

⭐ Academy Award Winner — Best Visual Effects

⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Picture

⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Director, Sam Mendes

⭐ Golden Globe Winner — Best Motion Picture, Drama

⭐ Golden Globe Winner — Best Director, Sam Mendes

⭐ BAFTA Winner — Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Sound, and Best Special Visual Effects

⭐ The film’s biggest legacy is its immersive “single-shot” presentation, which turned a battlefield mission into a tense real-time survival experience.

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📖 Short Plot Summary

During World War I, Lance Corporals Schofield and Blake are given a desperate mission: cross enemy territory and deliver a message that could stop 1,600 British soldiers from walking into a German trap. The catch is that Blake’s brother is among the men who will die if the message does not arrive in time. Their journey takes them through trenches, no man’s land, abandoned farms, collapsing towns, rivers, flares, gunfire, and the kind of stress that makes you rethink every complaint you have ever had about walking anywhere. Presented as if unfolding in one continuous take, 1917 turns a simple delivery mission into a nerve-shredding race against time.

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❝ Key Quotes

“There is only one way this war ends. Last man standing.” — Colonel MacKenzie

“If you fail, it will be a massacre.” — General Erinmore

“Down to Gehenna or up to the throne, he travels the fastest who travels alone.” — General Erinmore

“Age before beauty.” — Lance Corporal Blake

“It doesn’t do to dwell on it.” — Lance Corporal Schofield

“I hoped today might be a good day. Hope is a dangerous thing.” — Colonel MacKenzie

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💡 Trivia

Director

1917 was directed, co-written, and produced by Sam Mendes.
Mendes wrote the screenplay with Krysty Wilson-Cairns.
The story was inspired in part by stories Mendes heard from his grandfather, Alfred Mendes, who served in World War I.
It was Mendes’ first solo screenplay credit.
The film’s structure is built around urgency: two soldiers, one message, and almost no room for the audience to breathe.

Cast / Casting

George MacKay plays Lance Corporal William Schofield, the soldier who carries much of the film’s physical and emotional weight.
Dean-Charles Chapman plays Lance Corporal Tom Blake, whose personal connection to the mission drives the story forward.
Colin Firth appears early as General Erinmore, the officer who sends the soldiers on their mission.
Andrew Scott appears as Lieutenant Leslie, adding a dose of exhausted trench cynicism.
Benedict Cumberbatch plays Colonel MacKenzie, the officer who must be stopped before launching the doomed attack.
Richard Madden plays Lieutenant Blake, Tom’s brother and one of the soldiers the message is meant to save.

Soundtrack / Score

Thomas Newman composed the score.
The score was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score.
Newman’s music moves between quiet dread, emotional grief, and massive battlefield momentum.
The score often feels like a heartbeat underneath the camera’s forward motion.
The music supports the film’s “keep moving” design, especially during the night sequence in Écoust and Schofield’s final run.

Location

The film was shot in the United Kingdom, including locations in England and Scotland.
Filming locations included Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, Hankley Common in Surrey, Bovingdon Airfield in Hertfordshire, and Govan Graving Docks in Glasgow.
The trenches and sets had to be built to match the timing and movement of the long takes.
Because the film’s camera follows the characters so closely, sets were designed almost like obstacle courses for actors, crew, and camera operators.
The landscape shifts from trenches to no man’s land to abandoned farms to burning ruins, making the journey feel like a grim World War I theme park from hell.

Behind-The-Scenes

Roger Deakins served as cinematographer and won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography.
The film is designed to look like one continuous take, though it is actually composed of many carefully hidden cuts.
According to Mendes, the shortest unbroken shot was 39 seconds and the longest was about 8 and a half minutes.
Scenes had to be rehearsed in detail so actor movement, camera movement, lighting, explosions, props, and extras could all land at the exact right time.
The film was produced by Neal Street Productions, Amblin Partners, DreamWorks Pictures, Reliance Entertainment, and New Republic Pictures.
The reported budget was approximately $90 million to $100 million, and the film grossed about $446 million worldwide.

Nostalgia

1917 became one of the major awards-season films of 2019 and early 2020.
The movie’s one-shot style made it a major theater experience, especially for viewers who like technical filmmaking wizardry with their emotional damage.
It joins a long line of World War I films focused less on glory and more on mud, confusion, fear, exhaustion, and loss.
The film’s technical polish is so precise that even people who do not love the story usually end up respecting the craft.
It is basically the cinematic version of “we need you to run one quick errand,” except the errand is across no man’s land and everything is on fire.

Easter Eggs

The “single-shot” illusion is the film’s biggest stylistic trick, with cuts hidden through darkness, objects, camera movement, and scene transitions.
The title refers to the year of the film’s story, during World War I.
The poem quoted by General Erinmore comes from Rudyard Kipling’s “The Winners.”
The film’s midpoint blackout creates the clearest visible break in the continuous-take illusion.
Schofield’s final sprint across the battlefield was filmed with real extras charging through the scene, adding chaos and near-collisions to the moment.
The movie begins and ends around trees, giving the story a circular feeling despite all the forward motion.

Misc.

1917 is rated R.
The movie runs 119 minutes.
The film won three Academy Awards from ten nominations.
It won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture, Drama and Best Director.
Rotten Tomatoes’ critics consensus describes the film as hard-hitting, immersive, and a major technical achievement.
Your 3 Guys and a Flick ratings page lists 1917 as Episode 27, with Don rating it 2.50, Ken rating it 4.50, Jon rating it 3.75, and an overall rating of 3.58.

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