Sci-Fi Film Fiesta, The Swingin' 60s - The Complete Book by Chris Christopoulos - HTML preview

Points Of Interest

The Day the World Caught Fire was partly made on location in London and Brighton, and featured the actual Daily Express, using the paper's headquarters, the Daily Express Building in Fleet Street, London.

Arthur Christiansen appeared as the Express editor, a version of himself - the real life Express editor which served to lend a realistic and an urgent credibility to the newsroom briefings featured in the film.

The film itself was shot in black and white but in some prints, the opening and closing sequences are tinted orange-yellow to suggest the scorching heat of the sun. The film was shot in anamorphic widescreen using the French Dyaliscope process.

Some of the simple but very effective techniques employed by Val Guest include the clever incorporation of stock footage to depict floods and various global disasters, all very seamlessly accomplished.

The role of the news media is presented from the standpoint of the traditional printed press and its decades old technology, a world away from the various news media formats and technologies available in the 21st Century. Just as far removed from our modern era is the political landscape which in the film is defined through the perspective of the Cold War. The issues raised by both however, still seem to have relevance for audiences sixty years later. For instance, the tension between the notion of a free press and the obstacles to achieving this erected by governments and the effects of social media and its dissemination of misinformation, disinformation and rumour.

In The Day The World Caught Fire, Jeannie’s arrest shows the price that is often paid by whistle-blowers who attempt to reveal the misdeeds and hidden agendas of those in authority in whom we place our trust. Modern audiences will be aware of what happens to those who try to disclose the truth: from journalists who had been thrown into Egyptian jails; the years long disgraceful US vendetta against Julian Asange; the Chinese authorities’ treatment of the doctor who initially tried to make known the extent of the danger posed by the Covid-19 virus; police and security raids on Australia’s national broadcaster, the ABC and on a journalist’s Canberra residence; pressures to reveal journalist’s sources, through to the efforts of totalitarian regimes around the world who try to prevent the truth from being known by cutting access to the internet.

Instead of Nuremberg-style rallies and forming Facebook flocks of dyslexic fools waving bits of cardboard and bleating Trumpian phrases like “Fake NEEEEWWWWWSSSSS!” we should do everything in our power to encourage a free and diverse and independent media and strengthen the role of investigative journalism.

Despite the ending of the Cold War, the possibility of global destruction through nuclear war still exists as a real possibility. Since 1961, the nuclear club has gained more members than just two superpowers. Notice toward the end of the film the clocks gradually showing the time edging closer and closer to 12.00 just like the Doomsday clock! I wonder just how far away we are from 12.00 – closer than we think?

The film suggests that the times were definitely a-changin’ with distrust being shown toward traditional upper-class and Establishment attitudes and values. The government no longer appears to be working in the interests of the governed and consists of “stupid, crazy, irresponsible bastards” who merely spout platitudes at us.

In our own era there’s a considerable amount of distrust around the world toward governing ruling elites. Take for instance, the lame and dishonest pronouncements and actions of officialdom in modern day China or an organisation like the World Health Organization who have been reported as having resorted to misinformation, deception and deliberate falsehoods in the face of the Covid worldwide pandemic.

It is also just as lame and dishonest when an authority figure like the US President initially attempts to dismiss the threat being posed by a global pandemic that is killing thousands of his own citizens as being exaggerated or even a hoax that will be over quite soon with things getting back to normal in no time. Not to mention offering advice that an injection of disinfectant and a dose of UV rays will fix everything up! This despite the available evidence and the weight of the prevalent expert advice and opinion. When it looks like it’s not back to business as usual, dishonest deflection is resorted to with blame being sheeted home to the Chinese, the various states and governors and the World Health Organisation. Get the picture? Like a virus, official dishonesty, cover-up, and misinformation itself spreads and infects society with mistrust and division and needs to be vaccinated against, no matter where it occurs.

The global crisis depicted in the film and humanity's attempts to deal with it conveys the notion of how science no longer can be relied on to provide answers to all of the world’s problems. In fact, it is often the source of those problems. The Day The World Caught Fire in a way illustrates the kind of problem we’re having in our own era when it comes to the science of climate change and talk of global warming. Not being an exact science built on absolute certainty in possession of all the answers, any scientific pronouncements on the subject can just as easily leave itself open to the charge from detractors and deniers as being little more than “guesswork” or “science fiction.” But science built on observation, the examination of available evidence, the testing of hypotheses is all that we have to help us explain why things happen and what do about them if they present us with a problem. Unfortunately, it is this kind of advice that is based on science that is too easily ignored or overlooked for political reasons by many of those in authority. An awkward but important question that is raised by the film concerns the strength and endurance of modern civilisation in the face of extreme threats to its very survival. To what extent might we have "gone soft" thereby undermining social cohesion and replacing it with hysteria, panic and self-interest? What happens when all the old certainties are removed, when one is a single pay-packet away from destitution, when one’s personal security and liberties are taken way and all is left is an empty stomach and no hope for the future? Our sense of community is fragile at the best of times and can become very fragmented in the face of disaster.

In our own recent pandemic crisis, we have seem most people sensibly abiding by the restrictive measures designed to combat the spread of the virus. However, there have been some instances of people fighting over items in supermarkets and abusing checkout staff. There have also been those who are more concerned with the need to have a round of golf rather than show some measure of self-control in the interests of the greater good. And of course there are those mad militia far right contrarian peanuts in some US states and in Europe who claim to be libertarians or think that the’ south is gonna rise again, ya’ hear!’ who think that the Pandemic lock-down measures are part of some grand evil conspiracy and therefore refused to accept the ‘mark of the beast!’ Yep, desperate times bring ‘em all out of the woodwork!

It is amazing how in just about any era there occurs a feeling of concern and even fear about society’s youth. In The Day The World Caught Fire, there is a definite anxiety about the youth of London at the time as being dangerously, unpredictable, and reckless at a time of national and global crisis. In our own era, young people are unfairly labelled as being self-absorbed snow-flakes who are addicted to technology. Hello? Anybody recall the Climate action protests when many young people got up of their backsides and took to the streets and social media when everyone else stood about tut-tutting about them not being in school and needing to remain out of sight.

With the current concern over the effects of a warming world, the film’s disturbing scenario has relevance to modern audiences considering the recent heat waves experienced world wide along with wild fires in Australia, Europe and California. All such occurrences have tended to leave us believing that they are unprecedented – a word that has had considerable (over) use throughout the current Covid-19 crisis.

Often it is a lack of knowledge or appreciation of history that makes us think that what happens in the here and now is completely ‘unprecedented.’ The Black Death was ‘unprecedented’ for those living in the medieval era when more than a third of the world’s population died from the Bubonic plague; The Spanish Flu was ‘unprecedented’ for those in 1918 & 1919 in which over 600.000 Americans (50 million globally!) perished with a third of today’s population!; The Great Depression was ‘unprecedented’ for those who lost their livelihoods after the Stock Market Crash of 1929; The First and Second World Wars were ‘unprecedented’ for those who lived and fought at the time and in which millions died as a result.

It goes to show that there is nothing intrinsically special about any particular era of human civilisation nor indeed of the human race itself. Somewhere out there there is probably a hunk of space rock, a gamma ray burst, a solar flare, a virus, a bacteria, an extra-terrestrial species, a super volcano or even a present or future human course of action that will determine our final fate. And if the end did come for our species, would the universe care or even notice our passing? Yet, still we’ll grimly struggle on trying to find a way to survive as life always tries to find a way…..

At the time of the Covid pandemic, the ambiguous ending of the film made me think of what might happen once the pandemic subsides and the world is free of its grip on the human, social and economic life of the planet. Will things simply go back to what they were despite the glaring spotlight that the pandemic shone on our way of life: governmental deceit and mismanagement; political imperatives taking precedence over citizens’ health and well-being; influence exercised by powerful vested interests; social and economic inequality; diminishing rights to privacy and increasing monitoring and surveillance; the cult of consumerism and endless growth; obsolescence and waste; fragmentation and tribalism; rising political populism; environmental degradation? Or, will another path be found to travel that leads humanity to a future that is a negation of all those destructive forces that currently bedevil the world?

 

*************

 

This Is Not a Test (1962)

 

A low-budget minimalist, effective and suspenseful Cold War film with decent

performances by a largely unknown cast.

 

Directed by Fredric Gadette

Produced by Murray De Atley, Fredric Gadette

Written by Peter Abenheim, Fredric Gadette, Betty Lasky Music by Greig McRitchie

Cinematography: Brick Marquard

Edited by Hal Dennis

Distributed by Allied Artists

Release date 1962

Running time: 73 minutes

Cast

Seamon Glass: Deputy Sheriff Dan Colter

Thayer Roberts: Jacob Elliot Saunders

Aubrey Martin: Juney

Mary Morlas: Cheryl Hudson

Michael Greene: Joe Baragi

Alan Austin: Al Weston

Carole Kent: Karen Barnes

Norman Winston: Sam Barnes

Ron Starr: Clint Delany

Don Spruance: Peter

James George Jnr; Norman Bishop; Ralph Manza; Jay Della; William Flaherty: as the Looters

 

It’s 4.00am on a lonely stretch of mountain highway.

