WHEN THE WIND BLOWS -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 4/24/20

 

Did you ever wonder what it would look like if THREADS had a cartoon-animated subplot? Or if the creators of "Wallace & Gromit" had placed their beloved characters in the middle of a nuclear holocaust?

Children's author Raymond Briggs conceived such an idea in a graphic novel which a group of filmmakers including director Jimmy T. Murakami (HEAVY METAL, BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS) brought to the screen, thus giving us the entrancingly compelling cinematic oddity entitled WHEN THE WIND BLOWS (Severin Kids, 1986).

Unlike the frantically alarmist apocalypse thrillers to which we're accustomed, this tale of an elderly couple whose peaceful retirement is shattered by nuclear war is quietly, disarmingly genteel.

We first see them enjoying a typical day in their secluded cottage, chatting absently about tea and gardening and such, while news of impending war sparks Jim's interest and motivates him into a mildly industrious fervor of preparation that brings back nostalgic feelings of the Blitz.

Meanwhile, Hilda (whom Jim endearingly calls "Ducks") refuses to entertain the notion that anything could disturb their blissful daily routines, their ability to pop down to a shop for fresh food or other supplies, or their access to telly or radio plays. 

These are the sort of likable, roundly-drawn cartoon characters (they look a bit like cuddly plush dolls) we know from a thousand children's books and movies, characters whose only concerns should be gentle, placid ones such as, say, a naughty bunny rabbit helping himself to their carrot garden.

Here, however, their idyllic lives are disrupted when the harsh, cruel reality of the really-real world ruptures the curtain of their cartoon dimension and leaves it all a charred, smoking ruin with a dark cloud of radioactive fallout drifting through it.

Jim and Hilda are similar to the older couple in THREADS with their lean-to shelter in the livingroom providing sparse protection against the blast and their halfhearted efforts to stock food, water, and other necessities quickly proving inadequate. 

What makes them different is that they continue to behave just like endearing cartoon figures out of a children's story, with Jim remaining a font of quiet optimism--after all, they lived through something similar back when they fought the Jerries--and Hilda blessedly oblivious to the fact that she can't just tidy things up and wait for the milkman to come.

The restraint shown by the filmmakers in not giving in to the usual dramatic overkill makes the encroaching horrors Jim and Hilda inevitably face seem even more wrenching, with their continued devotion to each other through it all especially heartrending as their ordinary storybook lives crumble to dust.

Artwork and animation are expertly done, using a combination of various methods such as cel animation, a bit of CGI, what appears to be some miniature work on the interiors, and the occasional well-integrated live action footage. 

The musical score includes songs by David Bowie, Roger Waters, and others. Jim and Hilda are wonderfully voiced by venerable actors Sir John Mills and Dame Peggy Ashcroft.

The Blu-ray from Severin Films' "Severin Kids" label contains their usual ample menu, including a documentary about the director ("Jimmy Murakami: Non Alien"), a making-of featurette ("The Wind and the Bomb"), an audio commentary with first assistant editor Joe Fordham and film historian Nick Redman, an interview with children's author Raymond Briggs, an original public information film ("Protect and Serve"), isolated music and effects audio track, and trailers.

In its own remarkable way, WHEN THE WIND BLOWS is one of the darkest and most disheartening of the post-nuclear nightmare tales. It's like watching Wallace and Gromit slowly withering away from radiation poisoning, and, worst of all, Wallace finally realizing at the point of dying that there may never, ever be any more cheese.


Buy it from Severin Films

Special Features:

    Jimmy Murakami: Non Alien – Feature Length Documentary About the Film’s Director
    The Wind and The Bomb: The Making of WHEN THE WIND BLOWS
    Audio Commentary with First Assistant Editor Joe Fordham and Film Historian Nick Redman
    An Interview with Raymond Briggs
    Protect and Survive: Public Information Film Designed to be Broadcast When a Nuclear Attack Was Imminent
    Isolated Music and Effects Audio Track
    Trailers

WHEN THE WIND BLOWS -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

THREADS -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 2/4/18

 

One of the most rigidly uncompromising and dramatically brutal films you'll ever see, the BBC production THREADS (Severin Films, 1984) is the result of director Mick Jackson and writer Barry Hines' desire to present the effects of thermonuclear war on humanity in the most harshly realistic manner, both visually and thematically, as possible. 

It was beaten to the airwaves by the American Broadcasting Company's TV-movie THE DAY AFTER (directed by STAR TREK: THE WRATH OF KHAN's Nicholas Meyer), a film I like a lot but which, in comparison, only went about halfway in conveying the true horrors of an utterly ravaged post-nuclear society.

