Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13408 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-07-18
• Rating: Exempt
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Chilling reminder of preparations against nuclear attack
Depending on your point of view Protect and Survive is either a dazzlingly cynical or a very naive attempt at preparing UK citizens for what to do in the event of nuclear attack. Protect and Survive is a chilling reminder of how basic those preparations were and shows the changes that had took place by the late 1970s; previous war-time preparations had meant evacuations and civil defence. When Protect and Survive was made these preparations had been abandoned in their entirety and the public had to quite literally, fend for themselves.

The 20 basic films which make up Protect and Survive walk the viewer through every stage of a nuclear crisis. It starts by explaining nuclear explosions, the dangers of nuclear weapons and what the warnings sounds are. From here (assuming the crisis became worse) further films explained how to prepare your home and family. Finally as attack became increasingly likely these instructions insisted on you taking action NOW and the final film warns you there may not be any medical support to help you and should the worst happen, on what to do with the dead.

These films do have a genuinely nightmarish quality about them; the finality of the late Patrick Allen's tone and the hideously simple graphics rounded out by the chilling musical signature played at the end of every film. They are a fascinating glimpse into the past of what could have been the last television programmes anyone would ever see as they were designed to play continuously on all channels should nuclear attack seem likely. In the more than 30 years since they were made, they have not lost their power.

Protect and survive
Contains the full collection of the Protect and Survive films that were made in the 1970's in case of nuclear. Apart from a couple of them making brief appearances in Threads [1984] and shown in their entirety in Charley Says... The Best Public Information Films In The World [1970] they have never been seen.....until now. Also included are some interesting films from the 50's 60's and 70's detailing preparations for war.

Protest and Survive
They wanted people to stay in their own homes to maximise the death rate, both from the blast and the fallout and disease afterwards. People would have been prevented from leaving the immediate areas to ensure that whoever did survive would be the strongest and fittest of the population thus needing as little medical treatment and resources spent on them as possible. Most people would be in cities, they would be flattened. Those who stood the most chance of surviving more than a few months would be in isolated areas far from the industrial and militarily strategic areas. Less people, less trouble.