Duck and Cover

Truly one of the most mind-bogglingly surreal movies I've ever seen, teaching kids that all they need to do to survive a nuclear war is duck down and cover their heads; and quite rightly satirised in the 'South Park' TV show. Watching it today it's hard to imagine that the US government could have made it as a serious training film, or that American teachers could have shown it to their kids with a straight face.

More seriously, I imagine that when they first began planning the movie they were probably still in the A-bomb era where it might have made a difference: the damage from such a bomb was fairly localised so a single bomb in a major city would kill only a small fraction of the population... but by the time it was being shown to kids H-bombs could obliterate an entire city in one go, and 'Duck and Cover' tactics were utterly pointless.

This review is in response to the faulty information that swirls around this short civil defense/propaganda film, particularly the notion of "its stupid we would all die and the government was just trying to fool people". While I wont try to argue the clear propaganda goals of the film, the question of survivability is a different matter.

A simple timeline should do the trick: 1949- The Soviet Union detonates its first atomic bomb.

1952- The film "Duck and Cover" was first shown early in the year, but was produced in 1951.

1952- November 1st, almost a year after the film was released, the first H-Bomb was detonated by the USA at a test grounds in the Pacific. If you do not know the difference between an A-Bomb and an H-bomb there are many sources on the internet, lets just say its a big difference.

1953- The USSR detonated its own H-bomb.

1955- The USA had a total of about 350 H-Bombs (small H-bombs, if you can call an H-bomb small), that would be delivered by airplane. The USSR was behind but catching up fast.

1957- The first ICBM's were developed by the USSR and the USA.

1959- ICBM's began to populate the arsenals of the Cold War powers.

"Duck and Cover" was aimed at a possible war using a relatively small number of A-Bombs that would have been delivered by airplane. In such an attack the information given was correct and could have saved lives. There were many instances of people surviving the attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima at basically ground zero. Again its the difference between an A-bomb and an H-bomb, in 1952 atomic war did not mean instant or even prolonged death. When H-Bombs and ICBM's started to amass in the arsenals of the superpowers these films started to disappear.

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

This is probably one of the most infamous educational films about nuclear war. An animated turtle helps tell the children this is aimed at that, in the case of nuclear attack, they can protect themselves by dropping on the ground and covering their head and neck with their hands. It's not clear why you would want to spread this ridiculous misinformation ... most likely to create a false sense of security by creating the impression that your foreign policy isn't aiming towards the complete destruction of your society ... we can all survive kids. Just cover your head!

I've got a friend who once, during a temporary moment of stupidity, remarked that "when a bomb goes off, the best place to be is next to it." Yes, an atomic bomb. His comment remains the worst piece of survival advice I have ever received. Now meet the runner-up! 'Duck and Cover (1952)' is a fascinating window into American society in the midst of the Cold War: when nuclear holocaust seemed, not just a possibility, but an inevitability. The narrator (Robert Middleton), in his no- nonsense fatherly way, introduces a rosy-cheeked cub scout with the words "Tony knows the bomb can explode any time of the year, day or night." I can't imagine living under such a monumental national threat. Air-raid drills draw an immediate response, the camera lingering dramatically on the discarded baseballs and skipping ropes.

'Duck and Cover' explains, in childish terms, the actions one should perform in the instance of a nuclear attack. Number one on the agenda is the titular "duck and cover"; that is, throwing yourself to the ground - preferably against a wall, beneath a desk, or under the wheel of a moving tractor - and covering your head and neck. The inanity of this premise was memorably lampooned in the early 'South Park' episode "Volcano," in which citizens duck and cover in the path of an approaching lava flow, to little avail. All things considered, it's not terrible advice. In such a position, you're certainly less likely to catch flying shards of glass or other debris. It all depends on your proximity to ground zero: if the atomic bomb lands on your school, for example, ducking and covering is not likely to improve your survival chances. In 2004, 'Duck and Cover' was added to the National Film Registry, and for good reason. It captures the insanity of an earlier era, when civilisation nearly destroyed itself.