"The War Game" - directed by Peter Watkins - Excerpt 1 of 2

[misr91]

You should see what we did to the other guys...

[dergeier117]

That very last frame is going to keep me awake tonight.

[RaySquirrel]

That guy being interviewed at 1:03, is that John Hurt? The actor who played the role of Winston Smith in the 1984 film adaptation of 1984.

[ryko26]

@RaySquirrel no

[youngian67]

The War Game was eventually shown by the 1980s they had made Threads which is seen as a more accurate and up to date version. If anything the War Game underplayed the effects of a nuclear aftermath.

[DopedUpMonkey]

At least they had sturdy furniture to protect themselves with, I doubt IKEA furniture is as N-Bomb proof.

[hotelmario510]

Kablooie.

[burghill1979]

the sirens sound a bit sick!!!!

[anisocoro]

In my view this video was censored because it was considered by someone an example of 2anti-british-film",because there are phrases suggesting Britain could behave as an imperialist country

[walleyrt69]

Typical-Russia attacks and we defend ourselves (even with nukes)and this film makes our side look like the bad guys,HEY MORONS -THEY RUSSIANS ATTACKED 1ST

[anthonythirteen]

@walleyrt69 I think the concern was to challenge the idea of WW3 being like WW2 e.g. in the latter they hit us first, whereas the strategic thinking post-1950 was that a conventional war wouldn't be possible against the massed Russian armour. In fact, the sheer shock of seeing the latter in the 1945 victory parades probably encouraged this thinking before the hydrogen bomb.

[hotelmario510]

I saw four strange prophecies in this movie: A reference to the 80's, when nukes were at their highest danger levels, and also three names: John, Edward, and Jonas. Do with those what you will. (John and Edward are two X-Factor contestants, Jonas, or The Jonas Brothers, is a rubbish band.)

[johngreen120]

"did you know this?", "No, I did not". As terrifying as nuclear war is, the cheesiness of old movies like this always cracks me up.

Seriously though, there's no point in doting on whether a nuclear war will come, much less prepare for one. If you prepare and it happens, and you somehow survive, the world would be a horrible place to live. If you prepare and it never happens, then you've wasted your life worrying about it.

All we can do is support nuclear disarmament and hope.

[Suojeluninja]

Of course it would be horrible but I'm not ready to give up without trying.

Now it should be the state ( and active reservists ) that prepare for nuclear war or war overall in the time of peace. Conventional CBRN-protected shelters work also against nuclear weapons.

[RussMoxham]

@Suojeluninja Oh for pity's sake! Nothing works against nuclear weapons. These things have the capacity to pollute the crap out of whole big chunks of ecosystem for thousands of years, if not longer. Read about the effects of the Laki eruptions in Iceland in 1783-4, chuck in a lot of radiation, basically multiple the whole thing a whole lot of times, and then maybe you'll have an idea of how ridiculous it is to think the world would be any kind of place to live after a nuclear holocaust.

[RussMoxham]

@johngreen120 That's all very well but it doesn't reflect the fact that a lot of us were pretty much forced to think about it, growing up as we did with the genuine threat of nuclear holocaust. Back then you might as well have said that, in Greek mythology, it would've been no good for Prometheus to dwell on the fact that an eagle was going to eat his liver every day for the rest of time as he just stayed stuck there, chained to his rock. True, I suppose...

[lefredvoncarstein]

@johngreen120 Well, ammunition will be in plentiful supply at least. So will powerful cars, knuckledusters, leather jackets and accessories, barber services specializing in mohawks, body paint, faithful dogs, and plain human malice.

[vliet2]

@johngreen120 What's cheesy about ignorant people speaking into a camera. I don't think there's anything cheesy about the movie, maybe you find the accents "cheesy".

[MNsane]

a VERY interesting movie, & 1 i have in my " END OF EVERY DAMN THING FROM THERMONUCLEAR WAR" collection

[OutrunTheWolf]

Yeah It definitely changed my perspective on Nuclear War.

The War Game was banned in Britain until recently, I think now it's de-censored it should be shown in schools as part of teaching.

[IrishClaudius]

Watkins also accurately anticipated Regan and Thatcher's great success in making us believe in consumer conformity.

See his movie privilege - his next movie now on DVD

[BillyIsATwat23]

--- "The War Game was banned in Britain until recently" ---

No it wasn't. What happened was that the BBC comissioned the film and then got cold feet and refused to show it (or more likely pretty much forgot it existed in their archive) until 1985.

However they did allow it a cinematic release in 1966 and it stayed available in that form ever since.

Ontop of that there was a 1990's VHS release and the 2003 DVD edition release by the British Film Institute.

[rotator1471]

True blue.

[RussMoxham]

@BillyIsATwat23 That said, I met Peter Watkins a few years back and his contempt for the BBC's approach could scarcely have been more evident.

[El135o]

"David Edward Thornley" is 37? Christ, he looks 50!

[TheBigRagu82]

Too many Woodbines and Stout I reckon.

[RELeeOnTraveller]

That is not an 'Honest John' missile.

[gv1955]

"Well it does what it say on the tin".

[kerdubennak]

i live in a vulnerable nuclear area in France, today i was talking to a friend of mine who lives half a mile away from my place, he and his wife and kids got a "what-do-do-in-case-of-emergen­cy" booklet sort of thing through the post, we didn't, just because we're a few hundred metres outside of the sensitive circle. The first time i saw this film it had a strong impact on me and i never mentionned it to my wife. I wish we were properly informed

[exeuroweenie]

Hi,just curious,how long ago was this? thanks.

