CONELRAD: INVASION USA . Essentially a World War II picture masquerading as a World War III picture (the bombs may have gotten bigger but the cliches remain unchanged), IUSA is also the progenitor of . Subsequent entries in this niche include the 1. RED NIGHTMARE; John Milius's RED DAWN (1. AMERIKA, a plodding 1. TV miniseries featuring Mariel Hemingway as an . But it was IUSA that first uncorked the bottle and treated its audience to a full- blown Russian (though the enemy is never overtly identified, the accents are hard to mistake) INVASION complete with paratroopers, mushroom clouds, ruptured skyscrapers and an atomized dam. Shot in seven days in April of 1. Films of the Cold War. The Invasion of the Atomic Government Films!!!! Search the history of over 502 billion pages on the Internet. Featured texts All Texts latest This Just In. Various films attempted to covertly address the paranoia. Don Siegel’s 1956 classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Alfred E. Green (THE JOLSON STORY) managed to combine a number of wildly disparate elements into this 7. The formula for IUSA as accurately as can be determined is 3. Blended together the movie plays like a Joseph Mc. Carthy fever dream. Despite nearly a half century of undeserved obscurity, it is worth pointing out that it was IUSA, NOT Stanley Kubrick's DR STRANGLOVE that first - albeit unintentionally - made audiences laugh about atomic war. Because, though IUSA may have originally been promoted for its . Indeed, in between all the stock footage and exploding models, reside some of the most hilarious lines in B- movie history. One example among many is this exchange between stars Peggie Castle and Gerald Mohr after the bombs start dropping: CASTLE: It's a nightmare, this can't be happening! MOHR: It was a cinch to happen. The last time I met a girl I really liked, they bombed Pearl Harbor. Ohman (Dan O'Herilhy), sets the fantastical plot device of IUSA in motion. Ohman, who we are told, is a television . The main characters (in addition to the two stars: a blustery congressman; a tractor manufacturer and a cattle rancher who sounds like John Wayne on sedatives) have each revealed themselves to be woefully complacent Americans who could care less about raising arms against hypothetical invading hordes. That is, until Civil Defense muse Ohman helps them all see the error of their ways with the aid of a swirling brandy snifter, some soothing words and a vision of what might be. After a lingering camera shot dissolves into Ohman's glass, the heavy- handed message of IUSA begins to be revealed. Before the film is over each character has learned the hard way that freedom isn't free, eternal vigilance is the price of democracy and that it is extremely difficult to book a flight to Montana during a nuclear war. The anchoring relationship that grounds IUSA in something vaguely resembling reality is that of glib TV reporter Vince Potter (Gerald Mohr) and carefree debutante Carla Sanford (Peggie Castle). Mohr, who made a career out of playing velvet- tongued hep cats (see GUNS, GIRLS, AND GANGSTERS; A DATE WITH DEATH; and even ANGRY RED PLANET), invests his character with unbelievable cool. Potter manages, after all, to glide through much of World War III without ever mussing his hair or losing his coat and tie. Castle's Carla is a stunning blonde who, after breaking a fingernail at a defense plant in the last war has since given up caring about patriotism. After her Civil Defense epiphany, however, Carla volunteers at the Red Cross and, later, takes a suicidal plunge from her apartment window to escape the amorous advances of an inebriated enemy soldier. On its surface IUSA might appear to be simply mindless B- movie entertainment. Buy Invasion of the Atomic Government Films!!!!: Read 3 Movies & TV Reviews - Amazon.com. Colonialism, Invasion, and Atomic Bombs. The government has also extended an invitation to the leaders. These memories are actively promoted, contested, and refuted through various means such as textbooks, films. It certainly is that and then some, but it is also actually a rather daring film (for its time) with conflicting agendas and ideas that warrant further examination. The main civics lesson the screenwriter seems to be imparting in IUSA is that a lazy citizenry invites invasion and occupation. Complimenting this lesson is the notion that the military is only as strong as its civilian support. But why then is the character of Vince Potter the defacto hero of the story? Or so the government claimed. B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb. Khrushchev responded by authorizing tactical nuclear strikes to repel any U.S.Potter is a rather sorry excuse for a hero after all. He is constantly on the make - even flirting while giving blood at the Red Cross! When he chuckles at Carla's excuse for abandoning her job at the defense plant, the audience is left with the presumption that she has his tacit approval and admiration. Potter's most . Holding his microphone like Sinatra at the Sands, the reporter blithely rattles off the impressive acts of courage he has witnessed on the streets of Manhattan (. Prior to this scene Potter's acts of bravery consisted of his trying- and failing- to enlist in each branch of the service. Potter's excuses for being turned away are comically unrealistic, but they are supposed to illustrate the screenwriter's political point that because industry hasn't built enough tanks/ships/Jeeps for the military, last- minute volunteers like our star are out of luck. IUSA also promotes the concept that Americans are too materialistic and selfish and that these attitudes adversely impact our readiness for war. Ohman's opening barroom monologue chastises the . But then the movie's unwitting subtext is that in order to defeat the Communists we must be more like them. We must be willing to sacrifice- constantly. When the enemy finally does seize Manhattan, their first order of business is to spout the party line over the airwaves: . The People's Government brings the citizens of New York a new freedom. A freedom based on order. A freedom based on loyalty to the leaders of the Party, your Party. The IUSA press book and accompanying publicity material is a treasure- trove of old- time Hollywood ballyhoo and paranoid propaganda. Here is one of the suggestions offered to theater owners on how to promote IUSA: ! SEE COLUMBIA PICTURES' INVASION USA AT THE STATE THEATER FRIDAY! William Castle eat your heart out. In a 1. 