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The War Game / Culloden (1965, 1964)

Posted By: Someonelse
Date: 21 Apr 2011 11:13:05
The War Game / Culloden (1965, 1964)

The War Game / Culloden (1965, 1964) [2003]
A Film By Peter Watkins
DVD9 (VIDEO_TS) | NTSC 4:3 (720 x 480) | AC3 @ 192 Kbps mono | 00:48:36 + 01:12:27 | 6,39 Gb
Audio: English + English Commentary track | Subtitles: French, English
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, War, Documentary, History | Won Oscar + 4 wins | UK

Two powerful BBC-produced films by Peter Watkins about war and their consequences are collected here. Commissioned by the BBC in the mid-1960s to dramatize the effects of a nuclear attack on Great Britain, THE WAR GAME is a film of monumental devastation, which so shocked the heads of the agency that it was initially withheld from broadcast. CULLODEN is an intriguing restaging of the 1746 battle of Culloden–the last battle fought on British ground, in which "Bonnie Prince Charles" was defeated by the Royal Army of King George II–using amateur actors, and capturing how the bloody struggle might have looked to the nation if television had existed at the time.

The War Game - IMDB

Culloden - IMDB

amazon.com

Review on DVDtalk.

The War Game / Culloden (1965, 1964)

The War Game came second but I'm covering it first … this is the original Nuclear War Aftermath movie that the BBC (abetted by representatives of the British government) banned from the airwaves and tried to suppress completely. Previously assured of his freedom of speech and already having taken the film through a round or two of censorship reviews, filmmaker Peter Watkins did what no BBC producer had done before and publicly aired the entire scandal. Luckily, the BBC ban had no power to limit theatrical screenings, and The War Game became a liberal cause movie the next year. Critics and politicians voiced approval despite its tone of outrage toward government policy on civil defense. The film was banned from British television for decades. The Thatcher and Reagan "Star Wars" era miniseries The Day After showed that the media had finally caught up with Watkins' vision …. eighteen years later.
The War Game / Culloden (1965, 1964)

The War Game / Culloden (1965, 1964)

The War Game / Culloden (1965, 1964)

Culloden came out the year before the War Game debacle and its success shot Peter Watkins to the top rank of progressive non-fiction filmmakers. Culloden looks at the last 18th century land battle fought in Britain as if it could be covered by modern-day newsreel techniques. The concept had originated ten years before with CBS' You Are There, a popular show hosted by Walter Cronkite, directed by future notables like John Frankenheimer, Bernard Girard and Sidney Lumet, and that hired uncredited blacklisted writers like Walter Bernstein and Abraham Polonsky. Noted newsmen 'reported' on events like the Hindenburg crash and the Gettysburg Address. The Internet Movie Database tells us that Frankenheimer's episode was called "The Plot Against King Solomon."

Critics and educators lauded Culloden, which updated the same idea with 1960s news film techniques for added realism. Audiences were shocked by the historical brutality and cruelty. Hardly anybody inferred that the show was a veiled critique of modern political-military attitudes.
The War Game / Culloden (1965, 1964)

The War Game / Culloden (1965, 1964)

The War Game / Culloden (1965, 1964)

In closing I'd like to say that all of these Peter Watkins movies have been revelations, even when they had weaknesses. Project X has made them available on DVDs of excellent quality. If you aren't the type to buy this kind of movie, I recommend giving a couple a rental … The War Game is definitely the kind of picture that alters one's perceptions.
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