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For the Doctor Who serial, see The War Games.

The War Game is a 1965 television film on nuclear war. Written, directed, and produced by Peter Watkins for the BBC's The Wednesday Play strand, its depiction of the impact of Soviet nuclear attack on Britain caused dismay within the BBC and in government. It was scheduled for transmission on August 6, 1966 (the anniversary of the Hiroshima attack) but was not transmitted until 1985, the corporation publicly stating that "the effect of the film has been judged by the BBC to be too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting". It was widely viewed before its BBC debut on video and in art-house cinemas, often using prints provided by Watkins, and the film won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature in 1966. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... This article is about the television series. ... This article is about the Doctor Who serial. ... Peter Watkins (born October 29, 1935) is an English film and (once) television director. ... Peter Watkins (born October 29, 1935) is an English film and (once) television director. ... Michael Aspel (b. ... Peter Graham (Lanarkshire, Scotland), born 1958, is one of the leading composers for brass band. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... is the 305th day of the year (306th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... // Events Top grossing films North America Mary Poppins The Sound of Music, starring Julie Andrews Goldfinger My Fair Lady Whats New Pussycat? Shenandoah The Sandpiper Father Goose Academy Awards Best Picture: The Sound of Music - Argyle, Twentieth Century-Fox Best Actor: Lee Marvin - Cat Ballou Best Actress: Julie Christie... A television movie (also TV movie, TV-movie, made-for-TV movie, etc. ... Nuclear War is a card game designed by Douglas Malewicki, and originally published in 1966. ... Peter Watkins (born October 29, 1935) is an English film and (once) television director. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... The Wednesday Play was a British television drama anthology series, which ran on BBC ONE from 1964 to 1970. ... CCCP redirects here. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... is the 218th day of the year (219th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Hiroshima (disambiguation). ... This article is about the year. ... The Academy Award for Documentary Feature is one of the most prestigious awards for documentary films. ... Year 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. ...

Synopsis

Shot in black and white and running for 50 minutes, The War Game covers a period of some four months from the days leading up to nuclear attack to several weeks after the missiles have struck. In the film, the war is started following a Chinese invasion of South Vietnam; tensions escalate when the U.S. authorizes the use of tactical nuclear warheads against Chinese forces, and the Soviet and East German forces threaten to invade West Berlin if the U.S. does not withdraw that decision. The U.S. does not acquiesce to these demands, and West Berlin is occupied. Two American divisions try to fight their way to Berlin, but are defeated by Soviet and East German forces. The U.S. president authorizes the pre-emptive use of NATO tactical nuclear weapons by European NATO members. A limited nuclear war erupts and Britain is struck by several nuclear missiles. The film depicts the chaos during the buildup to the attack, as the urban population is forcibly evacuated. Much of the rest of the film is centred on Rochester, Kent, which is struck by an off-target Soviet missile aimed at RAF Manston and Maidstone barracks. It depicts both the immediate effects of the nuclear strike, such as the instant blinding of those who see the bomb explode, and a firestorm that results from the aftermath of the heat wave and blast front, as well as the later collapse of society, both because the population is radiation-sick and psychologically damaged, and because most of the infrastructure is destroyed. Among other things, the army is forced to burn corpses instead of burying them, and the police shoot protesters during food riots. Anthem Thanh niên Hành Khúc (Call to the Citizens) Capital Saigon Language(s) Vietnamese Government Republic Last President¹ Duong Van Minh Last Prime minister Vu Van Mau Historical era Cold War  - Regime change June 14, 1955  - Dissolution April 30, 1975 Area  - 1973 173,809 km² 67,108... CCCP redirects here. ... Boroughs of West Berlin West Berlin was the name given to the western part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. ... This article is about the military alliance. ... , Rochester is a town in Kent, England, at the lowest bridging point of the River Medway about 30 miles (50 km) from London. ... RAF Manston was a Royal Air Force station, now known as Kent International Airport. ... For other uses, see Maidstone (disambiguation). ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Radiation poisoning, also called radiation sickness, is a form of damage to organic tissue due to excessive exposure to ionizing radiation. ...

