![]() While those films concentrated on a group of individuals thrust into life-threatening ordeals (an African safari, a Japanese controlled island in WW2, shark infested waters off the coast of Honduras respectively), NO BLADE OF GRASS widens the playing field by placing the entire planet into a state of anarchy culminating in a "new" dystopian society where savagery, wanton murder and cannibalism (we never see anybody being eaten, but we hear about it) are the answers to survival. ![]() Wilde was seemingly fascinated with the dark recesses of man's psyche having explored civilized man's propensity for savagery in his works such as THE NAKED PREY (1966), BEACH RED (1967) and also in SHARK'S TREASURE in 1975. ![]() Another such instance is a birthing sequence that intercuts a flashback to the protagonists then newborn daughter with one of the plague survivors giving birth to a dead baby on the road. These moments are made even more unsettling during intermittent instances of juxtaposition such as a group of Londoners enjoying a hearty meal, oblivious to the emaciated, dying African child succumbing to starvation on a television monitor. The subject of a learned society succumbing to savagery was also explored in a classic and equally intense 1961 TWILIGHT ZONE episode written by Rod Serling entitled The Shelter from season three.Īs per the more permissive decade, Wilde's movie is punctuated with brutish scenes of violence that, while not excessive, carries a sordid, disturbing tone. Both films explore the need to survive and the lengths, or depths civilized society will go to protect themselves and their families. That film substituted a nuclear attack for this films grain and grass obliterating virus. The script, co-written by director Wilde, seems to follow the pattern laid down by actor Ray Milland's own directorial effort PANIC IN THE YEAR ZERO from 1962. Stewart's cataclysmic novel Earth Abides, a 1949 post apocalyptic tale about mankind's destruction by an airborne virus and its eventual rebirth. Christopher's novel was possibly influenced by George R. Incidentally, the books US edition bore the No Blade of Grass moniker, this title being the one chosen for the MGM financed production. NO BLADE OF GRASS itself is based upon a 1956 novel by British author John Christopher under the title of The Death of Grass. Possibly the first such film of its kind to emerge at the dawn of the 70s, its failure to find an audience did not impede other 'End of the World' scenarios found in such works as THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN (based on Michael Crichton's book) from 1971 and THE OMEGA MAN in 1973 the latter picture from Richard Matheson's novel, I Am Legend, a book already brought to the screen the first time in 1964 as the creeptastic Vincent Price vampire tale, THE LAST MAN ON EARTH. It's a string of vignettes, violent encounters for the pictures dwindling band of human survivors to endure till they reach their destination the "holy grail" of a farm where a new life supposedly awaits them. The film ends much the same way, but with an even less sense of hope and an even greater sense of despair.Ĭornel Wilde's taut, depressingly angry disaster movie is essentially a 97 minute exploitation picture decked out in 'message movie' attire. The film begins on an extremely melancholic note with a five minute visual cacophony of bleak imagery backed by the somber vocals of Roger Whittaker singing the main title theme. It's an ugly, heavy handed "warning label" for a possible future generously littered with documentary footage of pollution and dead animals. It's difficult to say one enjoyed a movie like NO BLADE OF GRASS. Along the way they pick up additional survivors and engage in assorted confrontations with thugs, the military and a biker gang on their dangerous and savage trek to start a new life. A family led by John Custance attempt to make it to England's northern territory to his brothers farm. Anarchy, panic, violence and cannibalism are the outcome. A mysterious and devastating plague erupts around the world that wipes out grass and other grain sources resulting in worldwide famine and starvation.
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