It's not exactly 'The War Game', but 'The Lost Missile' probably put the wind up anyone who saw it in 1958. It begins with an acknowledgement of assistance from the Departments of Defence and the Army, Navy and Air Force, which means that the sometimes disturbing things the film shows received official blessing; and its copious use of stock footage throughout often make it feel like a public awareness film constructed around a fictitious plot.
It's a real curate's egg of a film, lurching abruptly from the clumsy to the highly effective on a scene by scene (and even shot by shot) basis. The actuality footage is frequently fascinating and skilfully edited (with added weight lent by Gerald Fried's stentorian piano score), although the shots of the missile itself look like a drawing. The dialogue is occasionally quite pointed and there is a surprisingly large cast of speaking parts, the quality of whose acting is as variable as the rest of the film. When the scenes involving hero Robert Loggia themselves finally leave the confines of the studio, his final outdoor scenes gain considerably in punch.
It's a real curate's egg of a film, lurching abruptly from the clumsy to the highly effective on a scene by scene (and even shot by shot) basis. The actuality footage is frequently fascinating and skilfully edited (with added weight lent by Gerald Fried's stentorian piano score), although the shots of the missile itself look like a drawing. The dialogue is occasionally quite pointed and there is a surprisingly large cast of speaking parts, the quality of whose acting is as variable as the rest of the film. When the scenes involving hero Robert Loggia themselves finally leave the confines of the studio, his final outdoor scenes gain considerably in punch.