No Blade of Grass is a 1970 apocalyptic dystopian film co-written, directed and produced by Cornel Wilde and starring Nigel Davenport, Jean Wallace, and John Hamill.

When London is overwhelmed by food riots caused by a global famine, a man tries to lead his family to safety to a remote valley in Westmorland.

The film opens with a montage of pollution, which, as implied by the narrator, is the cause of a virulent new disease arising in Asia, a virus that strikes all members of the grass family, including wheat, rice, and maize.

A year after the start of the disaster, John Custance, his family and his daughter Mary's boyfriend, scientist Roger Burnham, leave London during rioting just before roadblocks are set up.

When Sturdevant refuses to sell them any without the proper permits, John and Roger overpower him, but are held at gunpoint by his assistant, Andrew Pirrie.

The intense graphic nature and sexual violence of the scene generated some mild controversy from critics who felt it was gratuitous.

Compounding matters was that Lynne Frederick, who was one of the rape victims in the scene, was only 15 at the time and questions over the use of a body double remain a controversial topic to this day.

[citation needed] In response to the controversy, re-releases of the film on VHS trimmed the rape sequence down by about a minute and a half.

[citation needed] Roger Whittaker recorded the title song for the film;[4] "No Blade of Grass" was released on the New World in the Morning album (1971).