A policeman sets up a road block.

Several cars and a truck are stopped……..

And the nightmare begins!!!

 

“Code 1305 proceed to point seven at once…….you're on your own

Colter”

Dead-pan, implacable and unimaginative symbol of authority, Deputy Sheriff Colter is given the task of setting up a roadblock on a lonely stretch of mountain highway somewhere in California. In answer to the questions posed to him by those he stops is his repeated order to “pull over to the side of the road”and “turn out your lights.”

Without information, the people under his charge can only speculate that there’s “probably something up ahead,” perhaps an accident. Despite this and Colter’s rude and brusque manner, the detained assembly comply with his directives, resigned to the fact that “there’s nothing to do but wait” and that for the time being they’ll have to “do like the man says.”

Those who have so far been stopped form an interesting cross-section of society, with all of the expected human frailties and faults. There’s;

➢ Gramps or Jacob Elliot Saunders, a kindly chicken farmer and his lovely

“Pollyanna” granddaughter, Juney.

➢ Al Weston, a down to earth truck driver on his way to “a date with a beautiful

redhead in Sacramento.”

➢ Al’s mysterious hitch-hiking passenger named Clint Delany who Al picked up

earlier in Reno.

➢ Cheryl Hudson from San Francisco, an intoxicated attractive broad with a hip

gambler boyfriend Joe Baraji “North Beach crazy,” a cat who just made a killing of $175.000, dig?

➢ And shortly to pull in, there’s the conventional and wimpish Sam Barnes and

his obviously dissatisfied wife, Karen from Tahoe, along with their cute mutt named Timmy.

All of their individual and collective lives, destinies and fates seem to be in the hands of a public official whose talents extend to barking orders and punishing minor transgressions of the letter of the law. In the eyes of some of the detained, Deputy Sheriff Dan Colter is little more than a “mickey mouse cop” and a “badge happy cat” who’s intent on preventing them from going about their business.

In reality Colter is just a functionary who only knows how to follow orders and his orders in this case are “no cars are to proceed beyond this point in either direction.” As to how long? Well, that depends on when he is instructed to remove the roadblock. In the absence of such qualities as initiative and creative thinking, such types as Colter often compensate by relishing the opportunity to exercise their perceived authority over others.

“All units. Confirming 1305. It's a button-up”

June observes that up until this point Colter hasn’t told them anything. When Gramps tries to reassure her that everything is going to be alright, she asks him, “Gramps, are you ever gonna stop treating me like a child?” June understands the reason behind this. But what of Colter’s treatment of this particular group of adults? In a way he is treating them as if they were children by not being frank with them and providing them with information as soon as he becomes aware of anything.

Something immediate is about to happen for which Colter’s personality and character is perhaps best suited for: pursuit, arrest and exercise of lethal force against offenders and law-breakers. It turns out that Al’s passenger, Clint is an escaped psychotic murderer who takes off when Colter tries to talk to him and calls him by his name.

It seems that six months previously, Delaney stabbed a girl to death. In addition to other killings he may have committed, Delaney wrote to his dying father not to die until he got to him in hospital “because he wants to watch him suffer. ”Yes, there are potential dangers to life and limb posed to innocent people from crazed individuals and in this case that was what “the road block was set up for”- to remove the threat posed to society by someone like our insane Clint Delaney.

As Kool cat Joe points out to Colter, “you goofed it, so now you’re running around playing Wyatt Earp.” So what’s their sterling leader to do now? In the face of perceived incompetence and ineptitude, authority needs to find a way to redeem and reassert itself and establish relevance. As if on cue, an urgent message crackles over the police radio;

“All units. All units.

Situation 1310! Situation 1310!

THIS IS NOT A TEST

Condition yellow.

Air raid. Air raid.

Extreme emergency!

All officers take charge.

Operation Eager. 1310.

Yellow alert!”

A potential danger to life and limb has now become an all too real threat of global annihilation due to crazed and remote Geo-political forces and factors way beyond the control of individuals and those in leadership. The individual and collective fate of our little isolated band of humanity is pretty much determined now. The question is: How will they respond as the count down begins toward their inevitable destiny?

In a very real sense this situation IS a test – a test of each individual in the face of the inevitable.

From our own point of view, it would also be interesting to see if there are any parallels between the actions and attitudes of the characters in the film and what we have noticed during the course of our own global crisis involving the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Initially, we can see there is the very human need for self-preservation as a panicked Sam blurts out, “we've got to get to the nearest shelter! There must be one in the city.”

There is also the pressing need for information as to what is going on which Colter’s captives are unable to do due to “no regular radio reception in these mountains.” They are then expected to be satisfied and placated with the assurance that “they'll (the authorities) tell us as soon as they know.”

Colter’s one-dimensional thinking only allows him to resort to the exercise of power, authority and force. As far as he’s concerned “nobody's going anywhere.” This is backed up by a blast from his gun and the command to “get out of those cars and bring your keys – now!”

As if to underscore this development, another message erupts from the police car’s radio;

“All units. All units.

Situation 1310. Condition red.

Evacuation. Evacuation.

Operation Scatter.

THIS IS NOT A TEST.

1310. Situation red.

All highways out of population centres to be cleared for evacuation.

Operation Scatter.

All officers have full authority to deal with local problems.”

Any crisis can only be magnified and made worse if the quality of leadership and authority is defective or lacking. For instance, in the film there is definitely something psychologically wrong with Colter and he should not be given full authority to deal with local problems in the face of such a crisis. He is caught in a mental loop which only allows him open to one course of action: to detain the others where they are.

Another expected reaction to extreme crisis situations is of course, panic. Our small party realise that the evacuation will mean that “every road from every population centre is gonna be jammed with thousands of automobiles” as people rush to save themselves. It seems though that Colter is using this scenario to justify his intended course of action and is merely adapting it to fit the circumstances. He informs the others that in order to “stop you from adding to the congestion, my orders are to keep you here.” Well now, they can look to him with confidence as he obviously knows what he’s doing, yes-siree! Colter can now redeem himself for letting that nut job Delaney slip through his fingers.

It’s amazing what people choose to worry about when faced with calamitous situations. For instance, Sam’s main concern is not getting to Mexico City. However, as Al points out to him, it “won't be very long before there'll be things flying around a little bit more important than a plane to Mexico City.” As we’ve seen with the current Covid-19 Pandemic, some people do indeed find it hard to put things into perspective or prioritise what’s important.

Then there are those who seem to be in a state of denial. When faced with the grim reality of their situation, June quite innocently and understandably declares that she “just can't believe it.” Of course, we are aware of certain individuals and groups who for political and other reasons would purposefully choose not to believe the facts that are staring them in the face, whether it be climate change, a global pandemic or indeed “the end of the world!”

Panic and denial are sometimes joined by outright distrust of and hostility toward those entrusted with leadership and authority. When Colter informs the others that they’re going to “take it easy and proceed according to plans,” Joe sarcastically observes, “you got it all worked out, pop…..you got it worked out for a situation like this - eight people on a mountain.” Joe then asks Colter, “what do you got in the back of your heap man, a collapsible bomb shelter?”

“Attention all control points.

All military all civil defence units,

Operation Scatter must not slow down.

Traffic stoppages on river freeway must be cleared.

Execute severest measures to control hysteria and keep traffic flowing.

Martial law!”

The severity of the situation is by now quite evident whereby “the whole country could be destroyed in the next few hours.” Despite the clear impending danger and probably because of the sheer enormity of the crisis, Joe is all for carrying on as normal and extracting whatever diversion and pleasure he can obtain from whatever life is left to him. He’s more concerned about whether “the cats are still rolling dice up the state line” rather than worrying over things he can do nothing about.

The futility of their situation is brought home to the group by Al who has determined the relative positions of the city, Western Air Defense Command Headquarters, the missile fuel refinery and their own location. It is concluded that they are situated in a “prime target area” and are therefore “sitting ducks on ground zero…... sitting on the target right smack in the bull zone.”

Despite the chaos in the world beyond the highway and the inevitability of their extinction, Colter is determined to preserve his little oasis of control and order and will use force if he has to in order to keep the others where they are. It is not surprising that faced with such absurdity and futility, Joe would opt to try to exercise his assumed freedom of movement and right to choose to spend what time he has left “standing in front of a bar” with his chick and that to do so is no one else’s business.

Colter’s answer to a perceived act of defiance is to knock Joe out and handcuff him to a car. The final word of authority: use of force to ensure compliance. Unfortunately, reason, humanity and compassion have taken a back seat as implied by one of the party observing that Colter and everyone else “ought to take it easy. Who knows how much time we have left. Seems a shame to waste it getting mad with each other.” Sensible advice for any era!

The reality of Cold War madness and the justification for fear is laid bare with the following observation;

“That first action will be to knock out the country's ability to resist. First thing will

be a white light that'll blind us, then a hot flame that'll burn…...Even the air you

breathe will be deadly. Everything you touch will give off radiation - ever hear of

Hiroshima - and you won't hear it happen. Suddenly there'll be no warning…….”

