Ever since movies began, filmmakers have depicted the end of the world of the world on screen whether it be from floods, asteroids, comets, alien invasion and even Zombies. But cinema went nuclear after the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, 1945. The arrival of the nuclear age heralded the introduction of a new sub-genre: destruction by atomic bomb. And with the release July 21 of Christopher Nolan’s lauded “Oppenheimer,” which domestically earned some $70 million in its opening weekend, let’s look at some of the vintage flicks of the genre.
Nuclear destruction of London is stopped at the last moment in the taut 1950 British film “Seven Days to Noon,” directed by John and Roy Boulting and winners of the original story Oscar, stars veteran character actor Barry Jones as a brilliant scientist working at an atomic research center in London who steals an A-bomb that...
Nuclear destruction of London is stopped at the last moment in the taut 1950 British film “Seven Days to Noon,” directed by John and Roy Boulting and winners of the original story Oscar, stars veteran character actor Barry Jones as a brilliant scientist working at an atomic research center in London who steals an A-bomb that...
- 7/25/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Yet like many other of his contemporaries or successors – Frederick Forsyth, Desmond Bagley, Jack Higgins, Alistair Maclean, et al – with whom his works usually adorned bookshelves in houses of avid readers in the late 20th century, Nevil Shute has gradually faded away from public memory and interest.
An accomplished aeronautical engineer and pilot, who began writing novels as a hobby, Shute was much in demand for most of the 20th century, with his two-dozen-odd engrossing and eminently readable books with compelling plot lines – straddling various genres from romance to redemption, religion to reincarnation, and cross-cultural relations to a post-apocalyptic scenario, and sometimes, some supernormal elements – but not enough to stretch credulity.
Exotic and unconventional settings – spanning from South Pacific islands to dense Canadian forests to the Australian outback, themes revisited without getting repetitive, and sometimes, a framing device of a narrator – who introduces the main story but otherwise does not...
An accomplished aeronautical engineer and pilot, who began writing novels as a hobby, Shute was much in demand for most of the 20th century, with his two-dozen-odd engrossing and eminently readable books with compelling plot lines – straddling various genres from romance to redemption, religion to reincarnation, and cross-cultural relations to a post-apocalyptic scenario, and sometimes, some supernormal elements – but not enough to stretch credulity.
Exotic and unconventional settings – spanning from South Pacific islands to dense Canadian forests to the Australian outback, themes revisited without getting repetitive, and sometimes, a framing device of a narrator – who introduces the main story but otherwise does not...
- 6/18/2023
- by Agency News Desk
- GlamSham
End-of-the-world Sci-fi went mainstream with a heavy message about human extinction in John Paxton’s all-star adaptation of Nevil Shute’s best seller. Always controversial and often derided as ‘glamorous obliteration chic,’ Stanley Kramer’s film plays better than ever. The possibility of Nuke Doom could be ignored back then, but we’ve since gained a more apocalyptic outlook. It’s got fine work from Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner and Fred Astaire, and only real Australians wince at the iffy accents. It’s also Kramer’s best-judged, best-directed movie overall. [Imprint’s] special edition includes an entire separate documentary feature, Fallout.
On the Beach
Blu-ray
Plus the full feature Fallout
Viavision [Imprint] #147
1959 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 134 min. / Street Date August 30, 2022 / Available from [Imprint] / au 69.95
Starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, Anthony Perkins, Donna Anderson, John Tate, Harp McQuire, Lola Brooks, Guy Doleman, John Meillon, Paddy Moran.
Cinematography Giuseppe Rotunno
Film Editor...
On the Beach
Blu-ray
Plus the full feature Fallout
Viavision [Imprint] #147
1959 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 134 min. / Street Date August 30, 2022 / Available from [Imprint] / au 69.95
Starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, Anthony Perkins, Donna Anderson, John Tate, Harp McQuire, Lola Brooks, Guy Doleman, John Meillon, Paddy Moran.
Cinematography Giuseppe Rotunno
Film Editor...
- 9/6/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
No Highway in the Sky
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1951 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 99 min. / Street Date February 7, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring : James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, Glynis Johns, Jack Hawkins, Janette Scott, Niall MacGinnis, Kenneth More, Ronald Squire, Elizabeth Allan, Jill Clifford, Felix Aylmer, Dora Bryan, Maurice Denham, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Bessie Love, Karel Stepanek.
Cinematography: Georges Périnal
Film Editor: Manuel del Campo
Original Music: Malcolm Arnold
Written by: R.C. Sherriff, Oscar Millard, Alec Coppel from the novel by Nevil Shute
Produced by: Louis D. Lighton
Directed by Henry Koster
A few years back, whenever a desired title came up on list for a Fox, Columbia or Warners’ Mod (made-on-demand) DVD, my first reaction was disappointment: we really want to see our favorites released in the better disc format, Blu-ray. But things have changed. As Mod announcements thin out, we have seen an explosion of library titles remastered in HD.
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1951 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 99 min. / Street Date February 7, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring : James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, Glynis Johns, Jack Hawkins, Janette Scott, Niall MacGinnis, Kenneth More, Ronald Squire, Elizabeth Allan, Jill Clifford, Felix Aylmer, Dora Bryan, Maurice Denham, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Bessie Love, Karel Stepanek.