97. 3 interview, the legendary Zugsmith praised IUSA production manager Ralph Black and director Green as being two . Of his overall experience on the project, Zugsmith recalled in the same interview that, while the movie is . It has it all: Scheming Commies, a square- jawed scalawag of a hero, a lovely leading lady and, of course, lots and lots of A- bombs. It is also a fascinating historical artifact from an era when nuclear weaponry was viewed as a desirable battlefield option, not merely a tool of deterrence (an era that may be making a comeback). The film's images of blast seared Manhattan skyscrapers are ones that now possess a disturbing resonance in the post 9/1. But enough about reality: Now that you have learned the lesson of INVASION USA, go out there and do your part to fight the Red Menace! Or at least build a tank. Visit our TIFF section to learn more about the films we're excited to see, plus photos, mini-guides, and. Title: Atomic Puppet (2016–) 7.3 /10. Want to share IMDb 's rating on. 10 ALIEN INVASION FILMS. A direct comment on the real impending atomic/nuclear threats of the time. Atomic Fear: The 13 Greatest Horror Films Of. Censorship and Myth-Making About Hiroshima and the Bomb. Wartime and occupation censors seized all films and still photos of the two atomic cities, and the US government kept them. Atomic Bombrotten > Library > History > Atomic Bomb. Remember back when all we had to worry about was The Bomb? Not a dirty bomb, or a crop duster, or a hijacked jet- missile, or anthrax in the mail, or smallpox- ridden subway riders, or sarin gas suitcases, or fertilizer- packed trucks. After thousands of years of gestation, the idea for an atomic bomb — the catastrophic release of energy produced by a chain reaction of atoms splitting — came in 1. Hungary named Leo Szilard figured it out. He even patented the idea. Roosevelt suggesting that atomic power could be a major source of energy in the very near future, adding. A single bomb of this type, carried by boat and exploded in a port, might very well destroy the whole port together with some of the surrounding territory. The army assembed a team of the greatest scientific minds of the age — and the age was full of truly brilliant minds. They were charged with developing an A- Bomb before the Germans could. Robert Oppenheimer, the team included scientific geniuses like Neils Bohr, who fled Germany to avoid making the bomb for Hitler; Enrico Fermi, credited with creating the first atomic fission reaction; Richard Feynman, a mathematical savant. With outside help from others, such as Einstein, the team set to work. In many cases, victims simply weren't told the cause of their illness. In some cases, the victims weren't even told they were sick until after committees on national security had reviewed the implications of their illnesses. The patients, who were generally healthy and hospitalized for things like broken bones, were not informed of these injections, even when they developed cancer and died. Scores of Americans were unknowingly dosed with radiation either intravenously or orally, all so that the Manhattan Project could learn that radiation was, in fact, dangerous. Some people think otherwise. In July of the preceding year, the Port Chicago military base near San Francisco had been destroyed in a massive explosion. The government claimed an ammunition boat full of TNT had exploded, but in retrospect, many questions arose. The boat itself was completely vaporized in the blast. More than 3. 00 people were killed, and much of the base was reduced to dust and slag. Even the nearby town was damaged and hundreds of civilians were injured. Coincidentally, the Navy even filmed the explosion, and the film shows a billowing mushroom cloud. And declassified documents released in the 1. U. S. The detonation there is certainly depicted with appropriate reverence, whether it was technically first or not. The bomb used at Alamogordo was code- named Trinity. There was one theory, for instance, which suggested the detonation might spark a chain reaction that would burn up the entire atmosphere of the planet Earth, instantly and horrifically killing the entire human race in one fell stroke (and just about every other living thing as well). The test went forward. Enrico Fermi, one of the scientists on hand for Trinity, wrote an eyewitness account. I had my face protected by a large board in which a piece of dark welding glass had been inserted. My first impression of the explosion was the very intense flash of light, and a sensation of heat on the parts of my body that were exposed. Although I did not look directly towards the object, I had the impression that suddenly the countryside became brighter than in full daylight. I subsequently looked in the direction of the explosion through the dark glass and could see something that looked like a conglomeration of flames that promptly started rising. After a few seconds the rising flames lost their brightness and appeared as a huge pillar of smoke with an expanded head like a gigantic mushroom that rose rapidly beyond the clouds probably to a height of 3. After reaching its full height, the smoke stayed stationary for a while before the wind started dissipating it. Kenneth Bainbridge, director of the test, was less poetic, or perhaps more so. On seeing the might of the explosion, he commented, . Within a month of the successful test, Truman trotted out his new toy against the Japanese. As early as spring of 1. Truman had ordered up a list of possible targets for the atom bomb, which included Hiroshima, Nagasaki and two other Japanese cities. Leo Szilard, the man who had first come up with the idea, met with Truman's point man on atomic issues, James Byrnes, in late May and begged him to demonstrate the bomb's power on an empty target before unleashing it against human beings. Byrnes, who would subsequently become secretary of state, responded that the administration could hardly justify spending all this money on an atomic bomb and then not use the bomb to kill people; for the sake of future defense appropriations, the bomb must be used. The Japanese were willing to do anything short of an unconditional surrender to get the war finished; their primary concern was maintaining the emperor's status. On July 2. 