In 1965, filmmaker Peter Watkins (PRIVILEGE, PUNISHMENT PARK) recruited 350 amateur actors, utilized direct quotes from civil defense manuals and employed newsreel-like recreations to craft a BBC documentary drama that depicted a nuclear attack on Great Britain. The network condemned the finished film as "too horrifying" and refused to broadcast it. Watkins' masterpiece subsequently received a special award at the 1966 Venice Film Festival and won the 1967 Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature. The BBC would not air his "chillingly different, enduringly brilliant" (The Guardian) classic until three decades later. "What may be the most important film ever made" (The Observer) is now scanned in 4K from the original 16mm A/B rolls for the first time ever, with more than 5½ of all-new Special Features.
Special Features
Introduction By Filmmaker Alex Cox
Commentary By Film Critic Kim Newman And Filmmaker Sean Hogan
Interview With Anne Davey Orr, Production Designer On CULLODEN And THE WAR GAME
Interview With Peter Watkins Historian John Cook
Video Essay By Dr. Alexandra Heller-Nicholas And Filmmaker Stephen Broomer
THE WAR GAME At Cine City - Featurette By Journalist Eric Veillette
Interview With Julie McDowall, Author Of Attack Warning Red! How Britain Prepared For Nuclear War
Archival Interview With Editor Michael Bradsell
Peter Watkins Reflects On THE WAR GAME And The Media
Introduction To THE WAR GAME In Sheffield By Visions Producer John Ellis
THE WAR GAME In Sheffield - Peter Watkins Recruits For A Proposed WAR GAME Remake In Unused Footage For The UK TV Show Visions
Trailer
Peter Watkins Short Films THE DIARY OF AN UNKNOWN SOLDIER And THE FORGOTTEN FACES
Bonus Materials
Audio Commentary With Film Critic Kim Newman And Filmmaker Sean Hogan
Introduction By Filmmaker Alex Cox
Conflict By Design – Interview With Anne Davey Orr, Production Designer On CULLODEN And THE WAR GAME
Who Banned THE WAR GAME? – An Interview With Peter Watkins Historian John Cook
Games Of Fact And Fiction – Video Essay By Dr. Alexandra Heller-Nicholas And Filmmaker Stephen Broomer
THE WAR GAME At Cine City – Featurette By Journalist Eric Veillette
Nuclear Britain – Interview With Julie McDowall, Author Of Attack Warning Red! How Britain Prepared For Nuclear War
Archival Interview With Editor Michael Bradsell
Peter Watkins Reflects On THE WAR GAME And The Media – 1983 Interview From The Australian Film Television And Radio School (AFTRS)
Introduction To THE WAR GAME In Sheffield By Visions Producer John Ellis
THE WAR GAME In Sheffield – Peter Watkins Recruits For A Proposed WAR GAME Remake In Unused Footage For The UK TV Show Visions
Trailer
THE DIARY OF AN UNKNOWN SOLDIER – Short Film By Peter Watkins
THE FORGOTTEN FACES – Short Film By Peter Watkins