Problematic Screenplay...among other issues

Only saw this one before seeing it again on PBS the other night. Really has problems. The opening is supposedly in the present day (1970s). Then we see a number of nameless guys running on the beach. The narration begins here and goes into another flashback. (Apparently the beach is in France where they are training for the Olympics) None of the characters are fleshed out. Especially the narrator who I only recognized due to his strange nose, or the Lord who seems to appear and re-appear when the story needed him. There is a scene where the voice over gives us two people talking, we don't know who they are cause the shot is of this huge estate, and then finally settles on the talking characters who we only see in a distance. It's also interested that the UK really cared about track as it's only sport in the Olympics. The scene at the Olympics are even more problematic. First off Ben Cross appears to be bowlegged; not exactly something a sprinter would be. After he runs, Sam tells him how terrible he was in this and that race, none of which are shown. Liddel apparently has no wife or love interest and speaks only to his sister. All the other characters are so peripheral to the "story" that you never really don't even know their names.
Other than that, good Gilbert and Sullivan music.