The War Game (1965)

Director:

Peter Watkins

Writer:

Peter Watkins

Release Date:

7 February 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Sci-Fi | War

Tagline:

BBC TV's film about a nuclear attack on Britain directed by Peter Watkins

Plot:

The War Game is a fictional, worst-case-scenario docu-drama about nuclear war and its aftermath in and around a typical English city...

Plot Keywords:

Nuclear War | Nuclear Attack | Civil Defense | 1960s | Euthanasia

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 4 wins

Cast

Michael Aspel	...	Commentator
Peter Graham	...	Commentator
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kathy Staff	...	Interviewee (uncredited)
Peter Watkins	...	Documentist (uncredited)

Directed by
Peter Watkins

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Peter Watkins

Produced by
Peter Watkins	....	producer

Cinematography by
Peter Bartlett
Peter Suschitzky

Film Editing by
Michael Bradsell

Costume Design by
Vanessa Clarke

Makeup Department
Lilias Munro	....	makeup artist

Sound Department
Lou Hanks	....	sound
Stan Morcom	....	sound (as Stanley Morcom)
Derek Williams	....	sound

Other crew
Tony Cornell	....	design
Anne Davey	....	design
Peter Norton	....	production assistant
Derek Ware	....	action sequences

Production Companies

• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Distributors

• Kamras Film Agency (1968) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Pathé Contemporary Films (1967) (USA) (theatrical)
• Project X Distribution (2006) (Canada) (DVD)
• Project X Distribution (2006) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

48 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:12 | UK:X (original rating) | France:-12 | UK:12 (2002)

Filming Locations:

Canterbury, Kent, England, UK

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

After it had won an Oscar for Documentary Feature, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences changed their rules regarding eligibility for this category.

Quotes:

Commentator:When the carbon-dioxide content of inhaled air is greater than 30 per cent, it will cause diminished respiration, fall of blood pressure, coma, loss of reflexes and anaesthesia. When the carbon-monoxide content of inhaled air exceeds 1.28 per cent, it will be followed by death within three minutes. This is nuclear war.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The 50 Greatest Documentaries (2005) (TV)

Too important to ignore, too powerful to dismiss.

Although this film clocks in at a mere 48 minutes, not a scene, second or frame is put to waste. A level-headed and all too analytical examination of civil preparedness versus the yield of nuclear weapons. What this film presents is the absolute horror of nuclear war in simulated newsreel footage so realistic, you may feel the pain of those on screen. Fire-storms, asphyxiation, flash-burns, over-burdened hospitals leaving victims to die in pain, street executions under martial law, total social collapse, all filmed in a typical English suburb. Originally planned to be a simple documentary on nuclear warfare made for BBC-TV, the film was banned from television (officially because of it's graphic depictions of suffering, but most likely for it's anti-authoritarian stance and defiance of the official line). Later released to theaters, it went on to win major film awards. Two scenes in particular, one of men being executed for violating water rationing and an interview with children at a medical camp, haunted me for days. This is the great-grandfather of such films as "Threads" and "The Day After", but the matter-of-fact narration in BBC English to the devastation on screen adds an element of sheer horror that no other film comes close to. If anyone you know talks about the survivability of nuclear attack, show them this film, and watch their reaction. This film is too important to ignore, and too powerful to dismiss.