Now, of course, THREADS is rightly recognized as the true pinnacle of its kind, presenting, despite a budget of only half a million pounds and a shooting schedule of little over two weeks, what is with little doubt the most nightmarish, frightening, and ultimately disheartening film ever produced for television. 

Elements contributing to this include a cast of unknowns and a shooting style reminiscent of the British "kitchen sink" drama, showing everyday people going about their lives before and after the catastrophe which obliterates the very civilization upon which they depend for their survival.

Much early emphasis is placed upon simple comforts and joys of modern life, shot in extreme close-up inserts--a colander of fresh peas rinsed in clean water, a tin of cat food being opened, a handheld video game, a cold glass of milk, crocheting, etc.--things which we take for granted until they're all gone.

Everyday life itself is depicted through two families--one lower class, the other well-to-do--joined together by the love of a son, Jimmy Kemp (Reece Dinsdale), for a daughter, Ruth Beckett (Karen Meagher), engaged to be married due to her unexpected pregnancy. Their playful romance and optimistic plans for a simple but happy life together are darkened by an impending world-crisis situation growing increasingly troubling as constantly portrayed on TV and radio news. 

With the situation reaching a flashpoint, we see how local government and civil defense measures would be activated in the event of a nuclear attack.  Nobody really knows what they're doing and it all seems rather ineffectual, as will soon be proven out.  Meanwhile, the expected run on supermarkets and inevitable price gouging heighten the sense that the threads of civilization are in the first stages of unraveling at the seams.

As THREADS begins to weigh more heavily on the viewer, a dispassionate narrator delivers exposition concerning inexorable world events and the effects impending nuclear war will have on resources, infrastructure, utilities, and basic human needs. 

Even the teletype sound effect that accompanies the on-screen text becomes more and more unsettling. Before long, the film has established a sense of foreboding that increases with every new scene of panic and desperation as people grasp in vain for ways to avoid or escape what is coming.  The pleasures of everyday life we've been shown earlier are slipping away, replaced by fear and despair.

That's when the bombs hit and THREADS dials it all the way up to eleven with an almost fiendish resolve.  Despite the lack of expensive and elaborate special effects, the nuclear devastation is shown in  extremely graphic terms as director Jackson creates harrowing images that haunt and terrify.  What follows comes as close to depicting the unimaginable as any film has ever achieved.
   
The rest of THREADS details the eventual breakdown and disintegration of every aspect of civilized society and a return to the Dark Ages (or worse) with millions of unburied dead, radiation sickness and other deadly diseases sweeping the dwindling populace, rampant starvation, and the oncoming effects of the darkening deep-freeze of nuclear winter. 

We follow what's left of our main characters as they struggle, and mostly fail, to survive on an almost purely animal level.  The story pulls no punches whatsoever and, considering the filmmakers' limited resources, is masterfully realized in harshly effective visual terms and a narrative that's utterly riveting until the final, heartbreaking image sends THREADS off on a haunting and unforgettable note.

The Blu-ray disc from Severin Films is in the original full-screen with 1080p HD resolution (in other words, it looks a lot better than the copy I taped off the TV in the 80s) and English mono sound with subtitles.  A stocked bonus menu consists of director's commentary, a recent interview with actress Karen Meagher ("Ruth"), interviews with the film's director of photography and production designer, an interview with film historian Stephen Thrower, and the US and re-release trailers.

I first saw THREADS in the mid-80s when it was picked up by Ted Turner for broadcast on his TBS Superstation. Both as an unremittingly grim cautionary tale and a powerful documentary-style drama/horror film, it has lost absolutely none of its power. 

THREADS -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Hideous Radiation Monster From "Day The World Ended" (Roger Corman, 1955) (video)

Roger Corman's low-budget sci-fi shocker begins with devastating nuclear war...

...and a group of survivors in a mountain hideaway owned by Paul Birch.

Unfortunately, the house is surrounded by radiation mutants...
...of varying degrees of horribleness...

...but the worst is this hideous Paul Blaisdell creation.

It naturally takes an interest in Lori Nelson and Adele Jergens.

While Richard Denning and Mike "Touch" Connors handle the "good guy/bad guy" stuff...
...the wretched beast makes off with lovely Miss Nelson.

Blaisdell wears his own distinctively designed monster suit.
It may not look that great, but it's definitely memorable.


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

Hideous Radiation Monster From "Day The World Ended" (Roger Corman, 1955) (video)