Added to the deadly litany of the effects of nuclear war is the awareness of “the area of destruction from the explosion of one hydrogen bomb.” Colter’s answer is to declare that “people survived Hiroshima” and that therefore they too can survive.

As the countdown to the missile attack proceeds, Colter issues orders to convert Al’s truck into a bomb shelter. With their car keys and therefore their means of escape having been confiscated, the hostages to madness proceed to empty the truck of its contents.

Fear can often have the effect of luring people into focusing their concerns on matters other than what they ought be scared about. In Juney’s case, she is terrified of having to comply with Colter’s directive to make the truck their shelter for two weeks and (as many these days feel about lock-downs) she “can't stand the thought of being all locked up.” Gramps tries to comfort and ease his granddaughter’s mind and voices the majority view which tends to be cooperative and compliant in times of crisis. He believes that they “have to do what the man says” and “learn to accept things as they come” if they are to have any chance of surviving.

In a very child-like way, Juney rushes off in panic away from this madness straight into another kind of madness in the form of Clint Delaney. Juney, however handles this frightening situation quite well by not reacting in fear. Her explanations to Clint about what is going on cannot penetrate his demented psyche as all he can focus on is retrieving his suitcase, the contents of which we can only guess at. In any crisis situation you find deranged psychopathic and sociopathic groups and individuals whose only thought is to cling on to their ‘precious’ obsessions and who have no comprehension of human society’s values and norms.

The truck that is presently being unloaded to be converted to a shelter for two weeks has “Discount World” advertised on its side. And yet its contents consists of imported caviar, diamond tiaras, fur coats and bourbon. It must be a pretty up-market discount store! Still, with everything about to come to an end, what do such things matter? It’s all up for grabs and all that’s important is what will be useful to survival. At least Cheryl can pretend that everything will be OK if she wears a fur coat and downs a bottle or two of booze, while Al can pretend he’s showering a “princess” he’s keen on with the kind of gifts she deserves.

In contrast, there’s Karen’s husband, Sam who is concerned about the “valuable merchandise in this truck.” This fine upright, uptight and largely useless individual while clinging to his conventional view of reality, doesn’t even realize that he’s losing his wife to someone else who can offer her what she really wants and needs right now with “no strings attached….anything but a tomorrow.”

A late-comer to the captive group pulls up riding a Vespa. His name is Peter and he seems to offer a bit of an outsider’s perspective of what’s transpiring. It is apparent that he is quite well-educated and informed considering his knowledge about matters pertaining to nuclear war.

Peter and Juney engage in a rather grim and ironic consideration of the sad state of affairs in the world symbolised by the Christmas bauble (“incongruous…. symbol of the joyous celebration of the Savior”) and the toy rocket representing for Peter a missile that can be “launched from any place on earth (and) can strike a target with pinpoint accuracy in just 75 minutes.” Juney points out that they got the first warning 20 minutes previously! Tick-tock…..

We tend to feel compelled to point the finger at those we feel are being uncooperative or totally oblivious to the seriousness of a particular situation. We may wonder at their thoughtlessness at wishing to go on with life as if nothing has happened. Take Joe who admits that he’s “scared about that jazz” but the $175.000 he’s clutching in his hand represents for him “independence, not more scamming and hustling….a free ride any place we want to go.” Also, despite Cheryl’s party-girl carrying-on, she admits that she’s scared and doesn’t want to die. People hide their fears in all sorts of ways and have nothing else to cling to except hope, even if it’s false hope. Joe holds out hope to Cheryl that they are going to get out of this situation and that even though the odds are longer, he has a “good feeling everything's gonna be all right.”

It is this very situation though that has reached a stage where absolute absurdity is reigning supreme:

Colter is obsessing with alcohol prohibition and introducing his own local version of martial law after Crazy Delaney conducts a covert raid on some of their supplies. Al is instructed to shoot him on sight if he is spotted.

Off-screen, law and order seems to have broken down in the city as can be gauged from the police car radio message:

“All fire units. All fire units.

Officers, shoot all looters!

Shoot all looters!”

Sam still cannot get his mind around what is going to happen shortly and probably believes everything will go back to normal if he just tidies up around the place and correctly and responsibly disposes of litter! Must keep up appearances. All he succeeds in doing though is getting in the way.

Cheryl has purloined another bottle of booze and she and Joe are set on having a great old time – anything if it just makes things a little easier for them. Cheryl is little more than a frightened girl who drinks to make things feel better for herself. Joe is scared to and disguises the fact by acting like a “hood most of the time.”

The impotence and lunacy of the official plan of action instituted by our crazy stalwart symbol of authority, Colter is highlighted by his belief that there were survivors of the bombing of Hiroshima. However, it is apparent that he is aware of the implications of a nuclear strike, that there would be no hope for anyone who is “within 200 miles of ground zero” and that instead of “an old-fashioned atomic bomb” it is more likely that a hydrogen warhead would be employed. “In that case it's over: no truck, no mountain, no nothing.”

Failing any further rational argument or accurate information, Coulter can only appeal to his sense of duty and position of authority. He states bluntly that, “as long as I wear this badge it's my duty to protect the lives of the citizens.” He could have sent them to a reception area but he didn’t even give them that choice as he believed they would not have made it. In his mind, it is up to him, that they must depend on him and by golly he’s going to do his duty even if it kills everyone. He doesn't exactly instill a lot confidence, does he? We’re just waiting for his left eye to start twitching and for the little metal balls to appear in his right hand.

A time of extreme crisis and stress can also result in an upending of social mores and norms along with our sense of morality and ethics, especially if they are seen to serve no useful purpose. For instance, Al and Karen can only think of being together with time running out and don’t give a damn who knows including Karen’s husband, Sam.

Sam for his part, cannot even dredge up enough passion and feeling to fight for his wife and can only stand impotently with the rifle feeling futile and defeated as a man and husband. No-one would blame him if he started to rage and wave the gun around in fury. The last binding link and tenuous hold Sam had with his wife is symbolically broken when Coulter directs the group to get in the vehicles and follow him to another spot, a “quarter of a mile up the road.” Sam tries to take Karen by the arm and have her accompany him as is his custom, but Karen stops short, looks at him disdainfully and breaks away to join Al as a passenger on the road to some kind of hope where for however long she’ll be appreciated for who she is. She even went to the trouble to pointedly take the little pooch with her! Having less value to his wife than a little mutt, very ounce of self-respect and self-worth has been drained from Sam who has to face the end of his ordered and conventional world without even hope to sustain him. Depending on one’s point of view, Sam’s final act will be one of cowardice, of desperation borne of a lack of hope, or his one and only act of courage.

1320 Repeat,1320.

Missile! Missile!

Condition red! Condition

red!

Missile! Missile!

The lunacy of Colter’s plan is apparent when it is suggested that mud will have to be placed on the vent screens of the truck to help prevent too much radiation being admitted. However, there’s the small matter of the necessity of being able to breathe!

Added to this is the almost certain fact that “on ground zero everything from miles around will be burnt beyond recognition.” And how has the group’s dilemma and having to go “through all these survival motions” come about in the face of this crisis? As Peter points out, “because Mr Laws ordered us too.” Their predicament stands as a microcosm and a consequence of the larger forces at work in the world whereby people place their trust or are forced to trust and obey those in positions of power and authority who are concerned with exercising their power over others and often prove to be corrupt and incompetent.

 

Attention! Attention!

All medical personnel, proceed to shelter immediately.

Missile! Missile!

Missile’s time of arrival, approximately five…..”

Peter, Juney and her grandfather decide to take off rather than enter the truck. It almost begs the question as to why they and the others didn’t take off earlier as there had been many opportunities to? Colter couldn’t have rounded them all up or shot them all for trying to abscond. Even more puzzling is the fact that Gramps suddenly remembers that there’s a cave or abandoned mine nearby where shelter could be obtained deep inside the mountain. He thinks of this now! Well, the script writers must have thought it a good idea to slip it in at this point.

Anyway, Gramps obviously decided that he’s lived enough of life and would prefer to look whatever is coming in the eye. He thinks that if there’s any hope for the future, it lies with young people like his granddaughter and Peter if they manage to survive the cataclysm deep in the abandoned mine.

 

“Seattle, come in. Come in Seattle. Seattle come in.

WRLRP calling WMQR San Francisco.

Come in Tom, do you read me?”

It seems as if the world beyond the little flimsy makeshift highway shelter has gone to hell in a hand-basket. It also seems as if the world within the truck is beginning to stew in a hell of its own. Even Joe loses his cool and tells Cheryl to just shut up as she’s flapping her jaws incessantly due to her fear.

Even Colter is looking quite forlorn by now with little active bossing around to do. But wait a second! Is that Al contemplating lighting up a cigarette? The twisted circuits in Colter’s brain start firing up again and he issues another edict: “You can't smoke in here!” Yes, for a second he has purpose in his life once again!

