The War Game (1965)

A docudrama depicting a hypothetical nuclear attack on Britain.

Director:

Peter Watkins

Writer:

Peter Watkins

Stars:

Michael Aspel, Peter Graham, Dave Baldwin

Won 1 Oscar. Another 4 wins.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Michael Aspel	...	Commentator
Peter Graham	...	Commentator

Storyline

The War Game is a fictional, worst-case-scenario docu-drama about nuclear war and its aftermath in and around a typical English city. Although it won an Oscar for Best Documentary, it is fiction. It was intended as an hour-long program to air on BBC 1, but it was deemed too intense and violent to broadcast. It went to theatrical distribution as a feature film instead. Low-budget and shot on location, it strives for and achieves convincing and unflinching realism.

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Plot Keywords:

mockumentary | semi documentary | nuclear attack | post thermonuclear war | banned film | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 February 1967 (USA)

Also Known As:

Krigsspel

Filming Locations:

Canterbury, Kent, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

48 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Although this film is not a documentary, it won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, the only fictional film to win this award.

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Goofs

The so-called Honest John 'missile' shown during the first half of the film is nothing of the sort. It is, in fact, nothing more than a NATO-type external aviation drop tank, and bears absolutely no resemblance whatsoever to an Honest John.

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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.

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Alternate Versions

Some prints replace the stills of Lyndon B. Johnson and Alexey Kosygin with stills of the White House and the Red Square

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Connections

Referenced in Peter Watkins Reflects on 'The War Game' and the Media (1983)

User Reviews

Please see this film!!!

The War Game is one of the most amazing films I have ever seen. It's a pseudo-documentary made in 1965, about the possible effects of a nuclear attack on Great Britain. The director's premise is that Britain (and indeed the world) is hopelessly unprepared for such a thing. Some classic scenes: befuddled Brits receiving civil defence booklets. Blank stares greeting the interviewer when he asks Brits on the street about radioactive fallout. The footage is all made to look horribly real. Some of it looks a little hokey - the use of a shaky camera to simulate a desperate ground battle stands out - but there are also very convincing scenes of firestorms raging out of control, sucking the oxygen out of the air for blocks around. Also, incredible scenes of radiation burn victims, food riots, police polishing off the near dead, etc... The killer part is at the end - an interview with some young blast victims will haunt you for a long time.

"Do you know what Strontium-90 is, and what it does to the human body???"