When the Wind Blows (1986 film)
When the Wind Blows | |
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Directed by | Jimmy T. Murakami[1] |
Written by | Raymond Briggs |
Based on | When the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs |
Produced by | John Coates[1] |
Starring | |
Edited by | John Cary |
Music by | Roger Waters |
Production companies |
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Distributed by |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 84 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Box office | $5,274[2] |
When the Wind Blows is a 1986 British
Plot
Jim Bloggs and his wife Hilda are an elderly couple, living in an isolated cottage in rural
As a radio transmission warns of an imminent
Jim worries that the Soviet military will soon invade, experiencing a vision where a Soviet soldier breaks into their house. Hilda, whose symptoms are worsening, encounters a rat in the dried toilet, which traumatises her. Coupled with her worsening symptoms - bloody diarrhea, bleeding gums - she begins to lose hope. Jim tries to comfort her, still optimistic that he may be able to get medications for her from the chemist. After a few days, the Bloggs are practically bedridden, and Hilda is despondent when her hair begins to fall out. Jim clings to his belief that emergency services will eventually arrive, but they never do. Near death, Hilda suggests they lie down in the paper sacks. Jim, now resigned to their fate, agrees. As they crawl into the sacks Jim tries reciting prayers, including Psalm 23, but, forgetting the lines, starts to read "The Charge of the Light Brigade", whose militaristic and ironic undertones distress the dying Hilda, who weakly asks him not to continue. Finally, James's voice mumbles away into silence as he finishes the line, "...rode the Six Hundred..."
Outside the shelter, the smoke and ash-filled sky begins to clear, revealing the sun rising through the gloom. As the credits end, a Morse code signal taps out "MAD" - mutual assured destruction.
Cast
- Peggy Ashcroft as Hilda Bloggs
- John Mills as Jim Bloggs
- Robin Houston as Radio 4 Announcer
- James Russell as Additional Voice
- David Dundasas Additional Voice
- Matt Irving as Additional Voice
Production
The film was Briggs' second collaboration with TVC, after their efforts with a special based on another work of his,
When the Wind Blows is a hybrid of traditional and stop-motion animation. The characters of Jim and Hilda Bloggs are hand-drawn, as well as the area outside of the Bloggs' house, but their home and most of the objects in it are real objects that seldom move but are animated with stop motion when they do. The stop motion environments utilised are based on the style used for the Protect and Survive public information films. "Protect And Survive" is also featured as the booklet that Jim takes instructions from to survive the nuclear attack.
The soundtrack album features music by David Bowie (who performed the title song), Roger Waters, Genesis, Squeeze, Hugh Cornwell and Paul Hardcastle.
Reception and legacy
When the Wind Blows received positive reviews, currently having an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 8 reviews.[4] Critic Barry Lappin called it "Absolutely brilliant.... It was very subtly done but the message more than gets through well". He explained that the scenes are "more than touching" and encouraged people to watch it to the very end.
Colin Greenland reviewed When the Wind Blows for White Dwarf #85, and stated that "The story of Jim and Hilda Bloggs preparing for the Bomb and trying to get back to normal afterwards is heavy-handed, especially at the end, and would have been better shorter; there are odd continuity problems between the pictures and the dialogue. But it is powerful, ludicrous and shocking. It gets to you. As it ought to."[5]
Soundtrack
Originally, David Bowie was supposed to contribute several songs to the soundtrack for the film, but decided to pull out so he could focus on his upcoming album Never Let Me Down, and instead only submitted the title track. Roger Waters was brought in to complete the project instead.[6]
When the Wind Blows | ||||
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Soundtrack album by Various artists, Roger Waters and The Bleeding Heart Band | ||||
Released | 16 May 1986 | |||
Recorded | Winter 1985 | |||
Length | 45:36 | |||
Label | Virgin Records | |||
Producer | Roger Waters David Bowie Hugh Cornwell Peter Hammond Paul Hardcastle Squeeze | |||
Roger Waters chronology | ||||
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Singles from When the Wind Blows | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [7] |
Track listing
All tracks written by Roger Waters and performed by Waters and The Bleeding Heart Band except where noted. On some versions of the album, the Roger Waters tracks are all put into one 24:26 song. The lyrics to the closing song, "Folded Flags", feature a reference to the song "Hey Joe" in the lines "Hey Joe, where you goin' with that gun in your hand?" and "Hey Joe, where you goin' with that dogma in your head?"[8]
- "When the Wind Blows" (lyrics: Bowie; music: Bowie, Erdal Kızılçay) – 3:35
- Performed by David Bowie
- "Facts And Figures" (Hugh Cornwell) – 4:19
- Performed by Hugh Cornwell
- "The Brazilian" (Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford) – 4:51
- Performed by Genesis
- "What Have They Done?" (Chris Difford, Glenn Tilbrook) – 3:39
- Performed by Squeeze
- "The Shuffle" (Paul Hardcastle) – 4:16
- Performed by Paul Hardcastle
- "The Russian Missile" – 0:10
- "Towers of Faith" – 7:00
- "Hilda's Dream" – 1:36
- "The American Bomber" – 0:07
- "The Anderson Shelter" – 1:13
- "The British Submarine" – 0:14
- "The Attack" – 2:53
- "The Fall Out" – 2:04
- "Hilda's Hair" – 4:20
- "Folded Flags" – 4:51
Personnel
The Bleeding Heart Band
- Roger Waters – bass guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals on "Towers of Faith" and "Folded Flags"
- Jay Stapley – guitar
- John Gordon – bass guitar
- Matt Irving – keyboards, organ
- Nick Glennie-Smith – piano, organ
- John Lingwood – Linn programming
- Freddie Krc – drums, percussion
- Mel Collins – saxophone
- Clare Torry – backing vocals on "Towers of Faith"
- Paul Carrack – keyboards and vocals on "Folded Flags"
Home media
The film was released on VHS in the United Kingdom by
See also
- List of animated feature-length films
- List of nuclear holocaust fiction
- The War Game (1965 film)
- The Day After (1983 film)
- Threads (1984 film)
References
- ^ a b "When the Wind Blows". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- ^ "When the Wind Blows (1988) - Box Office Mojo". 22 February 2014. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014.
- ISBN 978-0-8160-6600-1.
- ^ When the Wind Blows, retrieved 15 January 2019
- ^ Greenland, Colin (December 1987). "2020 Vision". White Dwarf (85). Games Workshop: 6.
- ISBN 9781912248308.
- ^ "Allmusic review".
- ^ "When The Wind Blows lyrics". Roger Waters International Fan Club. Retrieved 17 February 2010.
- ^ "When the Wind Blows Blu-ray Release Date November 11, 2014" – via www.blu-ray.com.
- ^ When the Wind Blows Blu-ray, retrieved 9 November 2019
External links
- Toonhound pages on original graphic novel and animated film
- When the Wind Blows at AllMovie
- When the Wind Blows at IMDb
- When the Wind Blows at Rotten Tomatoes