Purpose borne of idiocy just like Colter’s entire plan based on a belief of being able to withstand a nuclear strike and possibly survive for two weeks In a flimsy truck with the air vents clogged with mud and having to endure heat and claustrophobic conditions while being surrounded by massive amounts of radiation.

Meanwhile, Cheryl’s all hot and sweaty and asks if anybody would mind if she strips off some of her clothing. None of the males in the truck or the audience I’m sure would mind a bit. Take off as much as you like! It could be a long couple of weeks in that truck after all.

Coulter’s deranged mind is obsessed with other matters and his intent gaze in the direction of Timmy is beginning to make the little dog decidedly nervous. To Colter’s way of thinking the “dog's gotta go” as they’ll “need every bit of air to breathe.” This despite the fact that they have already lost several members of their group. In a savage act of cruelty, Colter kills the little dog. This begs the question as to what would happen if they all were in the truck and no-one had left or had died? Would Colter have summarily executed someone if their air supply was insufficient?

In a somewhat Trumpian mode of thinking, Colter is convinced that his act of stupid cruelty will cause the others to see him as a savior and that they’ll be thanking him that they don’t have that extra pair of lungs when they’re laying there gasping for breath.

Speaking of cruelty to animals, there’s a rather disturbing scene involving our crazy friend Clint Delaney, who has by now retrieved his suitcase, his ‘precious’ and is feverishly trying to find a car to start but to no avail as he can’t find any car keys. Suddenly, he runs amok and grabs hold of crates containing live chickens from the back of grandpa’s truck and hurls them about. The hapless chooks are flung about hither and thither by Clint who finally collapses defeated amid the petrified poultry. Try doing something like that in a film these days and you’ll have the animal welfare organizations descending upon you like the Valkyries!

Finally, an act of desperate defiance by the scantily clad Cheryl leads to the door of the truck being flung open and an unexpected meeting of two equally deranged and insane worlds: the world inside the truck and the outside world.

Coulter’s group stand face-to-face with a handful of men, “the first out from the city” from whom they learn “there ain't no city no more” as “everybody there's going nuts” and where there “ain't no law” and “it's everybody for himself.”

Their presence has a definite sinister air about it and Colter’s declaration of himself being the local authority seems absurd. Even though the new-comers say they only want gas “about 10 gallons to get on the other side of the mountains,” it is obvious that they’ll do anything at all to get what they want.

Despite the men’s demeanor and suspect intentions, an offer is made for them to join the original group in truck. This act of humanity and compassion is abruptly put to the test with the next final message over the police car radio…..

All units. All units.

Take shelter. Take shelter.

Missiles coming in!

Missiles three minutes away!

Missiles…...”

Suddenly all pandemonium breaks loose with Colter being jumped for the car keys, his patrol car taken along with Karen being carried off by the outsiders.

Colter now finds himself locked out of the truck and catches sight of Clint who has come on to the scene and has presumably witnessed what has gone on. Colter now says to the man he had earlier wanted to shoot, “don't run! Come on Clint, get in the truck. You can't get away Come on, get in the truck!”

Clint stares in utter confusion and bewilderment at Colter as the deputy sheriff seems to utterly lose it in his desperation to gain entry into the locked truck – his oasis of law and order. It is as if there is a confusion as to who or what exactly is crazy – Clint, Colter and the world he created or the entire world for having let such things come to pass?

The answer comes in the blinding white flash of the nuclear blast at the the end…….

This was not a test….but in so many ways, it was!

 

Points of Interest

 

Early in the film, Sam wonders out loud that maybe "CONELRAD knows what's going on," and some of the group rush over to their cars to tune in their radios. Al mentions tuning into “640. During the Cold War period, between 1951 and 1963, CONELRAD (Control of Electromagnetic Radiation) served as an emergency broadcast system set up to inform American citizens in the event of enemy attack. If such an event took place, all US television and FM radio stations were required to stop broadcasting. Most AM medium-wave Broadcast stations would shut down while the stations that stayed on the air would transmit emergency information at either AM 640 or AM 1240. In 1963, CONELRAD was replaced by EBS (Emergency Broadcast System), and in 1997, EBS was replaced by EAS (Emergency Alert System).

1962, the year in which the film was made also saw the Cuban Missile Crisis. A case of fiction almost meeting reality in which the world came close to a nuclear confrontation between the US and USSR. It is hard for modern audiences to appreciate what it must have been like to experience air raid drills, "duck and cover" exercises and advertisements for home fallout shelters, all designed to assure a nervous citizenry that they could actually survive a nuclear missile strike.

This low budget film gives us an excellent insight into the kind of fear and terror of a nuclear war that many people at the time felt and forms the framework of the story in which everyday people find that their lives have been overtaken by events they cannot control. The important point is how each of the characters choose to react in face of such events and their inevitable fate or destiny. Even more to the point is how would we react?

 

(ChatGPT Image)

 

*******

\

Panic in Year Zero! (1962)

(a.k.a. End of the World)

 

Oscar-winner actor Ray Milland’s sole directorial effort stands a simple but brutal

sci-fi film that exposes the ugly aspects of human nature during the struggle for

survival in a post-apocalyptic nuclear nightmare.

Directed by Ray Milland

Produced by Arnold Houghland, Lou Rusoff

Screenplay by John Morton, Jay Simms

Story by Jay Simms

Music by Les Baxter

Cinematography: Gilbert Warrenton

Edited by William Austin

Distributed by American International Pictures

Running time: 93 minutes

Budget: $225,000

 

Cast

Ray Milland as Harry Baldwin

 

Jean Hagen as Ann Baldwin

Frankie Avalon as Rick Baldwin, son

Mary Mitchel as Karen Baldwin, daughter

Joan Freeman as Marilyn Hayes

Richard Bakalyan as Carl

Rex Holman as Mickey

Richard Garland as Ed Johnson, hardware store owner Willis Bouchey as Dr. Powell Strong

Neil Nephew as Andy

O.Z. Whitehead as Hogan, grocery store owner

Russ Bender as Harkness

Shary Marshall as Bobbie Johnson

Byron Morrow as Evacuee from Newhall

Hugh Sanders as Evacuee from Chatsworth

 

What if?……..

…..it all went horribly wrong on that fateful day in 1962?

 

Los Angeles 1962.

A family leaves for a camping trip.

A nuclear attack destroys the city.

Chaos begins to reign supreme.

Old values and ideals crumble.

A father fights to keep his family alive.

“This is civilisation’s jungle after the jackals of society have ruthlessly

ravaged it, ending the world of decency!”

As the missiles close in, on a lonely stretch of mountain highway somewhere in California, a deputy sheriff forcibly assumes control of a small disparate group of motorists and sets about converting a large truck into a makeshift fallout shelter. They are among the first to discover that the events that are about to transpire are indeed NOT A TEST!

As the missiles approach, elsewhere in California Harry Baldwin, his wife Ann, their son Rick, and daughter Karen prepare early to leave Los Angeles on a camping trip in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. A typical suburban family one might say: the father optimistically looking forward to casting his line in a pristine lake, his wife supremely and sufferingly supportive and the teenagers complaining reluctance to traipse off into the wilderness at such an ungodly hour just to catch some stupid fish.

It is now 6:15 am and the Baldwins have been on the road for two hours when they suddenly notice unusually bright flashes of light coming from a great distance behind them. Initially, it is thought that the flashes might be lightning but Harry soon joins the dots in his mind and begins to voice the terrible realisation that “the only thing…”

What is left unsaid is soon given the form of fact and truth by a succession of events and clues. First is the overwhelming evidence of the explosions having occurred in the direction of Los Angeles over which a gigantic mushroom cloud has formed. Secondly, “none of the LA stations are on…. not even CONELRAD.” Thirdly, when Harry tries to contact Los Angeles by payphone, a frustratingly polite, implacable and impersonal operator's voice informs him, “I'm sorry, sir, the lines to Los Angeles are temporarily out of order.” When he inquires as to what has happened, the nasally voice responds unhelpfully with, “I do not have that information, sir.”

Unknown to the Baldwins, the deputy sheriff on that lonely stretch of mountain highway found himself locked out of his truck shelter. The deputy sheriff together with the remaining survivors of the group he detained were instantly vaporized when the missiles struck.

A lack of information is a sure guarantee of the spread of panic and that is precisely what is being experienced by the Baldwins and fleeing citizenry of Los Angeles at this moment.

It is the kind of panic that has its roots embedded in a life with fear as a constant backdrop. It is the kind of life that Harry’s kids and others like them have only known. Rick asks his dad, “We've had it, Dad, haven't we?” almost implying that there’s an expectation of the inevitability of nuclear annihilation. His sister, Sarah’s incomplete statement, “I thought when it happened, we'd all be…” suggests that the consequences of nuclear war have been drilled into the minds of the population, especially young people.

The family decide to attempt to return to rescue Ann's mother back at their home, but they soon find that they are swimming against the tide of panicked citizens fleeing the city in their cars, trying to get away from the fallout and destruction from multiple nuclear explosions.

Soon there is an announcement on the radio:

“This is the Emergency Broadcasting Network.

