Does anyone remember a TV movie called Threads?

[The Wookiee]

Milk bottles melting

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

Threads can be viewed in Google Video Documentaries.

I watched it a couple of weeks ago. very dated buty still powerful stuff, Traffic Wardens armed with rifles...imagine that.

 

[Normal Rob]

There was also an American version called The Next Day (I think)

it was called 'The day After' and stars Steve Guttenburg - one scene that stands out in my mind is when 2 characters are standing watching the missiles go up from the silos a couple of miles away and then it dawns on them that if they are firing theirs....

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Having seen that clip yesterday, I think it was as powerful as it was because it was a British film.

If it had been American, it would have been dominated by expensive special effects, with the effect of turning it into an unbelievable Hollywood blockbuster.

But the cheapo BBC techniques, and the way they concentrated on the everyday mundanity of life in Sheffield, made it that bit more shocking. The man worrying about whether his neighbours had left the gas on when they fled the city (in case-with bitter irony- "the whole bloody kitchen blows up"), the woman arguing about 20p being added on to the price of a tin of food, the sight of BHS and Woolworths signs as the shops were completely vaporised.

And the silence of the main explosion- Hollywood would have done it with all guns blazing, but the complete silence and blinding light gave it far more impact.

 

[Blackadder]

"The Day After" That's the one!

 

[Lady Whistledown]

I am ordering a copy off Amazon now, to be sent to

Mr M. Ahmedinajad,
c/o Rooms 4-21
The Great Palace Of The Most Righteous Struggle Against The Satanic Infidel,
Tehran,
Iran

 

[Normal Rob]

whilst we are on the topis has anybody seen this...

or the re-make with George Clooney.

the original was made in 1964 (re-made in 2000) - both are American, and both are superb (sorry Edna - you are wrong)

they are more like plays than films.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

I didn't say the American version would be crap! Just very different. I thought Threads was all the more powerful for the understated way in which they set the scene.

Had it had an apocalyptic, Independence Day/Armageddon type build up, it would have been a very different feel to it, that's all.

Plenty of room for both types of film...

 

[Normal Rob]

fair enough. i recommend that if you can lay your hands on either of the 2 versions opf Fail Safe then do so.

No overhyped build up, no special effects (at all) - just dialogue and unbelievable tension.

 

[Staly]

I watched both Threads and The Day After quite recently. The Day After isn't actually as bad as you'd imagine- it has some particularly powerful moments when you see the exhaust trails of nuclear missiles rising above Kansas.

They do get back to a more normal way of life towards the end though, unlike Threads where things just keep getting worse...

 

[Southover Street Seagull]

Excellent series, BBC at its best, scared the willies off me! Compare Threads to Jericho (if you get it in England) worlds apart in different intepreatations of post-nuclear war scenario e.g. in America a few days after the bombs the Septics have a town barbie to eat all the food and have a larf, in Sheffield the local TA shoot looters in cold blood for nicking a can of baked beans!

Jericho is slightly different to Threads in that the bombs are set off by terrorists and have a much lower yield than the bombs i Threads.