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:

nuclear attack | post thermonuclear war | banned film | semi documentary | world war three | 

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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

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

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Goofs

Light can be seen reflecting off a woman's "broken" teeth.

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Quotes

Commentator: Within the next 15 years, possibly another 12 countries will have acquired thermonuclear weapons. For this reason, if not through accident or the impulses of man himself, it is now more than possible that what you have seen happen in this film will have taken place before the year 1980.

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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

Featured in The 50 Greatest Documentaries (2005)

User Reviews

Still hard hitting

...saw THE WAR GAME last year and I really enjoyed it... Just caught it on DVD and I can't help but wonder if scenes were cut out of the DVD as I remembered it to be much much longer!?!?

Anyway I digress

I brilliant film made by the BBC which was banned for many years because of the fact it was too real... In most cases it's re-released because films from the 60's tend to date somewhat compared to modern cinema standards. But the War Game is still as hard hitting as it was the day the BBC decided they couldn't put it on television.

Some truely horrible scenes involving the collapse of the nation when bombed by the enemy

For what it set out to do.

10/10