All normal forms of communications appear to have broken down.

Although there has been no official statement,

the light flashes and the resulting cloud formations

would indicate that Los Angeles and surrounding areas

have been attacked by nuclear bombs or missiles.

I repeat, this is not an official statement.

In order to conserve power on battery-operated radios,

bulletins will be broadcast at two-hour intervals.

Next broadcast at 9:00.

Stay tuned to 640 or 1240”

With a crisis comes desperation and distrust along with the possibility of chaos and a breakdown in law, order and authority. Take for instance the unassuming-looking man the Baldwins come across at a gas station who witnessed “LA being torn apart and watched it being tossed into the air.” He also witnessed his wife being cut to pieces miles from the blast when a bedroom picture window blew in.

Such a desperate man with no money is not about to worry about the niceties of transacting business and is prepared to back up his intentions with violence. The price of necessities is about to rise as people try to exploit the crisis for personal gain and only the color of one’s money is to be trusted.

Inject enough fear into people’s lives, rob them of a sense of personal safety and security and present them with the prospect of empty bellies, no shelter and the absence of leadership and you’ll find that the veneer of civilization is very thin indeed.

Harry seems to have arrived at such a conclusion and decides that it’s not worth heading back home to check on his mother-in-law as they cannot help her, that there’ll be looting and worse in the city and that there probably isn’t any authority left. To Harry’s way of thinking there’s only “Us. We're still alive, and others like us.”

Stopping at a diner for a bite to eat, Harry learns more about the extent of the missile attack which has also taken in San Pedro, Long Beach Harbor, San Diego and San-Francisco. Harry is also advised “skip the next couple of towns” as “people are pouring out of LA like lava out of a volcano” as if it were “the second Exodus.”

The diner becomes like a microcosm of what is quickly developing throughout society at this time: impending shortages, lack of civility, profiteering and every man for himself (all genders implied).

[We all remember during the early part of the Covid-19 pandemic, when toilet paper and everything else went flying off the shelves. In my own state of Victoria in Australia, there were reports of organised groups venturing out of the city into rural towns to grab what they could from supermarkets. It got to the stage that rural townspeople felt hostile towards these city folks who they viewed as being like vultures or vermin.]

Realising what is happening to society, Harry decides that his family must find refuge at their secluded vacation spot. In fact, Harry goes into survivalist or ‘Prepper’ mode. When his wife confides to him that she’s frightened, Harry replies, “that's a safe way to be” since right now “two and two doesn't make four anymore. At the moment, it adds up to exactly nothing. For the next few weeks, survival's going to have to be on an individual basis. At the moment, we have to have food, a way to protect it, and a way to get more when it's gone.”

Harry’s wife desperately wants to hold on to hope in civilization rather than merely “write off the rest of the world.” Harry replies that “when civilization gets civilized again, I'll rejoin” but in the meantime “watch it unwind to a small hard core. Then someone is going to start putting it back together. I want that someone to be us.” He then asks his wife “Is that wrong? Is that immoral?”

I guess the answer will depend on what will happen to them in the process of ensuring their survival – their sense of humanity, what constitutes their being civilized, what they may eventually end up losing?

 

The Baldwins next pull into a small town off the main road which has not experienced an influx of fleeing city people and may not be aware yet of what has happened.

Despite it being too early for trading, Harry manages to obtain a grocery store owner’s cooperation by playing on his ignorance, greed and readiness for making a deal. His selection of supplies suggests the need for stockpiling necessities that will keep long term without the conveniences of modern living. As to why? The proprietor can only guess. However, Harry does give him an enigmatic hint in form of advice: “Lock up the store, take all the merchandise you can carry and hide it.”

Next stop, Ed’s hardware store. Despite the reports of a possible nuclear attack, Ed optimistically believes the official version that it is unconfirmed and that they are a long way from Los Angeles. After all, it’s easier to deny reality than it is to believe that the worst has happened.

Harry begins the process of buying tools and guns from Ed Johnson. Harry informs him that he can only pay $220 in cash out of the total bill of $420 and that he will cover the remaining amount with checks. Ed tells Harry that he will have to withhold the guns in accordance with state law. When Harry pulls a gun on Ed, a struggle ensues and with Rick's help, Harry makes off with the weapons after informing Johnson that he will return sometime later to pay for them in full.

The interesting feature of this scene is the lesson being conveyed to Harry’s son, Rick whom he has made an accomplice to armed robbery. Harry even tells Rick that if Johnson “makes one stupid move, shoot him.” Yes, desperation has indeed made Harry into what Ed referred to him as being – “just a thug.”

Even Ann can no longer recognise the man she is married to and says to him, “after all these years, I thought I knew you, but you turn out to be a stranger, robbing and mauling people like some kind of a cheap hoodlum.” Ann is not ready to turn her back on the rest of the world, civilisation and human decency.

Harry looks at things in a totally pragmatic way that is in accord with the changed circumstances in which the primary thought has to be: "No matter what, I'm going to live." The physical survival of his family will take precedence over moral and ethical considerations – the hallmark of a civilisation – at least until the time when “the law will come back.”

Harry as a father, a husband and as a man has a solemn purpose: to ensure the well-being and survival of his family. A sense of purpose and meaning is important and an almost ingrained part of a man’s psyche, one which is slowly being chipped away in modern times. It is too bad that it has taken something as drastic as a nuclear catastrophe and the desperation and fear it has generated to trigger this in our protagonist. The danger in this case is just what Harry will end up losing in the process and as a result of the stress and pressure that is being piled on his shoulders as he has taken upon himself most of the decision-making and organising.

Adding more fuel to the pressure and stress is the announcement on the car radio revealing more about the extent of the nuclear attacks;

“Here are the 11:00 bulletins. Partial communication has now been

restored. Among the targets of this devastating attack were New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Damages and

casualties are extremely heavy. London, Paris, and Rome have suffered

almost total destruction, it was learned.

We have retaliated in kind. Key targets of our counterattack have not yet

been announced.

 

Those of you who have shelters are urged to stay in them. There are

reports of looting. Proceed with caution.

The organisation of military and law enforcement is underway, but will

take time.

We will return with more bulletins in two hours.”

At a gas station further along the road the law of supply and demand combined with greed has already kicked in. Harry is about to be charged $3.00 a gallon gas instead of the advertised 34¢ a gallon. Not having the $90.00 total and not being willing to be further ripped off, Harry biffs the gas station attendant. Yet another lesson for his son who looks on approvingly and says, “Dad, that was quite a belt.”

It doesn’t take long for people to hive themselves off into fearful communities and tribes determined to keep the outside world at bay. On their way to their destination, the Baldwins encounter a road blockade set up by the good citizens of a town who are set on “not letting any of you people from LA into our town.” So much for all of us being in this together and being one nation united in the face of adversity! And why are they doing this? Because the good city folk came into their town, said they were just passing through and instead “busted up our drugstore and damn near killed the owner.”

[Even during the Covid pandemic, the various states in my country, Australia set up

boarder blockades to prevent people from affected areas in other states from

entering their territory lest they bring the virus in with them. A certain degree of fear

and hostility manifested itself with such boarder closures]

Needless to say, Harry doesn’t take no for an answer and with Rick riding shot-gun chooses to crash through or crash, shook up women-folk notwithstanding.

Their next stop puts the Baldwins in contact with the kind of people you will always find in both times of peace and during any crisis. These are the sort of people who have no redeemable qualities whatsoever. They exist as human cockroaches who are solely intent on taking from others in order to satisfy their own selfish wants and desires. There is no reason for these scumbags being born and existing as they serve no useful purpose to society and constitute nothing but a drain on everything and everyone. And yet, here they are in our midst and civilisation has to find a way to deal with them!

Three such mouth-breathing sociopaths pull up near the Baldwins’ parked trailer. They soon make it known that they are “in business” for money, “extra gasoline” and anything or anyone that may be in the trailer. Now that “somebody dropped a bomb, dad” they have elected themselves as “the new highway patrol.”

With his own life and the safety of his family at risk, Harry gives Rick the signal to fire his gun at the young hoodlums. Having retrieved his gun, Harry seems on the verge of unloading his weapon but stops short due mainly to his wife who seems to act as some kind of a moral brake on him.

In fact, it was Ann who pushed Rick’s gun away to prevent him from killing one of the hoodlums. This sets Harry off and he quite savagely rebukes his wife telling her “that boy, as you call him, was going to kill me. Then he was coming after you and Karen. Would that have suited you better? ….Would you rather see one of us lying dead at your feet?”

Who exactly is Harry really mad at? His wife and her naivete? Himself and what he feels he has to do? The situation they find themselves in that has forced them to make such decisions and has warped their values and sense of morality?

Almost as if in answer, Rick marvels aloud, “I could have blown that guy's head off.” His father then realises that his son liked the feeling of that and tells him, “then you're as wrong as they are. This is no deer hunt. I want you to use that gun if you have to, but I want you to hate it.”

Harry wants to save what’s left of civilisation as much as his wife does. The difference lies in the ways and means of achieving this. One way may lead to their own extinction while the other way may rob them of their humanity irrecoverably.

