On the Beach

This 1959 movie based on a novel by Nevil Shute tells the story of the aftermath of a nuclear exchange between the United States and Russia. Gregory Peck plays Dwight Lionel Towers, Captain of the U S S Sawfish a nuclear submarine.

The submarine comes into port in Australia as it has been searching for air that is compatible for humans as they had been at sea when the exchange occured. Australia at this point not having been affected by the fallout but knowing that they soon will be is in a state of limbo not knowing if they will be safe or are just being an extended look at what their future will be.

Anthony Perkins plays a young Australian Navy Commander and Ava Gardner plays Moira Davidson a woman who has dealt with the crisis by never spending a night alone or sober. Towers as he is on shore falls into this orbit but refuses to acknowledge his feelings for Moira as he cannot accept that his wife and children are no longer alive in Conneticut.

Eventually the Sawfish is sent out to sea to investigate a theory that the raditation may be dissipating, and to investigate a radio signal that in theory should not be happening if no people are alive. They find that the radiation is not diminishing and that the signal is nothing more than a coke bottle bumping against a transmitter after being bumped by a curtain string in the wind.

The government is distributing suicide pills to the populace when the sub returns and each person has to deal with thier own feelings as the end approachss.

The banner at the end of the movie across the screen from the church rally's held remind us " That there is still time."

Realizing the movie was released at the height of the Cold War the impact was significant and we cannot really understand how people felt living in a time of drop and cover raids and missile gaps.

This is an interesting piece of movie history.