msc@qubix.UUCP (Mark Callow) (11/20/83)
In an article in TV Guide Nicholas Meyer, director of "The Day After",
mentions that "Eighteen years ago the BBC commissioned the same film from
Peter Watkins and, when they saw the result, banned it from the airwaves."
By "same" I do not know of he means the same script or the same subject.
The film was instead released to the cinemas and my high school
film-society showed it. It was powerful stuff. After 15 years there
are 2 things I remember very clearly. One was the depiction of the
fire-storms on the fringes of the blast area and the other was scenes
of the (normally unarmed) British police armed with revolvers going
round shooting people who were beyond the limited medical help available.
The few doctors and hospitals left were, of course, swamped with victims.
I do not think the BBC should have banned the film. I hope they would
not do the same thing today. The film was called, I think,
"The War Game". The BBC banned it because they deemed it too frightening
for the general populace.
"The War Game" was released not long after Dr. Strangelove which I had
seen. From Dr. Strangelove I got the message about the stupidity of
the blowing up yourself and the world in retaliation for an attack upon
yourself but the mushroom cloud at the end of the film gave a very
abstract feeling to the destruction. The horror of the destruction
and its aftermath was vividly brought home by "The War Game".
--
Mark Callow, Saratoga, CA.
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