The tide of civilisation’s remnants sweeps inexorably along the highway to nowhere only stopping, not to help - but to push anyone needing help out of the way. The Baldwins cannot ford this raging automotive river of panic and so Harry comes up with a plan to “make a stop sign” consisting of petrol being sloshed across the road and igniting it. This task he and Rick successfully manage to accomplish causing the traffic to screech to a halt and setting at least one car on fire. But what if the plan had resulted in the deaths of other motorists who are only intent on escaping with their lives? Well, there are no women to remind Harry about this as they are shut in the trailer and will be let out when they get to the road.

Shibes Meadow, the Baldwins’ destination stands as a kind of Prepper’s oasis, a haven or shelter until order is restored. On that basis, access points need to be denied to those who may also wish to make it their base and pose a potential threat to Harry and his family. Harry and Rick set about pulling down a bridge in order to cut off “one avenue of attack.”

A cave that Rick knows about is selected as their living quarters on the basis that it is sizable, secure and defensible. After all, the trailer would be “about as safe as a silk nightgown” in face of any potential fallout. Too bad no-one told deputy sheriff Colter who along with his truck shelter and party of detainees were earlier vaporised on that lonely mountain road.

While civilisation may be crumbling around them, and despite the irony of having wound up in a cave like their stone-age ancestors, Harry believes that it is important to maintain important aspects of its rituals, habits and values. We see therefore, harry offering up a prayer before their meal asking “our heavenly Father” to “lighten our darkness” and “save us from the perils and dangers of this night.”

The rationale for maintaining “these concessions of civilisation” is to maintain the family’s morale by providing them with “links with reality” thereby helping them to be less afraid. And Harry does admit to his wife just how afraid he is.

From right out of the Preppers’ playbook, Harry instructs his family about the necessity of having a series of buried food stores should their shelter be overrun and as means of buying their way to freedom with the promise of food.

Ann has a role that was more or less expected of women in that era and seems to spend a lot of her time making enigmatic and pertinent comments before wandering off screen. Karen has the role of the whining and whingeing teenage girl who is not allowed to join the men folk when they head off on manly business. She’s of course expected to help out her mother and be protected.

A source information about conditions in the outside world is a necessity and so the voice on the radio brings grim tidings of the current situation;

“...states and Canada have been attacked. Casualties are extremely heavy, but no statistics are as yet available. Successful counterattacks

have been made on European and Asian objectives.

 

At a reorganisation meeting of the United Nations, a resolution was introduced whereby these darkest days in the history of civilisation will

henceforth be designated as The Year Zero.

Continued reports of looting are coming in. Such acts are regarded as

treason against the United States and those guilty face the death

penalty.

The President has called upon every American to do his duty in

reestablishing law and order. In his own words, "There are no civilians.

We are ail at war."

Next war bulletin at 11:00.”

Every strange sound and every possible approach by someone is to be viewed as a threat as in this time of crisis “there are no civilians.” This applies to Ed Johnson who Harry and Rick are presently covering with guns. They discover that Ed and his wife are their neighbors and they have taken up residence in their former trailer.

Harry returns Ed’s gun to him but is reluctant to give away his family’s location or share or sell what extra provisions they have. No-one at this stage can be trusted and must be seen as a potential enemy.

Such a scenario that has been outlined in the radio broadcast and evidenced by Harry and Rick’s encounter with Ed, is an anathema to Ann. To her this represents “a future without hope” and that she needs to believe that there are “people who are better than just animals” and that “there must be some good people left.”

Ann manages to soften the recently fashioned hard edges of her husband’s nature and he relents by agreeing to “look up the Johnsons in a couple of days.”

Later on, Harry and Rick discover the dead bodies of the Johnsons. Ed had been shot in the head and his wife had been raped before being murdered. The murderers are the three young thugs they encountered earlier. Rick seems to be in favor of doing something about this but Harry wants to bury the Johnsons and not think too much about what has happened and the implications this may have concerning what may or may not have to be done

Circumstances and reality, however will soon conspire to force Harry to test the strength of the links and concessions to civilisation he has tried hard to maintain.

While doing the laundry, it appears that Ann is oblivious to the detritus of civilization that floats on the river right past her. Suddenly, a blouse floats near the river bank which draws the attention of two of the hoodlums who have appeared nearby.

As Karen sits quietly and reads a book, the two thugs begin molesting her before callously dragging her off into the bushes to rape her. Alerted by Karen’s screams, Ann quickly appears and with rifle in hand fires off a couple of rounds. Did she do it to scare them off or to kill? After all, she’s a mother with a mother’s instinct and no amount of morality and concessions to civilisation will interfere with her need to protect her daughter, surely.

Harry and Rick return to the cave and find out what had happened to Karen. The decision as to what needs to be done has now been made for them and Ann seems to sense that nothing will convince Harry otherwise. He merely replies with a stern and forceful “No!” when she begins to entreat him not to do what he has now determined to do. Harry and Rick both head off to the farm house in search of the two hoodlums.

As Harry and Rick approach the farm house, it seemed to me that the decisions Harry makes, the orders that he issues and the tactics he adopts suggest that he may have served in the military during World War Two.

Upon confirming that the two rapist/murderers are inside, Harry bursts through the front door and shoots both dead in cold blood. He and Rick suddenly hear a noise and discover a young girl, Marilyn who is being imprisoned in a bed room as a sex slave to the young scumbags. Marilyn understandably traumatised, hostile and suspicious informs Harry and Rick that she lives in the farm house with her parents who were both murdered by the young mongrels.

Harry and Rick free Marilyn and return with her to the cave to be cared for by Ann. Despite what has happened, there is still room for compassion and for Rick there seems to be the addition of a definite attraction.

A major crisis can leave deep mental and emotional wounds and scars on people which take time to heal if at all. People and their way of life in many instances will never be the same again. A new kind of normal will emerge that people will have to adapt to.

In Harry’s case, he understandably is visibly affected by what he has done. It is one thing to entertain ideas about doing anything to protect oneself and those closest to you, it is quite another to actually take someone’s life in order to do so, especially if it involves an act of cold-blooded revenge. Harry is still a civilised man with a conscience as can be determined from his observation to Ann that “I looked for the worst in others and I found it in myself.” Even his wife admits that she didn’t kill the two rapists only because she wasn’t a good enough shot.

Such feelings and thoughts that Harry is experiencing can only serve to drag him into a dark abyss if dwelt on for too long. Before he can descend into it, he is reminded by Ann that Karen is more worried about him that she is about herself.

In the case of Marilyn, her scars will run deep probably for the rest of her life. Young Rick tries to draw her out of her personal world of hurt and attempts to get close to her but she is obviously not yet ready to place her trust in other people least of all a young male like Rick, no matter how good and kind he seems to be.

Potential good news is soon broadcast over the radio;

“Here are the 1:00 bulletins...

Operation Survival is rapidly taking effect. Authorities report that many

areas are responding to discipline, but control has not yet been

established in many rural and mountain areas. People in such areas are

urged to maintain strict caution and vigilance.”

 

Established relocation centres are operating in the following sections of

this state:

For Los Angeles, Malibu.

For the San Fernando valley, Thousand Oaks.

The southern portion of the Sierra Nevada Range, Wheaten.”

 

On the surface it seems as if civilisation is beginning to re-emerge from the ashes of destruction. How easy it is to grasp at any positive sign as if it were a life preserver when faced with the possibility of drowning. Upon hearing the news, Karen bitterly retorts, “Some civilization…..All our friends are probably dead. Our house, my school. Everything's gone. Everything's changed. Including me.”

Harry doesn’t greet the news on the radio with any glee. He believes that “a lot of the wrong people heard that broadcast, too.” and that “the roads will be crawling with them.

When asked by his wife if they would feel any safer where they are, Harry replies, “I have some measure of control here. Out there, none.” Having power and control over others and exercising it for what he deems to be the good of his family has now become a way of life for Harry. It is how he defines himself and measures his worth as a man, a husband and father and that is something not to be surrendered lightly if at all.

As for a woman? Her worth in the new world could be defined by her practical usefulness rather than modern civilisation’s now irrelevant and meaningless criteria. According to Harry, Marilyn would be good for Rick on the basis of her being “pretty good with the rifle” which she can use to cover Rick while he’s chopping wood. (Personally, I’d rather have her chop the wood while I held on to the rifle!)

When Ann heads off to bed, Harry remains outside for a while. An indication of how life has changed can be seen from his reaction to the sounds emanating around the cave site at night. It is becoming a more fearful and nervous world, with people constantly on edge.

And what do we have in the next scene? Lo and behold! Rick showing off while chopping wood and Marilyn covering him with the gun while casting a few admiring looks his way.

Suddenly Carl, the missing and eldest hoodlum, sneaks up behind Marilyn and forces her to drop the rifle. He then questions her about what happened to his other two felonious compatriots. Rick shouts at him to back off and throws a part of a tree limb at him, while Marilyn breaks free, grabs the rifle, and shoots Carl dead. In the same instant, Carl fires a shot, striking Rick in the leg.

