Until about a week ago I had no idea that there existed a genre of propaganda films that attempted to instruct American citizens on how to survive in an atomic age. Then I got hold of a neat two disc set from Docurama Films with an hour and a half documentary called "The Atomic Cafe" and a whole bunch of shorts with topics like 'Self Preservation in an Atomic Bomb Attack' and this one, 'Our Cities Must Fight'. This is a nine minute flick put out by the U.S. Civil Defense and to state that I'm simply flabbergasted by the content is a gross understatement. I'd really like to talk to someone who might have seen something like this back in the day, because they come across like the exploitation films of the Thirties and Forties that dealt with stuff like drugs, alcohol and prostitution in a purportedly instructive way.
The basic premise here - 'The enemy will have no trouble winning the next war' if we as Americans don't stand our ground and continue to live and work in our main cities if they come under attack. Now don't get me wrong, a couple reasons offered for not abandoning our homes and apartments make sense - highways out of town would immediately become clogged and dangerous, and mass evacuation of cities just doesn't work. But think about this advice today, much less over a half century ago. Picture a single traffic cop waving vehicles off the highway because miles of cars are backed up in a mad dash to beat the big one. Seriously, this was in the film and granted, the populace was probably a lot more compliant back in the day, but with cell phones and twitter today, you'd be lucky not to get trampled in the chaos to ensue.
Interestingly, this short was made in 1951, well after the second World War, but the sense of paranoia regarding Communist Russia was something very palpable I can recall growing up in the Fifties. We had those 'duck and cover' drills in grade school and brought in our canned goods in case we came under attack and couldn't go home. I think about that today as the world tries to stare down lunatic regimes like Iran and North Korea and wonder if we'll be up to the task of forcing them to stand down before it's too late.
In any event, watching this little film today is a blast from the past that's more comical than instructive, even if it is a serious subject. I can just imagine if something like this were attempted today, where would one even start? One thing I do know, I wouldn't put the government in charge of it.
The basic premise here - 'The enemy will have no trouble winning the next war' if we as Americans don't stand our ground and continue to live and work in our main cities if they come under attack. Now don't get me wrong, a couple reasons offered for not abandoning our homes and apartments make sense - highways out of town would immediately become clogged and dangerous, and mass evacuation of cities just doesn't work. But think about this advice today, much less over a half century ago. Picture a single traffic cop waving vehicles off the highway because miles of cars are backed up in a mad dash to beat the big one. Seriously, this was in the film and granted, the populace was probably a lot more compliant back in the day, but with cell phones and twitter today, you'd be lucky not to get trampled in the chaos to ensue.
Interestingly, this short was made in 1951, well after the second World War, but the sense of paranoia regarding Communist Russia was something very palpable I can recall growing up in the Fifties. We had those 'duck and cover' drills in grade school and brought in our canned goods in case we came under attack and couldn't go home. I think about that today as the world tries to stare down lunatic regimes like Iran and North Korea and wonder if we'll be up to the task of forcing them to stand down before it's too late.
In any event, watching this little film today is a blast from the past that's more comical than instructive, even if it is a serious subject. I can just imagine if something like this were attempted today, where would one even start? One thing I do know, I wouldn't put the government in charge of it.
