Duck and Cover (1952)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Writers:

Release Date:

7 January 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Short

Plot:

A grinning monkey sitting in a tree dangles a lit firecracker from a fishing pole just over the head of an unwary turtle...

Plot Keywords:

Turtle | Explosion | Monkey | Firecracker | Nuclear Attack

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Leo M. Langlois	...	Tony - Boy on bike (uncredited)
Ray J. Mauer	...	Civil Defense worker (uncredited)
Robert Middleton	...	Narrator (uncredited)
Carl Ritchie	...	Bert (voice) (uncredited)

Runtime:

9 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Archer Productions (II)

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The man on the tractor makes no attempt to shut off the tractor before jumping down from it and landing right in front of the rear wheel, yet the tractor is at a complete stop when he hits the ground.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Pulse 3 (2008) (V)

Soundtrack:

Bert the Turtle

Mr. Turtle tells us what to do when the atomic mushrooms bloom.

Having been in the first grade during the Cuban Missile Crisis the entire elementary school I attended got to watch this film. It of course now is looked upon the same way that a film like "Reefer Madness" is looked upon. It seems to me that the authorities i.e. the government, school administrations, whoever, would have had enough education and just plain common sense to realize that in the event of a nuclear blast hiding under a school desk with your coat over you just wouldn't cut it. The film is the standard public service films that were cranked out during this period. A little light humor is thrown in with a cartoon turtle who crawls into his shell whenever trouble comes his way. Video stores sometimes carry these films and while they are now hilarious and severely outdated they no doubt were taken seriously at the time.