The family are forced to head off to the nearest town to find a doctor to help save Rick. On the way there, they hear the following announcement on the radio;

 

“Ladies and gentlemen, the Secretary of State.

‘The enemy has requested an immediate cessation of hostilities. A

meeting is now in progress to discuss the terms and conditions under

which peace, not war, may be declared. Year Zero is drawing to a close’

Resumption of normal broadcasting is anticipated within the next 12

hours.”

The Baldwins finally manage to locate Doctor Strong who does what he can for Rick. Unfortunately, Rick has lost so much blood that he requires a blood transfusion within three hours or he will die. The only way for this to happen is for him to be transported to an Army hospital more than 100 miles away.

Before Harry departs with his family, Doctor Strong bitterly and sardonically advises him to be careful as “our country is still full of thieving, murdering patriots.” [We’ve unfortunately at times recently observed this aspect of human nature during the course of our own global pandemic crisis and concurrent events.]

It is however the example set by those like the Doctor Strong character that give hope to civilisation. Despite the chaos around them, their own suffering, potential dangers to themselves and a creeping sense of futility, such people continue to offer assistance to others and act in a truly selfless manner out of compassion and a sense of duty.

Along the way with sixty miles or less to go, the family encounter an Army military patrol and after a tense and potentially dangerous exchange with two soldiers, they are permitted to continue. As the soldiers watch them depart, they observe that they are "five good ones" who escaped radiation sickness by being in the mountains when the bombs exploded. As the family drives on, a closing title card states: "There must be no end – only a new beginning," indicating that hopefully mankind will have learned its lesson and will make Year Zero a new symbolic beginning.

 

Points Of Interest

“Panic In The Year Zero” was filmed in two - three weeks and was originally known as “Survival.” It was for a short time re-released in 1965 as "The End of the World" before reverting to its original title. The film was Initially released as part of a double feature with “Tales of Terror” (1962).

According to Roger Corman Ray had experienced difficulties attempting to act and direct at the same time. Although considering the fine end product, you wouldn’t know it!

CONELRAD (Control of Electromagnetic Radiation) was established in 1951 and was the nationwide system for emergency broadcasts in the United States. All radios made between 1953 and 1963 were required to have marks on the AM dial at 640 and 1240 MHz where citizens could tune to obtain civil defence information. CONELRAD was succeeded by the Emergency Broadcast System in 1963 which was itself replaced by the Emergency Alert System in 1997.

Coincidentally, while writing this I’m listening to a small transistor radio from my vintage radio collection, a SONY TR-724 AM / SW pocket Transistor made in in 1960 which has two small orange markers on the dial – one on 640 and one on 1240 MHz.

Two stories by Ward Moore that appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, "Lot" (May 1953) and "Lot's Daughter" (October 1954) may have been used as the basis for the film’s screenplay

“Panic In The Year Zero” deals with the theme of nuclear apocalypse which was not surprisingly an ever-present concern during the Cold War period. This film together with “This Is Not A Test” (1962) focuses more on ordinary people who find themselves caught up in a crisis and events not of their making and beyond their power to control. They are regular people with lives and concerns we can relate to and about whom we can wonder what we would do if we were in their shoes.

Take for instance, Ray Milland’s character, Harry Baldwin. What would we do as a dedicated father and husband who struggles with determination to survive and protect his family? Would we too find ourselves abandoning the very civilized morals for which we are fighting and trying to maintain? These days in film, he’d likely be portrayed as the absent or abusive or emasculated or morally weak father!

I don’t really care whether certain heads are exploding over the fact that the female characters could have been portrayed as being more assertive. Yes, they did come across as being vulnerable and in need of protection, but you have to take into account that it was a very different era. Ann’s role was very important for the story’s development in that she provided her husband with a constant reminder of how easy it can be to lose one’s humanity.

"Panic in Year Zero!" is interesting by virtue of not presenting things in a simple black and white manner. There is a constant tension or conflict between the need to preserve civilisation and having to compromise one’s beliefs and moral code in order to save one’s family. We question each of Harry’s acts such as his conduct toward the hardware store owner and so does Harry himself, especially under the scrutiny of his wife. We find ourselves hovering between condemning Harry but also understanding why he does what he does without fully condoning it.

Some may think that the kind of nuclear threat that is depicted in the film is merely a thing of the past and nothing to worry about in this modern 21st Century age. If nuclear war were to occur they may argue that it would be conducted in a limited or surgical sense rather than in the manner of a Cold War Mutual Assured Destruction scenario. Only an idiot would say so for certain.

What we can be sure of is that one of the greatest threats to civilization that would emerge from such a crisis would be the moral and ethical collapse that would result from the sheer struggle for survival. The biggest threat may not be just from national or terrorist adversaries, it may also be from ourselves, our neighbors and those we thought we knew and could trust.

 

**********

Crack in the World (1965)

 

An entertaining sci-fi film that is great fun to watch and does not fail to warm things

up for the audience

 

Directed by Andrew Marton

Written by Jon Manchip White, Julian Zimet

Produced by Bernard Glasser, Lester A. Sansom Cinematography: Manuel Berenguer

Music by Johnny Douglas

Distributed by Paramount Pictures

Running time: 96 minutes

Budget: $875,000

Cast

Dana Andrews as Dr. Stephen Sorensen

Janette Scott as Dr. Maggie Sorensen

Kieron Moore as Dr. Ted Rampion

Alexander Knox as Sir Charles Eggerston

Peter Damon as John Masefield

Jim Gillen as Rand

Gary Lasdun as Markov

Alfred Brown as Dr. Bill Evans

Mike Steen as Steele

Emilio Carrere

Sydna Scott as Angela

John Karlsenas Dr. Reynolds

Todd Martin as Simpson

Ben Tatar as Indian Ambassador

 

A geothermal energy project developed with the aim of breaking

through to the Earth's magma layer by means of a thermonuclear

device!

The possibility of cracking the key to unlimited energy!

or

Cracking Earth’s crust and destroying the planet!

 

Part 1: Emerging Fault-lines

“ ...we don't want the commissioners to think we're all mad scientists”

In Tanganyika, Africa we have the rather incongruous sight of a couple of natives bearing shields and spears looking down upon a small convoy of vehicles heading toward a facility that houses ‘Project Inner Space,’ an international scientific consortium tasked with tapping into the Earth's geothermal energy. The project is the brainchild of Dr. Stephen Sorensen who believes it holds out the promise of unlimited geothermal energy for an energy-hungry world. The United Nations Economic, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) is willing to finance his project.

Dr. Sorensen's young beautiful wife, Maggie acts as Project site guide for the convoy of UNESCO officials, led by Sir Charles Eggerston. Maggie had in fact been a student of Dr Sorensen and that is how they first met. Soon after entering the site, Sir Charles orders the convoy to stop near the Project's bore hole where he has spotted a ballistic missile, minus its warhead, hanging inverted from a drill tower over the bore hole. His tone of voice suggests disapproval as he demands an explanation for the missile’s presence. He informs Maggie that he is under the impression that they are there to “discuss with your husband the possibility of using an atomic warhead.” Maggie reminds him that the missile is only “half a missile” and is not armed and that he and the other officials are there to decide whether or not to permit its being armed.

Maggie conducts Sir Charles and the others to the main building where they all enter an elevator which descends two miles down to the Central Operations complex where the work of Project Inner Space takes place. Maggie seems to be almost engulfed by the overwhelming male presence in the confined space. Exiting the elevator, the party emerge into a almost breath-taking expanse of a technological marvel. This cathedral of worship of humanity’s technological prowess is the product of many millions of dollars. As Maggie explains to the officials, “this entire area is pressurised and air conditioned, of course - otherwise the temperature would be well over 200 degrees.” Apparently they are all there only by the grace of….technology.

While Dr Sorensen prepares for his meeting with the Council members, he undergoes an X-ray treatment for an unspecified malignant cancer in his left hand. Aware that the treatments will not work, Sorensen’s doctor, Bill Evens agrees to keep his patient’s illness, along with its nature and severity secret from everyone, including Sorensen’s wife.

Sorensen eventually meets with the UNESCO councillors and a problem with the Project is soon broached involving the drilling team encountering a solid wall that separates them from the magma, and that in 17 weeks they haven't advanced an inch. During an old-school presentation, Sorensen outlines his plan for overcoming the current impasse.

Sorensen explains to the assembled officials that the target of the Project is the magma and if this molten mass is brought to the surface the world would have all the energy it can use. Basically, it involves geo-thermal power on steroids. Sorfensen goes on to explain that up until now “the only thing that stands between us now and success is this thin layer” which “has held us up for 17 weeks.” Unfortunately, “no drill that exists will bore through it, not the toughest steel or the hardest diamond. Conventional explosives are useless.” When questioned by Sir Charles Eggerston as to what he means by stating that "conventional explosives are useless," Sorensen informs him that he was thinking of a thermonuclear device, apparfently in form of the missile hanging poised over the drill-hole.