Style

The story is told in the style of a news magazine programme. It features several different strands that alternate throughout, including a documentary-style chronology of the main events, featuring reportage-like images of the war, the nuclear strikes, and their effects on civilians; brief contemporary interviews, in which passers-by are interviewed about their knowledge of nuclear war issues; optimistic commentary from public figures that clashes with the other images in the film; and fictional interviews with key figures as the war unfolds. Reportage can be a single journalists report of news (especially when witnessed first-hand), distributed through the media. ...

The film also features an 'out-of-universe' voice-over narration that describes the events depicted as things that would happen during a nuclear war. The narration reminds the viewing audience that the civil defence policies of 1965 have not realistically prepared for such events, and that perhaps no adequate preparation is ever possible; it emphasizes that the government and the public have wrongly thought of nuclear war as a survivable ordeal like the Blitz, when it is more likely to resemble the devastating firebombing of Japanese cities in World War II, but on a much larger scale. The old American Civil Defense logo, used today federally only as a historical reminder on FEMAs seal, the triangle emphasises the 3-step Civil Defense philosophy used before the foundation of FEMA and Comprehensive Emergency Management. ... For other uses, see Blitz. ... Firebombing is a bombing technique designed to damage a target, generally an urban area, through the use of fire rather than the blast effects of large bombs. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

The film contains this quotation from the Stephen Vincent Benét poem "Song for Three Soldiers": Stephen Vincent Benét (July 22, 1898 – March 13, 1943) was a United States author, poet, short story writer and novelist. ...

"Oh, where are you coming from, soldier, gaunt soldier,

With weapons beyond any reach of my mind,

With weapons so deadly the world must grow older

And die in its tracks, if it does not turn kind?"

Production and exhibition

Peter Watkins had been recruited to the BBC in 1963 by the head of the documentary department, Huw Wheldon, who had been impressed by Watkins' early nonprofessional work—particularly his 1961 short film The Forgotten Faces, which established his technique of mixing drama and documentary. Offered his choice of projects, Watkins immediately proposed a film about the effects of nuclear war. Wheldon was reluctant, possibly because an earlier BBC project on nuclear weapons had been cancelled due to Winston Churchill's disapproval in 1954. Watkins instead proceeded with his second choice, which became Culloden. After the critical success of Culloden, Watkins threatened to resign if he could not direct his nuclear war film. Wheldon approved the project but, still cautious about the subject matter, asked for input from higher officials of the BBC, who in turn contacted the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence. Sir Huw Wheldon OBE MC (7 May 1916–March 14, 1986) was a BBC broadcaster and executive. ... Churchill redirects here. ... Culloden is a 1964 television film written and directed by Peter Watkins and originally broadcast by the BBC. It portrays the Jacobite uprising of 1745 and the Battle of Culloden. ... The modern concept of Small Office and Home Office or SoHo , or Small or Home Office deals with the category of business which can be from 1 to 10 workers. ... The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces. ...

The finished film included some edits suggested by Wheldon, but still caused controversy within the BBC, especially for its depiction of the police shooting civilians (in one case, to control rioters; in another, to provide mercy to untreatable burn victims). Watkins insisted that these scenes were realistic and refused to cut them. When Wheldon's superiors decided to delay the broadcast in order to consult the government, holding a closed screening for Cabinet representatives, Watkins resigned. After undisclosed communications with the Home Office, the BBC announced in November 1965 that the film would not be shown. The BBC is officially free from government interference, and stated (as it still does) that the decision was an independent one.

