This week, When the Wind Blows turns 40. The 1986 British adult animated anti-war film may be a long way from Bollywood, but its craft and warning still hit hard for any movie lover. Here are the details fans still ask about.
It started as a Raymond Briggs graphic novel
The film is based on the 1982 graphic novel by Raymond Briggs. Briggs later made clear in Ethel and Ernest (1998) that the retired couple at the centre of the story was based on his own parents.
It was Briggs’ second TVC collaboration
This was Briggs’ second collaboration with TVC, after their 1982 special based on The Snowman. Jimmy Murakami directed, with John Mills and Peggy Ashcroft voicing Jim and Hilda Bloggs and Roger Waters scoring.
The look mixed hand-drawn and stop motion
Jim and Hilda are hand-drawn, and so is the area outside their cottage. Their home and most objects in it are real objects that seldom move, but they are animated with stop motion when they do.
Protect and Survive shaped the visuals
The stop-motion environments are based on the style used for the Protect and Survive public information films. The same Protect and Survive booklet appears in the film as the guide Jim follows to build a fallout shelter.
David Bowie stepped back from the music
Bowie was originally supposed to contribute several songs to the soundtrack. He pulled out to focus on his upcoming album Never Let Me Down, and instead only submitted the title track.
Roger Waters completed the soundtrack
Roger Waters was brought in to complete the project instead. The soundtrack album features music by Genesis, Squeeze, Hugh Cornwell and Paul Hardcastle.
Its US theatrical run was tiny
The film was distributed by Recorded Releasing in the UK and by Kings Road Entertainment in the United States. In one theatre, the recorded figure was $5,274 at the box office in 1988. Later home editions included a limited US Blu-ray of 3,000 in 2014.
Critics called it brilliant and shocking
The film holds an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 8 reviews. Barry Lappin called it “Absolutely brilliant…. It was very subtly done but the message more than gets through well”, while Colin Greenland wrote in White Dwarf #85 that it is “powerful, ludicrous and shocking. It gets to you.”
Which of these When the Wind Blows details surprised you? Tell us your own favourite fact, and if you haven’t seen it, watch it to the very end — the critics insist.
Facts from Wikipedia: When the Wind Blows (1986 film), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Film images from TMDB. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.