Somewhat conveniently, the project's chief geologist,Ted Rampian is not present. Rampian is not in favour of Soreneon’s plan but he is not there to present his case that using a thermonuclear warhead would result in such a shock to the earth that it will cause the crust to crack. By means of a demonstration involving a hammer, a source of heat and a couple of panes of strengthened glass, Sorernsen sets about the task of disproving the validity of Rampian's theory while demonstrating to Sir Charles and the rest of the UNESCO Council’s satisfaction that the nuclear detonation will release sufficient heat to safely melt through to the magma.

Meanwhile, Daring-do, He-Man, globe-trotting Ted Rampian returns in a helicopter which he exits exuding copious quantities of ego, self-confidence and testosterone, completely disdainful of the whirling blades slicing through the air mere inches above his head! His dander is well and truly up when he notices the missile hanging above the drill-hole, complete with its warhead! Insult is added to injury when Rampian learns that the damnable blighters of the UNESCO Council had the effrontery to depart without so much as giving him a hearing. Damn their eyes!

Well, there’s nothing for it but to have it out with Sorensen and his attitude is best summed up when he angrily asks Sorensen, “what's the hurry, Stephen? Can't you wait for another Nobel Prize?” Woooo! The cracks are beginning to emerge but bubbling below the surface is the underlying reservoir of magma consisting of jealousy and resentment. You see, Rampian and Maggie were involved in a relationship before she enrolled in Sorensen's class and became his wife.

Rampian spits the dummy and resigns from the Project and decides to take all his research notes with him to London where he can personally present his case to Sir Charles. Maggie, despite her protestations to the contrary still seems to have feelings for Rampion buried deep within her. As for Rampian, he still has a photo of himself and Maggie together stuck to the back of the door to his locker. Maggie rushes to convince him not to go, even resorting to the cringe-worthy line when suggesting that she’ll darn his old socks: “If the world IS going to come to an end, at least you won't get caught with holes in your socks.” Well Rampian, there’s a woman worth fighting for! Ha Ha!

Part 2: Turning The Page Of History

 

“A Peak Into The Future”

Later, Sorensen prepares for the firing of the missile but first receives bad news from doctor Evans concerning the progress of his cancer treatment. He is told that there is no hope and that he doesn’t have long to live. He leaves the doctor and approaches the Project control room, the only visible indication of the effect of the bad news on him being an initial hesitancy in his progress which he quickly shakes off as he gets closer the room. So what sustains you now, Dr Sorensen? “An opportunity to turn the page of history?” To be lauded alongside the likes of Newton, Pasteur, Einstein? Maybe you are simply desperate to achieve success before your funding is cut and you die before you can see your work completed. Or perhaps you just want to prove a point: that you were right after all. And what of your wife, Maggie whom you’ve been steadily pushing away? Are you trying in some misguided way to protect her from being tied to an old man destined to die shortly? Perhaps your callous attitude toward her is the result of misdirected anger on your part tied in with your jealousy of the younger Rampian and your own insecurities. At any rate, you are surely succeeding in driving Maggie away from you and eventually into the arms of Rampian.

Speaking of Rampian, the indefatigable roller up of shirt sleeves has managed to obtain an audience with Sir Charles and quickly appraises him of the urgency of his position concerning the impending missile activation. Rampian points out that years of nuclear testing prior to the test ban treaty have resulted in fissures in the crust, several of which have led to a major tectonic fault. A thermonuclear detonation at that depth will crack the fissure open.“Suppose the Macedo Trench splits open under the ocean? A crack a thousand miles long, bringing super-heated magma in contact with the ocean: earthquakes, tidal waves, mass destruction on an apocalyptic scale” will according to Rampian be the result.

Sir Charles now having had his day thoroughly spoiled by the gravity of this new information, puts a call through to the Project. As fate would have it, Sorensen ignores the alert of an incoming call and proceeds with the missile shot. The missile descends into the bowels of the earth where in a short time the warhead detonates. After a tense moment, magma erupts to the surface, as Sorensen predicted. Rampian takes the news of the seeming confirmation of Sorensen’s work and the apparent incorrectness of his own like the man he is. Sorensen, in a rather triumphant but magnanimous mood asks Sir Charles to tell Rampian to return to the Project and get back to the pile of work that awaits him.

Rampian returns to the Project in style in his helicopter which kind of detracts a bit from Sorensen’s little media scrum. As Rampian exits the copter. again seemingly oblivious to the potentially lethal nature of its blades, Maggie switches into gleeful girlie mode and makes a bee-line toward our maverick hero and walks back with him arm-in-arm. Subtlety is not one of her strong points.

Part 3: Cracks Emerge

 

“You were right and I was wrong”

The unusual movement of a herd of animals alerts Sorensen, Maggie and Rampian to a potential problem which is soon confirmed by reports in the media of devastating earthquake activity. Rampian is able to plot the progress of the seismic activity and establishes that it is tracking right along the fault, as he had predicted.

Meanwhile, the fault-lines in Sorenen’s relationship with his wife further widen as he seems to shut himself off from her and behaves towards her in a very cruel and callous manner. Despite her appeals and declaration of her feelings towards him, Sorensen tells her that he has nothing more to give her. The cancer that is spreading and eating him up is not merely of a medial nature. Maggie had earlier read Rampian’s letter when her husband could not respond sexually to her. Now she physically runs from Sorenson in agonised disbelief and confusion on an emotional fault line that will lead her to…….

Our hero Rampian with his shirt sleeves pushed half way up his armpits dashes off once again to organise a dive in the Indian Ocean using a deep sea submersible. At considerable risk (coz’ that’s what he does) he obtains photographic evidence of a chasm with magma boiling out of it, extending along the floor of the Indian Ocean. When later confronted with this evidence, Sorensen acknowledges that he is responsible for causing a crack in the earth's crust, and that this could ultimately lead to the destruction of the world..

At a meeting of the UNESCO Councillors there is an atmosphere of outrage and recriminations as they are confronted with a most unbelievable notion: “A crack in the world?” Rampion explains with the aid of a wall map, showing the crack’s likely progress along the Macedo Trench where “it's following a geological flaw in the Earth's crust, known as the Macedo Fault. That runs from here, to the tip of India, then veers across towards Indonesia, and terminates off the Australian continental shelf.” If the crack keeps going “where the land masses split, the oceans will be sucked in, and the colossal pressure generated by the steam will rip the Earth apart, and destroy it.” In short, the world as we know it will come to an end.

As Sir Charles points out, they all voted for the Project to proceed and therefore the all share in the responsibility for what has happened. “The question now is not who is to blame but how we can stop the catastrophe.” There is no option left but to allow Sorensen and Rampian to come up with the means to solve the problem. As Rampian points out, “at present we don't know any way we can stop it. First, we have to learn to understand the natural forces involved and, if possible, find some way to control them in the time permitted to us.” Until then there is little more that any of them can do except, “pray.”

Bare-armed geologist superhero Rampian has now assumed command of the Project and both he and Sorensen set about examining spectrographic data and films of previous nuclear detonations. Running the films in reverse offers a clue as to what has happened. Ir appears that the missile unleashed a fusion explosion in a layer of hydrogen in a pocket located beneath the magma, resulting in an explosion the force of which was greater than Sorensen had anticipated. So, knowing this, what can be done?

Part 4: Darning A Hole In A Sock

"How do you start up a volcano?”

“With a nuclear bomb”

“Another bomb?”

The knowledge thus gained in fact also suggests a solution: another nuclear bomb detonation in the path of the crack in the hope of breaking a gaping hole in the crust into which the crack would run and before coming to a halt. Armed with a plan of action, Rampian sets off in Batman mode once again, this time to the site of a dormant volcano.

With the heat-shielded fission bomb set up and ready to descend into the maw of the volcano, scientist Steele somewhat reluctantly assumes the role of Robin and accompanies Rampian in the descent into the dormant volcano crater where the bomb will be deposited into the lava.

All seems to be going reasonably well as Rampion and Steele lower the bomb through the volcano’s shaft. Suddenly there is a snag when the progress of the bomb is halted by a ledge above a chamber of molten lava. There is no choice but to try and push the bomb away from the obstructing ledge. While the two men attempt to manoeuvre the bomb away, Steele positions himself under the bomb. Just as it starts to dislodge, Steele’s support cable becomes wedged between the ledge and the bomb casing. The cable snaps and Steele plunges into the molten lava, a life snuffed out in a flash of flame.

Assailed by the intensity of the heat, a grief-stricken Rampian just manages to release the bomb into the lava before he collapses and dangling seemingly lifeless from his line he is raised to the surface. For a while Maggie is under the impression that Rampian has been killed and is almost overwhelmed by grief. However, her joy and feelings for Rampian upon seeing him alive and well also stand as a testament to her love for our hero. This is somewhat hard to square with her all too recent breakup with her husband. But that’s some people for you!

On a nearby island where the team of scientists are based, the signal is given to set the bomb off. The bomb annihilates the volcano cone in an atomic conflagration and the consensus is that the crack has been stopped and the good planet earth is saved. Just like darning holes in a sock…….