When the Wind Blows (film)

When the Wind Blows is an animated film originally released in the United Kingdom in 1986. The film is based on Raymond Briggs' graphic novel of the same name. The film was directed by Jimmy Murakami and it stars the voices of John Mills and Peggy Ashcroft.

The film was Briggs' second collaboration with TVC, after their efforts with a special based on another work of his, The Snowman, in 1982. It was distributed by Recorded Releasing in the UK, and by Kings Road Entertainment in the United States. A subsequent graphic novel by Briggs, Ethel and Ernest (1998), makes it clear that Briggs based the protagonist couple in When the Wind Blows on his own parents.

When the Wind Blows is a hybrid of drawn animation and stop-motion animation. The characters of Jim and Hilda Bloggs are drawn, 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 soundtrack album features music by Roger Waters and David Bowie (who performed the title song), Genesis, Squeeze and Paul Hardcastle.

Plot summary

When the Wind Blows depicts a nuclear attack on the UK by the Soviet Union from the viewpoint of a retired couple, Jim and Hilda Bloggs. The Bloggs live in rural Sussex and are confused regarding the nature and seriousness of their situation. This confusion is sometimes used to generate gentle comedy as well as darker elements. As the film progresses, things become steadily more hopeless as the couple suffer from the effects of radiation sickness. The film ends on an extremely bleak note, with them praying in their fallout shelter as death approaches.

At the very end of the closing credits, a morse code can be heard, spelling "MAD".

Soundtrack

Track listing

All tracks written by 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 minute 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?"^[4]

1. "When the Wind Blows" (Bowie, Erdal Kizilcay) – 3:35
   • Performed by David Bowie
2. "Facts And Figures" (Edgar Sampson) – 4:19
   • Performed by Hugh Cornwell
3. "The Brazilian" (Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford) – 4:51
   • Performed by Genesis
4. "What Have They Done?" (Chris Difford, Glenn Tilbrook) – 3:39
   • Performed by Squeeze
5. "The Shuffle" (Hardcastle) – 4:16
   • Performed by Paul Hardcastle
6. "The Russian Missile" – 0:10
7. "Towers of Faith" – 7:00
8. "Hilda's Dream" – 1:36
9. "The American Bomber" – 0:07
10. "The Anderson Shelter" – 1:13
11. "The British Submarine" – 0:14
12. "The Attack" – 2:53
13. "The Fall Out" – 2:04
14. "Hilda's Hair" – 4:20
15. "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 Linwood – 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 releases

The film was released on VHS in the United Kingdom by CBS/Fox Video after its theatrical run, and later on laserdisc. After a short theatrical run in the United States in one theatre and grossing $5,274 at the box office in 1988, it was released on VHS by IVE and on laserdisc by Image Entertainment. It was released on DVD in 2005 by Channel 4, with 0 region coding: the official UK DVD is still PAL format. The film was recently re-released on DVD in September 2010, again by Channel 4, and is available on Amazon.com, it is formatted in NTSC and All region coding.

See also

• List of animated feature-length films
• List of nuclear holocaust fiction

References

External links

• Toonhound pages on original graphic novel and animated film
• When the Wind Blows at AllRovi
• When the Wind Blows at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• When the Wind Blows at the Internet Movie Database
• When the Wind Blows at Rotten Tomatoes