Tworedbirds

One of the modern problems is that it doesn't need a full blown nuclear war to start Armageddon. A small--less than those at Hiroshma & Nagasaki-- is all it needs for the ball to roll down the hill. Concepts of one side beating the other are ridiculous as a Nuclear Winter would destroy us all by killing off our sunlight and ability to farm. No food, starvation and fall out would leave barely a few hundred thousand alive, globally. Made in 1964 and still very relevant today, the message about how this could come about especially in the days of AI, is more than relevant. It occurred to James Bridges whose story was the basis of Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970) who foresaw what AI could do. Hokum? i don't think so.

This was one of the first Ealing films to be made outside of London. I don't understand one comment about the worst Ealing comedy. Perhaps because it was made outside London as some people think that London is England and everything English surrounds the capital and the regions don't count. The scene where the lead character has his eyes opened to a rather battered Liverpool (because of WW2) is excellent. I'm a Scouser and the Scouse accent was new to the people of Britain only ever heard in the British radio comedy series "It's that man again" a.k.a. "ITMA" Actor Derek Guyler played "Frisby Dyke." and was the first regional accent from Liverpool ever heard on National BBC Radio, in 1946. To hear this accent in a British film was groundbreaking. It took some guts to do this when Middle-Class British accents (and some Cockney speech) was dominant on British Radio. A great snapshot of postwar urbanised Britain should not be missed.

When EVERYTHING is explained to you before you watch a movie you can understand it better. However, if you have to think about what you're watching for some, possibly most especially our U.S. friends, thinking about the storyline and what unfolds makes their brains ache. There are some who find that a story that puts the viewer into an unknown place without the obvious kicking them in the b*lls find it too hard to process. The whole point is about the possibility of a parallel universe/timeline where you normal is altered and where you have to adjust to survive. Not that too difficult to understand, you the viewer have to think. That's not too difficult either.

David F's comments are those who does not understand history and not just the history in the movie. Russia (then Soviet Union) praised this film to make the population aware that forces from the west (German) were still at that time a potential enemy and therefor threat to the U.S.S. R. The film and its score a a treat to watch and hear while the film made under Soviet restrictions was before the German-Soviet Peace pact and was withdrawn. In 1941 when nazi troops invaded Soviet Russia, Stalin, had it shown in Cinemas across the country. To make a low comment about it being an old film about an older battle is why it only gets a 7.4 on IMDB. Some poor editing does affect the film but this relates to political interference, IMO.

This film is very simply a CLASSIC. The atmosphere created by Carol Reed is unmatched. A Film-Noir, it catches post-war (WW2) Vienna, governed by Britain, the U.S, France and the Soviet Union in a way that the New York times stated "seedy." The former capital of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire has lost more than its gloss and has black-marketeers aplenty. I have the the 50th Anniversary VHS video and don't have a player but will not part with it. I now have it in BluRay condition thanks to YTS.GG. Miss this and if you love movies you won't, get it now.

I remember when I first saw this and just could not move from my seat at home. I think it was one of British cinemas great thriller films