The Atomic Cafe (1982)

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:

1950s | Training Film | Government | Propaganda | Atomic Bomb

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:

Army information film: When not close enough to be killed, the atomic bomb is one of the most beautiful sights in the world.

Movie Connections:

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

Soundtrack:

Thirteen Women

This documentary is da bomb (pun intended).

We've all seen the footage of Hiroshima getting nuked. We've all seen footage of other nuclear blasts. We've probably even seen some of the propaganda films from the '50s about what to do in the event of a nuclear blast. "The Atomic Cafe" ties them all together masterfully. It starts with Hiroshima, and goes on to show Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the Bikini Atoll, a meeting between Nixon and a Soviet leader, and other such stuff.

I guess that I might as well put in my two cents. Around the 40th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, I asked my Russian teacher if she remembered it. She remembered being shown a movie in school about how to help a person affected by nuclear fallout; in short, the USSR was as guilty as the USA (although we certainly put them in a hyper-defensive position). As for the Rosenbergs, I know their son Robert, and he always explains what the government did to his parents. On the 50th anniversary of his parents' execution, he noted that the "War on Terrorism" has replaced the Cold War.

The overall point is that watching this documentary, it's almost impossible to believe that people took this stuff seriously, but they did. And we still live with the Cold War's effects today.