Context and Craft: The War Game 1965
Country: United Kingdom
Production Company: BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation)
Year of Release: 1965 (UK)
Director: Peter Watkins
Writer: Peter Watkins
Lead Performers: Michael Aspel, Peter Graham (both as Commentator’s)
Production Company: BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation)
Year of Release: 1965 (UK)
Director: Peter Watkins
Writer: Peter Watkins
Lead Performers: Michael Aspel, Peter Graham (both as Commentator’s)
Synopsis
The War Game is a fictional, worst-case-scenario docu-drama about nuclear war and its aftermath in and around a typical English city.
The Film
The Cold War, which had arisen in the aftermath of the Second World War, was a period of tension between the two greatest super powers of the time, the USA and the USSR, each threatening to completely annihilate the other. Caught in the middle of this were the Allies of these two nations. Great Britain, which found itself on the side of the US, found itself as one of the Soviet’s biggest targets if a war should break out. It is estimated in the film that in the event of a thermos-nuclear war, one fourth of the population would be killed.
The main reason that Peter Watkins wanted to make this film was because of the 1964 general election in Britain (Watkins, p.1). The newly appointed Labour government under Harold Wilson had immediately turned back on one of its biggest points in its manifesto, that they would help disarm Britain, and instead started to develop a full-scale nuclear weapon program, despite wide spread public protest (Watkins, p.1). Watkins wanted to make a film showing the people of Britain the possible effects of a nuclear strike by the USSR (Watkins, P.1).
From the very beginning of production Watkins has problems making this film. At the time that Watkins had submitted his script to the BBC, it was undergoing a massive power struggle. According to Watkins ‘Someone very senior had been fired’ and this had left a gap that needed to be filled (Watkins, p.1). When this ‘Night of the long Knives’ was finished, Watkins was given, reluctantly, a small budget to make the film, but was told that at any time the BBC could stop the film from being made (Watkins, P.1). The reason that the BBC where so hostile was because the British Home Office, which was in charge of Civil Defence, wanted to know why a film about the dangers of Nuclear Weapons was being made (Watkins, p.1).
To prepare for the film Watkins did a tremendous amount of research for the film, consulting over 50 books on the matter of nuclear warfare and consulting professionals from all sorts of fields to study not only the physical effects of a nuclear war, but also the psychological effects. (O’Sullivan, p.224)
Once the film was completed, it was a given an internal screening at the BBC. The executives who watched the film panicked, not knowing what to do with the film (Watkins, p.1). As a result of this a screening was organised with senior members of the Home Office and Ministry of Defence, which included Sir Burke Trend, who 6 weeks after this screening, said that the film would never be released (Watkins, p.1).
It is unclear the exact reasons as to why the film was never broadcast (the film saw a limited theatrical release). The most accepted theory is that the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence saw the film as demoralising in a time of crisis and this could jeopardise public safety in case of an attack (Chapman, p.84).
The film was eventually released in the 1980’s for the public to view, and the film was extremely well received (Pilger, p.532), and still is. 51 years after its original release, The War Game is still remarkable for its brilliant cinematography and production design which makes the haunting vision of a nuclear strike uncomfortable real.
The War Game is a fictional, worst-case-scenario docu-drama about nuclear war and its aftermath in and around a typical English city.
The Film
The Cold War, which had arisen in the aftermath of the Second World War, was a period of tension between the two greatest super powers of the time, the USA and the USSR, each threatening to completely annihilate the other. Caught in the middle of this were the Allies of these two nations. Great Britain, which found itself on the side of the US, found itself as one of the Soviet’s biggest targets if a war should break out. It is estimated in the film that in the event of a thermos-nuclear war, one fourth of the population would be killed.
The main reason that Peter Watkins wanted to make this film was because of the 1964 general election in Britain (Watkins, p.1). The newly appointed Labour government under Harold Wilson had immediately turned back on one of its biggest points in its manifesto, that they would help disarm Britain, and instead started to develop a full-scale nuclear weapon program, despite wide spread public protest (Watkins, p.1). Watkins wanted to make a film showing the people of Britain the possible effects of a nuclear strike by the USSR (Watkins, P.1).
From the very beginning of production Watkins has problems making this film. At the time that Watkins had submitted his script to the BBC, it was undergoing a massive power struggle. According to Watkins ‘Someone very senior had been fired’ and this had left a gap that needed to be filled (Watkins, p.1). When this ‘Night of the long Knives’ was finished, Watkins was given, reluctantly, a small budget to make the film, but was told that at any time the BBC could stop the film from being made (Watkins, P.1). The reason that the BBC where so hostile was because the British Home Office, which was in charge of Civil Defence, wanted to know why a film about the dangers of Nuclear Weapons was being made (Watkins, p.1).
To prepare for the film Watkins did a tremendous amount of research for the film, consulting over 50 books on the matter of nuclear warfare and consulting professionals from all sorts of fields to study not only the physical effects of a nuclear war, but also the psychological effects. (O’Sullivan, p.224)
Once the film was completed, it was a given an internal screening at the BBC. The executives who watched the film panicked, not knowing what to do with the film (Watkins, p.1). As a result of this a screening was organised with senior members of the Home Office and Ministry of Defence, which included Sir Burke Trend, who 6 weeks after this screening, said that the film would never be released (Watkins, p.1).
It is unclear the exact reasons as to why the film was never broadcast (the film saw a limited theatrical release). The most accepted theory is that the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence saw the film as demoralising in a time of crisis and this could jeopardise public safety in case of an attack (Chapman, p.84).
The film was eventually released in the 1980’s for the public to view, and the film was extremely well received (Pilger, p.532), and still is. 51 years after its original release, The War Game is still remarkable for its brilliant cinematography and production design which makes the haunting vision of a nuclear strike uncomfortable real.
By Barnaby Falck
Further Reading
Chapman, James. "The BBC and the Censorship of The War Game." Journal of Contemporary History. (California: Sage Publications, 1966)
O'Sullivan, Sean. "No Such Thing as Society: Television and the Apocalypse." Fires Were Started: British Cinema and Thatcherism. (Minneapolis: U of Minnesota, 1993.)
Pilger, John. Heroes. (Sydney: Pan, 1987.)
Watkins, Peter. "WarGame_PeterWatkins." WarGame_PeterWatkins. (Oliver Groom, 2014.)
O'Sullivan, Sean. "No Such Thing as Society: Television and the Apocalypse." Fires Were Started: British Cinema and Thatcherism. (Minneapolis: U of Minnesota, 1993.)
Pilger, John. Heroes. (Sydney: Pan, 1987.)
Watkins, Peter. "WarGame_PeterWatkins." WarGame_PeterWatkins. (Oliver Groom, 2014.)