"It’s the restraint that makes War Horse remarkable. Spielberg shows you enough to understand that what you’re watching — machine guns, mustard gas, bodies stretching into the distance — was unprecedented. And amid the incomprehensible slaughter, it’s a horse that reminds these warriors of their humanity. … Spielberg has been ridiculed for shooting his actors from below against impossibly Spielbergian skies and a denouement that lays the love on copiously. But there’s nothing simpleminded about how he uses movie magic, as a spell to dispel nihilism, to save us from the worst of ourselves by summoning up the best."

"The war is taking everything, from everyone."

"Though based partly on a children's novel, Steven Spielberg's "War Horse" is not entirely a children's movie. It does star a boy and a horse, and it has many moments of warmth, humor and reassuring corn. But "War Horse" is also a film about the human animal and its capacity for violence and cruelty. You can always depend on Spielberg to land on the side of optimism, of course, just as you know he'll put you through the wringer to get there. … The material sometimes feels oversugared, though it's also guaranteed to raise a lump in your throat."

"I promise that I'll look after him, and if possible, I'll return him to your care."

"Did you really think that a German garrison on open ground would go undefended? Look at yourself! Who do you think you are?!"

"The closing shots of Steven Spielberg's War Horse will stir emotions in every serious movie lover. The sky is painted with a deeply red-orange sunset. A lone rider is seen far away on the horizon. The rider approaches and dismounts. He embraces a woman and a man. They all embrace the horse's head. Music swells. This footage, with the rich colors and dramatic framing on what is either a soundstage or intended to look like one, could come directly from a John Ford Western. It is Spielberg's homage, I believe, to Ford and to a Hollywood tradition of broad, uplifting movies intended for all audiences. The performances and production values throughout the film honor that tradition. War Horse is bold, not afraid of sentiment and lets out all the stops in magnificently staged action sequences. Its characters are clearly defined and strongly played by charismatic actors. Its message is a universal one, about the horror of war in which men and animals suffer and die, but for the animals there is no reason: They have cast their lot with men who have betrayed them."

"[Taking Joey and Topthorn] They will pull artillery until they die. Or the war is over. [Grandfather protests the war will never end] You have your answer, then."

"Joey meets a series of masters, most of them on both sides men who respected horses. Yet war is no place for sentiment, and as an officer explains with brutal realism, a horse is a weapon and must either be used or destroyed."

"Spielberg ennobles Joey and provides an ending for the film that is joyous, uplifting, and depends on a surely unbelievable set of coincidences. I suppose it must be that way for us to even bear watching such a story. I am reminded of Schindler's List. Six million Jews were exterminated in the World War II, but in focusing on a few hundred who miraculously survived, Spielberg made his story bearable. Among the horses of World War I, it can only be said that Joey's good luck was extraordinary. The film is made with superb artistry. Spielberg is the master of an awesome canvas. Most people will enjoy it, as I did. But not included in the picture is the level of sheer hopeless tragedy that is everywhere just out frame. It is the same with life, and if you consider the big picture, all of us, men and beasts, have extraordinary good luck."

"Peter Vaughan - SS-Oberstgruppenführer Artur Nebe"

"Michael Kitchen - SS-Untersturmführer Max Jäger"

"Miranda Richardson - Charlie Maguire"

"Jean Marsh - Anna von Hagen"

"[closing narration] I used to wonder why she never got out while she had the chance. But she and my father the first to see those images of horror. The first to know, and that somehow linked them forever with each other and the victims. So she sat on until the Gestapo came for her. Everything has changed. Without the American alliance, Hitler's Reich collapsed. Of course, there are some who say it never happened. Those who look and do not see. The years since have been difficult ones, but my father would be proud to know that no longer are we all living in the house of the blind."

"It's 1964. What if Hitler had won the war?"

"John Woodvine - Franz Luther"

"Rutger Hauer - SS-Sturmbannführer Xavier March"

"John Shrapnel - General Globus aka Odilo Globocnik"

"Clive Russell - Krebs"

"[opening narration] It has been 20 years since the Second World War ended with the failure of the Allied invasion in Normandy. A triumphant Hitler declared victory over Europe and the British Empire. The United States withdrew from the conflict, listening to those like Charles Lindbergh, who had argued against a war with Germany. In the East, only the Russians fought on in a bitter guerrilla war. American efforts turned to retribution for Pearl Harbor. That came in the summer of 1945, with victory over Japan. By then, American General Eisenhower returned to the United States and a humiliating retirement. In 1947, King Edward and Queen Wallis assumed the British throne. Winston Churchill, who had barely escaped with his life after Normandy, died in exile in Canada in May 1953. In the years after the war, country after country of the old Europe had become part of the vast empire of Germania. The Fuhrer's architect, Albert Speer, built a monument to the Thousand-Year Reich. Germania's capital, Berlin, became a Nazi showplace. The SS became a peacetime police force, patrolling clean, orderly streets. As the '50s came to a close, Hitler was able to put a more civilized face on the Greater Reich, but news continued to be tightly controlled. The '60s began with the war with the Soviet Union still dragging on. Hitler desperately needed to conclude a formal peace with the United States and forge an alliance against the Russians, still led by the 85-year-old Joseph Stalin. Hitler saw signs of hope in late 1960 with the election of a new President of the United States. The Fuhrer believed with President Joseph Kennedy Sr. in office, at last there would be someone with whom a deal can be struck. Now in 1964, for the first time in 20 years, Germania's borders are being opened to the Americans. The world press is being invited to cover the Fuhrer's birthday celebration on April 20. There are rumors that President Kennedy will attend a Germanian-American summit conference. An alliance with America would ensure Germania's invulnerability... but there are other more persistent rumors that could threaten Hitler's plans. There were stories that something terrible happened in Germany during the war. That the official Nazi story that Jews and other minorities were relocated to the East, wasn't true. There are also rumors that in the Greater Reich, terrible things are still happening. Television, radio, and newspapers are all controlled by the powerful Ministry of Information. Nobody, in a new Berlin, dares to ask awkward questions."

"Clare Higgins - Klara"

"Greta Blackburn - Mr. Prostitute"

"David Bowie - The Shark"

"Monte Landis - Prison Guard"

"Bernard Fox - Tarbuck"

"Nigel Stock - Admiral"

"Nigel Planer - Mansell"

"Susannah York - Lady Churchill"

"Stacey Nelkin - Triola"

"Beryl Reid - Lady Lambourn"

"John Cleese - Harvey 'Blind' Pew"

"Kenneth Mars - Mr. Crisp and Verdugo"

"Ferdinand Mayne - Mr. Beamish"

"Spike Milligan - Flunkie"

"Peter Bull - Queen Anne"

"w:Michael Hordern - Dr. Ebenezer Gilpin"

"Eric Idle - Commander Clement"

"Martin Hewitt - Dan"

"Madeline Kahn - Betty"

"James Mason - Captain Hughes"

"Marty Feldman - Gilbert"

"The greatest comedy cast ever assembled for a movie! Everyone who's ever been funny!!!"