When the Wind Blows (1986)

[Nmkl Pkjl Ftmsch]

Right, I'm assuming most of you know what went on here. I read the book at school and loved it (though some of my classmates made the expected "nobody would be THAT stupid" and "these people DESERVE to die" remarks), and I remember listening to the radio adaptation with Brenda Bruce and Peter Sallis as Hilda and Jim. I've never actually seen this film all the way through - we had it on video back in the eighties and we got to shortly after the attack scene, when my mother decided it was "too heavy" and "depressing" (that's kind of the point) and insisted on switching it off. I don't think it's ever been shown on television, so I ordered the DVD a couple of days ago and it arrived this morning. Am I in for a treat? I'm aware that's it's as depressing as shit, but I loved Threads and the War Game, so I suppose I'm morbid.

It suddenly strikes me how Stewie from Family Guy looks so much like Jim.

[Consignia]

I've wanted to watch it for a long time, but never quite got round to it. This thread may be the boost I need to check it out.

[Scuba Diver]

It was on TV about 20 years ago. It's not bad and it managed to hold my interest the whole way through, but yes it's very depressing, so it's something I'd never watch twice.

It's also up in its entirety on Youtube.

[Nmkl Pkjl Ftmsch]

It's received some great reviews but it seems to have been completely forgotten about. I was surprised to find out that a DVD was available, to be honest.

I know it's on YouTube but I find it really hard to concentrate on films on that platform - I have to watch them 'properly' or not at all. Something that sticks in my mind is the film's use of a strange hybrid of model and cel animation, similar to Paddington - in the Paddington cartoons, the bear was a stop-motion puppet whilst the backgrounds and the human characters were simple flat pieces of cardboard, whilst in When the Wind Blows, Jim and Hilda's house appears to be a tabletop model whilst the characters are rendered in 2D ink-and-paint animation and move around inside the disconcertingly 'real' interiors. I remember looking at that when I was a lot younger (going back to about 1987 or '88 here) and wondering how it was done. One of the animators was Melinda Gebbie, Alan Moore's wife.

http://www.k-bailey.com/unknownmovies/reviews/rev342.html

[Howj Begg]

This has been shown on TV at least 3, 4 times. I remember it being shown at lunchtime on a school holiday. I pleaded with my dad to turn it over to the news.

[Nmkl Pkjl Ftmsch]

This has been shown on TV at least 3, 4 times. I remember it being shown at lunchtime on a school holiday.

NO FUCKING WAY!

Right, I'm away to check...

According to the BFI database last time it was shown was 1998 at 2.15 in the morning on Channel Four.