NEW!                                                                                               THE WAR GAME

. Peter Watkins for BBC TV 1965.  I am convinced that the Government of the day played a strong part in preventing this film, which was made for television, from being shown on it for many many years.  The ‘Ban the Bomb’ movement was strong and growing rapidly and if this film, which pulled no punches in its depiction of the horrors of a nuclear attack, had been seen by millions on their T.V. sets, then it would have been even harder for the Government to resist the call that Britain should cease to be a nuclear power and set an example of non-proliferation. Peter Watkins again made this using amateurs. It shows the effect of a single nuclear bomb dropped in Kent.  Again the technique of news reportage was used.  Although made in Black & White and although the methods used have become part of modern filmmaking, even now, getting on for 40 years after it was made, The War Game has the power to shock the viewer.  The film itself lasts for 50 minutes and is followed by  The War Game-the Controversy,   in which Patrick Murphy reveals new information pointing to a definitive account of the banning of the film.  This is followed by an earlier award winning short by Peter Watkins;  The Diary of an Unknown Soldier.

WAR GAMES