[tracystapes]

Just ordered the book on Amazon, I didn't know it was made into a film! And a feature length one too! (85 minutes).

Will be getting that on DVD. Anyone else seen it?

[Ambrose]

'When The Wind Blows'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9aHT-IlkHo

[Stockingfiller]

Yes, saw it years ago.It's very sad and scary. Worth seeing though of course.

[wiseguy100]

Hated it when I was a kid. The old couple annoyed the hell outta me. Refused to believe that anyone, no matter how old they were, wouldn't realize that crawling under a table wouldn't protect them from a nuclear bomb. Silly silly film.

[Moony]

Originally Posted by wiseguy100

Hated it when I was a kid. The old couple annoyed the hell outta me. Refused to believe that anyone, no matter how old they were, wouldn't realize that crawling under a table wouldn't protect them from a nuclear bomb. Silly silly film.

They didn't crawl under a table - they had constructed a shelter from doors propped against a wall - they hid under that (watch from 0:29:20)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9aHT-IlkHo

This was as per the official UK government "Protect and Survive" advice of the time the movie was set in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IaeeSKpwSQ

Far from being a silly film, I think its a fairly accurate depiction of how such people would have acted and behaved.

[Gort]

Originally Posted by wiseguy100

Hated it when I was a kid. The old couple annoyed the hell outta me. Refused to believe that anyone, no matter how old they were, wouldn't realize that crawling under a table wouldn't protect them from a nuclear bomb. Silly silly film.

Ah, then you must be relatively young and not have seen the Protect and Survive government information films that were around at the time of the film's production, which did suggest that hiding under a constructed shelter (not merely under a table, as you claim) was the best thing to do. Far from the film being silly, it was quite accurate as to the official advice given to people at the time. The film also satirised such advice, showing its limitations in the wider context of things. Great film; far from silly.

[Gulftastic]

Part of the great terror of my teen years, i.e. nuclear annihilation, it's an excellent book and film.

[Alrightmate]

Originally Posted by wiseguy100

Hated it when I was a kid. The old couple annoyed the hell outta me. Refused to believe that anyone, no matter how old they were, wouldn't realize that crawling under a table wouldn't protect them from a nuclear bomb. Silly silly film.

They acted as advised by real government guidelines.

That was the satirical point that was being made in the animation.
Some people just accept what their government say is the truth because their government say that it is.

Everyone at the time knew that the government produced pamphlet about what to do if you got the 4 minute warning was a load of nonsense. This is what the animated film itself was alluding to.
Everyone at the time joked about how effective a makeshift flimsy homemade bomb shelter in your living room would be against the force of a nuclear bomb.

The whole point of the film is to show just how agreeable and compliant people can be and just get on with it in a 'mustn't grumble' way even when the government's wisdom is complete madness.

I thought that this was a very well written film and I think the film makers knew what they were doing.

In some ways I found this more scary than 'Threads' because this at first had a very humorous tone and a warm cosy nature to the characters. This was an animation and at that age for me cartoons didn't do the sort of thing that this animation did. So as the film went on and especially at the end, I felt very unsettled indeed because I never thought it would end that the way it did. I just didn't expect it of an animation that had the look and feel that this one did.
I find it poignant and shocking still now up to this day.

Much better piece of work than the The Snowman which gets all the attention.

[Atlantic]

You should watch "Threads" as well. The complete film is available on YouTube.

[LaVieEnRose]

Originally Posted by tracystapes

And a feature length one too! (85 minutes).

I shall go against popular opinion and say that it is way too long. I've always thought it very repetitive and dull, and the characters irritated me too - and this is because it's so unnecessarily long. Nothing happens that couldn't have been covered in 30 minutes.

Although it does amuse me that he calls her a bitch. This word was fairly inoffensive in the 80s, and here is the proof.

[Kapellmeister]

Originally Posted by Gulftastic

Part of the great terror of my teen years, i.e. nuclear annihilation, it's an excellent book and film.

Likewise. For anyone under the age of 35 or so it's hard to imagine what it was like back then when the possibility of a nuclear war was an ever-present threat. We had Threads and The Day After and stuff like When the Wind Blows. I thought it was a horrible time.

[barneyboy]

Its an amazing movie!!! So touching, I dont see anyone couldnt like it. Its simple yes but sends the message accross from the 80's.

[wiseguy100]

Ok i got the table bit wrong, bear in mind it's been nearly 30 years since i last saw it lol. All I remember is it made me feel annoyed, that the couple didn't realize what was happening. And yes, I understood the point of the film about what the government info films/pamphlets told people. Just despised the film, that's all. Found it very heavy handed. Clunky.

