The Atomic Cafe (1982)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Directors:

Jayne Loader
Kevin Rafferty

Release Date:

29 October 1982 (Finland)

Genre:

Documentary | Horror

Plot:

Disturbing collection of 1940s and 1950s United States government issued propaganda films designed to reassure Americans that the atomic bomb was not a threat to their safety.

Plot Keywords:

Atomic Bomb | Propaganda | Film Clip | Nuclear Attack | Fear

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Lloyd Bentsen	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Rep. Lloyd Bentsen)
W.H.P. Blandy	...	Himself - Commander of the Bikini Test (archive footage) (as Vice Admiral W.H.P. Blandy)
Owen Brewster	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Sen. Owen Brewster)
Dwight D. Eisenhower	...	Himself (archive footage)
Frank Gallop	...	Newsreel Narrator (voice) (archive footage)
Lyndon Johnson	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson)
Maurice Joyce	...	Newsreel Narrator (voice) (archive footage)
Nikita Khrushchev	...	Himself (archive footage)
Brian McMahon	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Sen. Brian McMahon)
Seymour Melman	...	Himself - Columbia University (archive footage) (as Prof. Seymour Melman)
George Molan	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Cpl. George Molan)
Richard Nixon	...	Himself (archive footage)
Val Peterson	...	Himself - Director of Civil Defense (archive footage) (as Gov. Val Peterson)
George Portell	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Tech Sgt. George Portell)
George Putnam	...	Newsreel Narrator (voice) (archive footage)
Ronald Reagan	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ethel Rosenberg	...	Herself (archive footage)
Julius Rosenberg	...	Himself (archive footage)
Mario Salvadori	...	Himself - Columbia University (archive footage) (as Prof. Mario Salvadori)
Lewis Strauss	...	Himself - Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission (archive footage) (as Lewis L. Strauss)
Paul Tibbets	...	Himself (archive footage)
Harry S. Truman	...	Himself (archive footage) (as President Harry S Truman)
James E. Van Zandt	...	Himself (archive footage)

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:11 | UK:12 | USA:Not Rated | Singapore:PG

Company:

The Archives Project

Quotes:

Civil defense film: Be sure to include tranquilizers to ease the strain and monotony of life in a fallout shelter. A bottle of 100 should be sufficient for a family of four. Tranquilizers are not a narcotic, and are not habit-forming.

Movie Connections:

Features Paramount News Special: 1947, Year of Division (1947)

Soundtrack:

This Cold War With You

nicely nicely

rather than using a biased narrative or a series of carefully constructed evidence, the atomic café lets its subject matter speak for itself. what results is a montage along the lines of a cultural mix tape, some fotage remixed and edited for effect, others shown in their entirety. The subject matter is the atomic bomb and while some of the archived footage is tedious, others that splice footage of radiation poisoning into a series of "don't panic" public service announcements. There are some genuinely funny segments too, like the announcer who takes a moment out to state that in the midst of all the communist "propoganda" flying around, he's proud he is that he owns 2 lovely shopping plazas, which he proceeds to shamelessly advertise. And of course, the classic Duck and Cover videos shown to schoolchildren worldwide in the mid-50's. The soundtrack of forgotten country, lounge, and rockabilly tunes about hydrogen bomb fears is stellar as well. But the culmination and as well as the most powerful moment comes when a simulated Nuclear attack on the US combines footage from all of the previous segments into a harrowing collage of post-war hysteria.