Black & White World
On the Beach (1959)
Atomic paranoia propaganda film that plays out like a long Twilight Zone episode—very thought-provoking and well-made, despite the fact that it’s perhaps a little dated today. The set up: the year is 1964 (film was made in 1959). Atomic war has wiped out pretty much everyone in the whole world, with the exception of Australia, and Gregory Peck’s submarine crew, who manage to make it safely to Australia. Scientists guess it will be about five months before the radiation poisoning reaches Australia, so the residents are preparing for the last hurrah.
Peck is great but seemed to be holding back a little in the role. I know he was playing a tough Navy captain guy and holding back his emotions was part of the role, but there was one scene in particular where I would have liked to see him let it rip a little.
Ava Gardner was good; Fred Astaire was miscast. Tony Perkins was better when he wasn’t attempting his very uneven and poor Australian accent. All the Australian accents were horrible, in fact; they shouldn’t have bothered. Kind of a small nitpick in a movie that has so much good stuff going on. I don’t know how this one escaped me for so long. Highly recommended.
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Oops, you DID mention all those things here I was talking about in #squeeze. Mea culpa.
Posted by on 12/24 at 08:10 PM
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