And yes, I am old enough to remember Protect and Survive, I was born in 77, so remember them well. Thanks for the condescending statement about me being too young though.

[neo_wales]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrGg8PfkbZw

Made by the BBC but then they decided it too harsh to show on TV for many years. Very gritty production and not one to watch if your prone to nightmares.

[Gort]

Originally Posted by wiseguy100

And yes, I am old enough to remember Protect and Survive, I was born in 77, so remember them well. Thanks for the condescending statement about me being too young though.

No problem. Glad I could help.

[Radiance26]

I watched it yesterday, it's starts off as quite a cute little animation then you end up feeling so sorry for them both, they're quite nieve and the ending was so sad, I had never heard of it before.

[Moony]

Originally Posted by Alrightmate

Everyone at the time joked about how effective a makeshift flimsy homemade bomb shelter in your living room would be against the force of a nuclear bomb.

The shelter was probably more for protection from falling debris in the house and flying glass - than protection from the blast itself.

Since you dont know exactly where the nuclear bomb will drop - its difficult to say just how powerful the blast will be and what damage will be caused in your vicinity. The damage caused by a nuclear blast falls off quite rapidly.

For example - a Hiroshima sized nuclear bomb would only completely destroy houses up to about 1.3 miles from the blast centre. Being inside a house beyond about 3 miles from the blast centre would be entirely survivable - and the greater danger would probably come from falling debris or flying glass - (which a makeshift shelter could offer reasonable protection) rather than from the blast itself.

The danger from radiation exposure from a conventional nuclear blast is also negligible a reasonable distance from ground zero - the radiation danger coming from the fallout rather than the blast itself.

[Gulftastic]

Originally Posted by wiseguy100

Ok i got the table bit wrong, bear in mind it's been nearly 30 years since i last saw it lol.

You're not confusing it with The Young Ones, are you?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lY65-APIwY#t=705

[Dai13371]

Originally Posted by wiseguy100

Ok i got the table bit wrong, bear in mind it's been nearly 30 years since i last saw it lol. All I remember is it made me feel annoyed, that the couple didn't realize what was happening. And yes, I understood the point of the film about what the government info films/pamphlets told people. Just despised the film, that's all. Found it very heavy handed. Clunky.

And yes, I am old enough to remember Protect and Survive, I was born in 77, so remember them well. Thanks for the condescending statement about me being too young though.

Try it again. As you get older, perhaps you can sympathise with the elderly couple. Seeing it at age 9 is not really the best time.

[mrprosser]

I think the last time I saw it was about 1991, and I thought it was a very moving film. The old couple would obviously have grown up through WW2 and would have built similar shelters at the start of the war to protect against flying debris from a bomb. Yes, they were annoying in their complete lack of understanding of the situation they faced, but then again try explaining the digital switchover to a pensioner

[Sophie ~Oohie~]

Originally Posted by Kapellmeister

Likewise. For anyone under the age of 35 or so it's hard to imagine what it was like back then when the possibility of a nuclear war was an ever-present threat. We had Threads and The Day After and stuff like When the Wind Blows. I thought it was a horrible time.

I'm scared enough of it now, which I'm told is not nearly as bad as it was then. I'm lucky I wasn't around before 1990 because I would probably have died or something...

[wiseguy100]

Originally Posted by Dai13371

Try it again. As you get older, perhaps you can sympathise with the elderly couple. Seeing it at age 9 is not really the best time.

Ok, will watch it on youtube.

[Stockingfiller]

Originally Posted by mrprosser

I think the last time I saw it was about 1991, and I thought it was a very moving film. The old couple would obviously have grown up through WW2 and would have built similar shelters at the start of the war to protect against flying debris from a bomb. Yes, they were annoying in their complete lack of understanding of the situation they faced, but then again try explaining the digital switchover to a pensioner

Pensioner ? There are dim people in every age group.
I don't think that the couple didn't know that they were going to die. They were clinging to hope and they were trying to behave as normally as they could...in deliberate denial. People don't give up easily. There'd have been little pathos if they'd just lolled about, swearing.

[shirlt9]

I still have the video although its a while since I watched it ..cant believe people are calling the old couple stupid..they are a lovely old couple who have memories of world war 2 and are following government guidelines aswell as their experiences of world war 2..the whole point is to show the experience as seen by a normal everyday couple..the way they follow everything to the letter,the way the wife believes in her husband as her saviour..it is slow (like the snowman!) but this works in the films favour and you find yourself relaxing into an aged persons pace of life as you view which makes the final results all the more harrowing..beautiful film.

I also have Threads on DVD which is based on the same nuclear war but is much more harrowing.

[tracystapes]

I received the book in the post today. I think animation/cartoons etc can be misleading i.e. aimed at children. But this isn't for children.