Review of No Blade of Grass (1970) by Allan C — 04 Feb 2018

This film took me by surprise. I've only seen a few films directed Cornel Wilde, most of them seeming to be different survival stories, but none of those films were nearly as rough as this one. After a viral outbreak, a London family sets out on the road to reach a brother-in-law's home in distant Scotland for safety and security, away from the chaos of the city.

Civil order has broken down and the pastoral British countryside is now overrun by biker gangs, picturesque hamlets now laying ambushes, and rogue military units. Although the film does have a surprising amount of violence for a film of this era (this was the time of "The Wild Bunch" and "Bonnie & Clyde," when violence in cinema was becoming more graphic) the characters maintain a very British stiff upper lip, which does lessen the harsh realities of what's happening to the characters, and I think to the detriment to the film's impact.

Even after the main character's daughter is assaulted, he seems unrealistically stoic to the point of seeming uncaring towards his daughter's ordeal. Maybe this was intentional by the filmmakers, but this type of stoicism seemed to push credulity.

The crux of the film is the question of when the civil order breaks down, do you cling to societal norms of decency or do you embrace survival no matter the cost? What's most interesting about "No Blades of Grass" is that it doesn't cleanly fall on either side and makes that case for needing to do both.

In many ways, this story was quite reminiscent of Ray Milland's underrated "Panic in Year Zero!" another story about a family trying to survive an apocalyptic event and having make hard decisions in order to survive.

As an aside, I wonder how much this film influenced "28 Days Later," which also featured a viral outbreak in London, followed a group of survivors setting out across the English countryside for Scotland, who also encounter a rogue military unit.

Overall, "No Blade of Grass" is a fairly realistic depiction of how seemingly ordinary people might act when faced with such a life or death situation, even if the characters are bit too "British" about their situation (though maybe that's the American in me not understanding British culture).