This first book-length critical examination of nuclear war motion pictures—feature films, documentaries, and educational short films—in addition to recognizing a new film genre reflects an important era of modern film history. Taken as a whole, the 25 contributions by 21 film specialists brought together here provide a comprehensive view of 32 feature films, documentaries, and educational short films comprising a representative selection of the new genre—all produced between 1946 and 1975 by American, French, British, and Japanese film makers. In addition to discussions of such well-known films as On the Beach, Hiroshima, Mon Amour, and Dr. Strangelove, the collection analyzes and comments on a number of less well known but important films such as A Thousand Cranes, Countdown to Zero, and To Die, To Live, documentaries and educational short films that hitherto have been inadequately presented in cinema literature. Marshall Flaum, one of the outstanding figures in the field of television documentaries, has provided an unusually interesting Foreword, and Jack Shaheen, the editor of the volume, has added a perceptive Preface and has appended a list of distributors and credits. A major contribution to the serious study of the nuclear war film genre, the book thus provides an analytic text with apparatus and notes, and will be of interest to general readers as well as students of the film and film makers.