[StonehavenFan]

1965. See box top right of this page

[exeuroweenie]

Oh,sorry,meant to ask Kerdubennak when the French government issued that warning booklet.I'm getting used to new glasses,lol.

[BurnumBurnum123]

nobody piss off north korea please

[Fragonwagon]

I still can't believe that the BBC refused to show this...Why? To keep morale up? To keep troops fighting, the public never find out anything until the alarm's raised and it's too late.

[Abramscommander]

the release of this film in that time would have caused widespread panic among the brits so they postponed it

[gaspode18]

Because the governments of the time (US and UK) wanted us to believe that a nuclear war was winnable. Bastards.

[rotator1471]

I don't think that was quite their perspective... Not to justify any policy that involved the use of nuclear weapons of any application or yield, but Europe was in a far more 'desperate' situation in the event of conventional attack than the USSR.

[rotator1471]

Conspiracy this conspiracy that. Yawn.

[plusplusplusplusp]

@Fragonwagon

According to a booK I have, a phsychologist said that 'The War Game' should not be broadcast because it would cause 'a wave of 20,000 suicides'.

[anthonythirteen]

@plusplusplusplusp Exactly. Nothing could be gained by ordinary people watching this in the mid-1960s. The only benefit may have been if all leaders themselves watched this: as I believe Reagan stopped joking about 'nuking in 4 minutes' after he'd seen 'The Day After'. Even so, by the 1960s the public understood that WWIII would be worse than WWII. Perhaps the Baby Boomer generation forgot what their parents had gone through 1939-1945, mistaking the "mustn't grumble" attitude for ignorance?

[lexo30]

@Fragonwagon I'm not defending the BBC's decision not to show this, but they aren't free to do whatever they want. The government can always threaten them with cutting or abolishing licence fees, forcing them to accept commercials etc. and so the BBC is not as free as it ought to be. This means that sometimes it can be brave but sometimes it has to give in to fight another day. This was one of those times.

[Salem2322]

@Fragonwagon except after they watch this......

[jolonui]

The time? 9:11 am

[p717]

I noticed that too.

[geoffck1969]

This film is classic commie scare tactics. Overly dramatizes the effects of a nuclear detonation. More mindless twaddle from red hippies and artists, traitors to their own kind.

[El135o]

I know! Nuclear detonations only cause a huge blast overpressure that levels buildings, and they only cause the release of huge amounts of thermal, visible, and hard radiation.

Anyone who can't survive being vapourised, irradiated, or blown to bits in a collapsing building is a dope, hey?

geoffck1969, you're a colossal idiot. Sell it somewhere else--nobody's buying you.

[prismaticmarcus]

um, then check out some real footage from hiroshima and nagasaki. you'll find it quite dramatic i think.

[aliofly]

yeah because in actual fact a nuclear detonation would be a minor problem. You douche.

[Jerraph]

So, not a comedy then?

[Lewisb8393]

This was filmed in Tonbridge, kent in vale road before all of the houses were pulled down

[cattledog5]

The BBC contracted Watkins to make a documentary about how prepared Brittan was for a nuclear attack. When he did the research and found that they were extremely unprepared, he made this film. The BBC refused to show it.

[rotator1471]

...is it really possible to prepare for a nuclear war though?

[VitoPossilipo]

Well, of course you could prepare, but it wouldn´t have a lot effect. And in addition: Who wants to live in a nuclear devastated world?

[DJgaZman]

Yep, get your tin 'at on luv!

[XKT035]

after seeing the doctor making a house call I knew this was entirely unrealistic

[Georgiahulse]

Why? Doctors made house-calls back in the mid-sixties. They still do.

[catblanket14uk]

can someone fill me in on this :known dates for first ever posession : russia/ britain/france/china/israel/no­rth korea/pakistan/india. who else? and how would far flung places like australia/NZ be affected? thanks.

[dohc73]

This is quite effective for something made in 1965. It amazes me how graphic things are depicted in the UK even then and through history, and how the US goes out of its way to keep our heads in the sand. But truthfully, why panic a nation? Any civil nation. The threat was there, and it still is, but are we to live our lives everyday with a fear that is out of our control? It's counter productive. Maybe I see it that way because I live in NYC and rather not think about the potential that lingers.

[cajjer]

The idea was to provoke debate

The BBC made sure that failed

[drrude]

Back when I first saw this when I was 12, that moment at the very end horrified me more than anything I had ever seen before (or since) in a fictional film.

[drrude]

That moment you can see at the very end of this vid horrified me more than anything else I ever saw in a fictional film. An extreme close-up of a boy's melting face was really the last thing I expected from a 40 year-old, outdated (at least that's what I expected) mockumentary. I stopped watching after that.

Several years later, I decided to watch the full thing. Luckily, I got a French boxset with 4 of Watkins' films, which was a great way to be introduced to this brilliant filmmaker!

[Georgiahulse]

The full version of this film was on YouTube not so long ago.

[longz654321]

can you post the whole film plz, this film is very interesting and educational.

[chockychocky]

I saw this film years ago, and it is the most terrifying film I have ever seen. We lived with this real threat in the 60's - God help us if anything like this really happened. People make blithe comments about nuclear war as if it's winnable - what about the nuclear winter? That's what really did for the nuclear threat in the 1980's. But the Masters of War are still at it....

[bifutake]

"God help us if anything like this really happened"

it did happened, i.e. hiroshima, nagasaki and we might even say dresden

[chockychocky]

We might also say any war where fire takes hold - which has happened in uncountable places. It is all obscene.

I apologise for my choice of words - of course Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the first use of this vile technology. But this film (all of it, which I have seen) is about a total nuclear war, and that's what I was referring to