1, he gave the order that the U. S. Army should employ atomic weapons against the Japanese. His diary entries were often wildly at odds with the facts. For instance, on July 2. It may be the fire destruction prophesied in the Euphrates Valley era, after Noah and his fabulous ark. Anyway we think we have found the way to cause a disintegration of the atom. An experiment in the New Mexican desert was startling — to put it mildly. Stimson, to use it so that military objectives and soldiers are the target and not women and children. Even if the Japs are savages, ruthless, merciless and fanatic, we as the leader of the world for the common welfare cannot drop this terrible bomb on the old capital or the new. He and I are in accord. I'm sure they will not do that, but we will have given them the chance. It is certainly a good thing for the world that Hitler's crowd or Stalin's did not discover this atomic bomb. It seems to be the most terrible thing ever discovered, but it can be made the most useful. So the bombing would proceed, against two . B- 2. 9 bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb, which detonated almost 2,0. Hiroshima, estimated to have killed at least 7. Nearly 7. 0,0. 00 more were injured, most with hideous burns and radiation poisoning. The only other event to even come close was the bombing of Nagasaki three days later, which killed at least 4. In addition to the casualties on the days of detonation, tens of thousands more would die within two years from injuries and radiation poisoning, and unknown tens of thousands more would see their lives shortened. That was because we wished in this first attack to avoid, insofar as possible, the killing of civilians. But that attack is only a warning of things to come. If Japan does not surrender, bombs will have to be dropped on her war industries and, unfortunately, thousands of civilian lives will be lost. I urge Japanese civilians to leave industrial cities immediately, and save themselves from destruction. In fact, more than 9. Truman had indicated his concern for in his earlier diary entry. In 1. 94. 9, the Soviets successfully tested their own atom bomb. In 1. 95. 0, Truman authorized the use of atomic weapons in the Korean War, but the order was made moot when General Douglas Mc. Arthur was fired days later. People began to get alarmed, and their fears were futher stoked when President Dwight Eisenhower's secretary of state first outlined the concept of massive retaliation, threatening to rain down nuclear Armageddon on the world if faced with Communist . But the nations, in the death grip of a lethal competition, instead accelerated their efforts to outgun the other. Kennedy faced down a Russian effort to base atomic weapons in Cuba, bringing the world as close as it had ever been to meaningful annihilation. Khrushchev responded by authorizing tactical nuclear strikes to repel any U. S. Intelligence photos revealed that this was not an idle threat; the Soviets had missiles already in position to strike the continental U. S. Johnson's Defense Secretary Robert Mc. Namara outlined an exciting new concept in international diplomacy: . Therefore, in theory, no one would attack us. If this sounds like a lot of . In the late 1. 98. Soviet Union crumbled into bankruptcy, in part caused by its efforts to keep up with Ronald Reagan's science- fiction notion of a space- based missile defense. This was a lot easier said than done. Russia tried to corral as many of the weapons as they could, but occasionally alarming reports trickled out of the former Soviet bloc indicating that some fuel and weapons were not as well accounted for as one might hope. India and Pakistan, ancient enemies engaged in a hot war for decades, both have nuclear weapons. Israel is believed to have nukes, as well, and North Korea recently acquired them. Iran's nuclear program has recently become the subject of new scrutiny. One dangerous country that apparently didn't have nuclear weapons was Iraq. Terrorist Organizations such as al Qaeda and the Aum cult in Japan tried to buy nuclear weapons and components from former Soviet states and various other sources. So far, it's believed that none of them have succeeded in finding any, but it's generally considered to be just a matter of time. It's not a genuine nuclear weapon in terms of destructiveness; the goal is instead to cover a wide geographic area with radioactive debris. Although it's generally thought that this wouldn't be massively lethal, it certainly wouldn't make people happy. Although the absence of the Cold War has resulted in a dramatic winnowing of nuclear arsenals and cutbacks to nuclear weapons research, it hasn't eliminated them. Tactical nukes are (in theory) designed to produce very limited damage against heavily fortified targets like bunkers or caves. None were ever used (or at least, none were reported to have been used). Given the military adventurism of recent years, this list is fairly long. Any of the Gulf States could leverage substantial money into a weapons program at the drop of a hat.
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