Controversy over the unseen film continued to arise in the press, and in February 1966 the BBC arranged several small screenings for politicians and reporters, in an attempt to show why the film's content was too extreme for the public. Many of those invited to the screenings agreed with the BBC's decision and denounced the film in newspapers and in Parliament, but Watkins gained equally strong support from others, notably critic Kenneth Tynan, who said The War Game might be "the most important film ever made." It quickly became a cause célèbre for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). Watkins led a letter-writing campaign asking the BBC to allow a limited theatrical release, a compromise which was approved in March of 1966. The CND arranged many of the early screenings in the UK, and the film was widely seen on U.S. college campuses in 1966 and 1967. It also represented the UK in the 1966 Venice Film Festival, against the wishes of the government.^{[citation needed]} Kenneth Peacock Tynan (April 2, 1927 - July 26, 1980), was an influential and often controversial British theatre critic and writer. ... CND redirects here. ...

The BBC had licensed the film to the British Film Institute for non-broadcast use, and for many years it was only available through the French distributor, Dorlane Films. The BFI released it on DVD in the UK in 2003, and it was also later released in North America by New Yorker Films on July 25, 2006. As the BBC retains all rights, Watkins has never received any income from theatrical or video releases of The War Game. The British Film Institute (BFI) is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to encourage the development of the arts of film, television and the moving image throughout the United Kingdom, to promote their use as a record of contemporary life and manners, to promote education about film, television and... North American redirects here. ...

Influence

In the 1980s The War Game was followed by such similarly-themed films as The Day After (US ABC,TV film, 1983) and Threads (BBC, 1984), the latter of which particularly evoked Peter Watkins' style and delivery. The War Game itself finally saw television transmission in the United Kingdom on BBC2 on July 31, 1985, as part of a special season of programming entitled After the Bomb (which was also Watkins's original working title for The War Game). After the Bomb commemorated the 40th anniversry of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.[1] The transmission was preceded by an introduction from British journalist Ludovic Kennedy ^[1]. This article is about the 1983 TV movie about nuclear war. ... Year 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar). ... For other uses, see Thread. ... This article is about the year. ... For the BBC radio station, see BBC Radio 2. ... is the 212th day of the year (213th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... Sir Ludovic Kennedy shown on the cover of his book All In The Mind: A Farewell To God Sir Ludovic Henry Coverley Kennedy (born 3 November 1919) is a British journalist, broadcaster, and author. ...

Awards and recognition

The film won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature. The Academy Award for Documentary Feature is one of the most prestigious awards for documentary films. ...

In a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, voted for by industry professionals, The War Game was placed 27th. The War Game was also voted 74th in Channel Four's 100 Greatest Scary Moments ^[2] 100 Greatest British Television Programmes was a list compiled in 2000 by the British Film Institute (BFI) chosen by a poll of industry professionals, to determine what were the greatest British television programmes of any genre ever to have been screened. ... The British Film Institute (BFI) is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to encourage the development of the arts of film, television and the moving image throughout the United Kingdom, to promote their use as a record of contemporary life and manners, to promote education about film, television and... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ...

See also

• List of nuclear holocaust fiction
• Nuclear weapons and the United Kingdom
• Nuclear weapons in popular culture
• Threads, a 1984 British docudrama about nuclear war

This list of nuclear holocaust fiction lists the many works of speculative fiction that attempt to describe a world during or after a massive nuclear war, or nuclear holocaust. ... The United Kingdom was the third country to test an independently developed nuclear weapon in October 1952. ... The 1957 photograph of Miss Atomic Bomb, a Las Vegas showgirl with a mushroom cloud dress, has often been used as representative of Cold War kitsch and a symbol of the effects of nuclear weapons on American popular culture. ... For other uses, see Thread. ...

References

• Murphy, Patrick. "The War Game—The Controversy". Film International, May 2003. [2]

External links

• The War Game at the Internet Movie Database
• The War Game at Allmovie
• Encyclopedia of Television
• British Film Institute Screen Online UK only
• Entire film (unsplit) on Google Video
• Transcribed script of the film