crunchie

Does anyone have on DVD any British public information films from the 60's about what to do in the event of a nuclear attack? I have an American short ("Duck & Cover") but were any made specifically for the UK?

ChristineCB

There is a 1965 film called "THE WAR GAME" - singular, not plural -

The War Game (1965)

which contains wonderful information about avoiding thermonuclear blasts across the street by laying down in the street gutters.

Also, rolling a dining table over, facing the blast. Or wait - was that to ward off those pesky Indian attacks? Darn... now I've forgotten!

In either case, there wasn't a good commentary about re-finishing the table's surface after it deflected 50-megaton blasts. I'm pretty certain you'd want to refinish it, though - maybe that's just so obvious THE WAR GAME producers and other world leaders didn't think it necessary to address that.

Or repainting the house. Window shades, too, might need a bit o' straightening.

Another cute American film is ATOMIC CAFE.

After those, a good cheery film like ON THE BEACH should make the world look quite sprightly.

Steve Crook

I think that there were so many pointing out the ridiculousness of thinking about survival like:
"Whoops Apocalypse" (1982)
The Bed Sitting Room (1969)
When the Wind Blows (1986)
The War Game (1965)
that the government never bothered with a major film.
There were some Civil Defence leaflets, some of which are detailed at Protect and Survive
The Civil Defence also did some Public Information Films which are detailed on that site

Steve

ChristineCB

(Steve's comments are straight-on, by the way. Mine are anything but-! If you watch THE WAR GAME, you'll probably realize it's the source of my sarcasm and total amazement that such info was disseminated 20 years after authorities knew better.)

crunchie

Thanks Steve, Thanks Christine - I already have THE WAR GAME and ATOMIC CAFE, as well as the excellent US film TRINITY AND BEYOND. What I'd like to get hold of are any public information "safety films" issued (or made and never issued) specifically for the UK.

DB7

There is an earlier topic HERE with some links to Public Information shorts.

Steve Crook

They have the transcript and audio track from Action After Warnings at the Protect and Survive link I gave above. It includes the useful advice that if you're in the open when the sirens go, you should lie in a ditch! I think that it's not the public that should lie anywhere, he Government were doing enough of that if they thought that would protect anyone.

Steve

ChristineCB

Gee - what ever do you mean? You mean that trusty table-top wasn't good enough? I mean, what if it had JUST been waxed? Wasn't there some kind of 75-megaton furniture wax? It kind of gave a glow-in-the-dark shine to it?

(Or was that reserved for "only after exposure to radiation"? Boy, where is that GW's Idiot's Guide To Warmongering? I was sure I had a copy around here somewhere... Oh, that's right. It was the last of our kindling...)

Lord Brett

You need to get hold of a DVD released by Network called Charley Says which contains a huge number of British public information films, including the terrifying (and, thankfully, unbroadcast) advice in what to do if the bomb drops. The official advice is just as nonsensical as Duck and Cover, but without the catchy song.

Here's a link to it on Amazon:

Amazon.co.uk: Charley Says... Vol 1 & 2 (Over 300 UK Public Information Films): DVD: Charley Says

MarkG

I've seen a full set of the 'Protect and Survive' videos for sale on VHS, but forget where it was. Google may find the site.

Those are the only ones I know of, but I think they were 1970s, not 1960s.

ajhooper

This has now been reissued on DVD:

Protect And Survive

Moor Larkin

I saw this mentioned in the Sunday paper this weekend:
The National Cold War Exhibition - Royal Air Force Museum

It's obviously easy to mock the old info-films but what else was a government to do, apart from save the tax money and not employ some film-maker or other?

I do wonder if anyone ever paid the slightest attention to such things anyhow. Nuclear devastation was done to death in Films and TV all the time, I don't think anyone was in any doubt that if you lived within fifty miles of a big city - you were dead meat. I can clearly recall wondering if I would have a few seconds to *see* the white light over Liverpool, before the shock-wave hit me.

Some people were said to have dug shelters in their gardens. Anyone know anyone who did? And is it still there? I found a (long-empty) concrete septic tank under my lawn a few years ago. Would have done the job I reckon....... saved anyone burying me anyhow......

[code]http://www.flickr.com/photos/29487363@N02/sets/72157606700675506/code]

MarkG

I think part of the problem was that while the advice might have helped a few people around the country, the whole idea that most could survive by sitting in a cupboard under the stairs was such lunacy that few could take it seriously. Nor would surviving for two weeks have achieved much when the majority of the country was destroyed.

Even the government seem to have accepted this, because their 'war plans' were based on far more limited attacks than would actually have been carried out by the USSR, and full of useful advice like 'a nuclear war would severely impact the banking system.' Worse than that, their own command bunkers were only about a hundred feet below the surface and would have been trivial for H-bombs to destroy.

'Duck and Cover' was less stupid because it was shot in the A-bomb era where a 20 kiloton bomb dropped on a city would have left many people alive if they'd followed the advice in the movie. But a few years later the USSR had H-bombs a thousand times as powerful.

MarkG

Thanks, I'll have to get a copy. Shame it's an IE-only web site, I thought they went extinct with the dinosaurs.

ChristineCB

Mark, what's wrong with you?!! Haven't you heard there's an on-going Us Versus Them Cold War starting anew?!!

ha ha

(Fortunately, draft notices are IE-only, too, so all of us commie-pinkos using Firefox, Opera, etc., will be considered outlaws shortly... Holy Linux, Batman! Maybe we should flee to Canadian websites!)