Cinematography: Georges Périnal
Film Editor: Manuel del Campo
Original Music: Malcolm Arnold
Written by: R.C. Sherriff, Oscar Millard, Alec Coppel from the novel by Nevil Shute
Produced by: Louis D. Lighton
Directed by Henry Koster
A few years back, whenever a desired title came up on list for a Fox, Columbia or Warners’ Mod (made-on-demand) DVD, my first reaction was disappointment: we really want to see our favorites released in the better disc format, Blu-ray. But things have changed. As Mod announcements thin out, we have seen an explosion of library titles remastered in HD.
- 1/21/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
facebook
twitter
google+
From Brian Aldiss to Arthur C Clarke, 1950s Britain was rich in fantastic science-fiction novels. Here are 8 of the best...
It seems that every few years somebody announces science fiction is dead. In 2007 it was the turn of Ridley Scott, who then went on to make The Martian, so perhaps these claims should always be taken with a pinch of salt, particularly when we look back over the history of Sf writing over the years and find that it is a genre that is as much defined by current events than by any singular vision of the future.
For that reason, British science fiction in the 1950s was incredible stuff. Anxiety over the powers scientists had unleashed after the dropping the atomic bomb at the end of World War II obsessed many novelists, but so did a sense of despondency at poverty and suffering within a community...
google+
From Brian Aldiss to Arthur C Clarke, 1950s Britain was rich in fantastic science-fiction novels. Here are 8 of the best...
It seems that every few years somebody announces science fiction is dead. In 2007 it was the turn of Ridley Scott, who then went on to make The Martian, so perhaps these claims should always be taken with a pinch of salt, particularly when we look back over the history of Sf writing over the years and find that it is a genre that is as much defined by current events than by any singular vision of the future.
For that reason, British science fiction in the 1950s was incredible stuff. Anxiety over the powers scientists had unleashed after the dropping the atomic bomb at the end of World War II obsessed many novelists, but so did a sense of despondency at poverty and suffering within a community...
- 4/11/2016
- Den of Geek
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Aug. 26, 2014
Price: DVD $19.95, Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Kino Lorber
Anthony Perkins, Gregory Peck and Fred Astaire in On The Beach.
The science-fiction-tinged drama On The Beach is Stanley Kramer’s 1959 film adaptation of British-Australian author Nevil Shute’s 1957 post-apocalyptic novel.
In 1964, atomic war wipes out humanity in the northern hemisphere; one American submarine—the Sawfish—finds temporary safe haven in Australia, where life-as-usual covers growing despair. . Captain Dwight Towers (Gregory Peck, The Guns of Navarone) takes the Sawfish on a mission to see if an approaching radiation cloud has weakened, but returns with grim news: the cloud is lethal. With the days and hours dwindling, each person confronts the grim situation in his or her own way. One (Fred Astaire, Easter Parade) realizes a lifetime Grand Prix ambition; another (Ava Gardner, Earthquake) reaches out for a chance at love. The final chapter of human history is coming to a close…...
Price: DVD $19.95, Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Kino Lorber
Anthony Perkins, Gregory Peck and Fred Astaire in On The Beach.
The science-fiction-tinged drama On The Beach is Stanley Kramer’s 1959 film adaptation of British-Australian author Nevil Shute’s 1957 post-apocalyptic novel.
In 1964, atomic war wipes out humanity in the northern hemisphere; one American submarine—the Sawfish—finds temporary safe haven in Australia, where life-as-usual covers growing despair. . Captain Dwight Towers (Gregory Peck, The Guns of Navarone) takes the Sawfish on a mission to see if an approaching radiation cloud has weakened, but returns with grim news: the cloud is lethal. With the days and hours dwindling, each person confronts the grim situation in his or her own way. One (Fred Astaire, Easter Parade) realizes a lifetime Grand Prix ambition; another (Ava Gardner, Earthquake) reaches out for a chance at love. The final chapter of human history is coming to a close…...
- 8/8/2014
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner in On the Beach.
.
When the distributor that had agreed to release Fallout pulled out, director Lawrence Johnston and producer Peter Kaufmann decided to self-distribute the documentary which celebrates the life and work of Australian novelist Nevil Shute.
That strategy entails a lot of time and effort to book cinemas but so far it.s paying off. Fallout premiered at Melbourne.s Cinema Nova on October 31 and ran for three weeks and it screened in Adelaide. The film opens on December 5 at the Dendy Newtown in Sydney and at the Arc cinemas in Canberra.
Johnston and Kaufmann are arranging four screenings at Melbourne.s Acmi in December/January and a one-off showing at the George Cinema in St Kilda on December 14. They.re discussing with exhibitors engagements in other states. International sales are being handled by Paris-based Melimedia.
The film focuses on Shute.s most famous work,...
.
When the distributor that had agreed to release Fallout pulled out, director Lawrence Johnston and producer Peter Kaufmann decided to self-distribute the documentary which celebrates the life and work of Australian novelist Nevil Shute.
That strategy entails a lot of time and effort to book cinemas but so far it.s paying off. Fallout premiered at Melbourne.s Cinema Nova on October 31 and ran for three weeks and it screened in Adelaide. The film opens on December 5 at the Dendy Newtown in Sydney and at the Arc cinemas in Canberra.
Johnston and Kaufmann are arranging four screenings at Melbourne.s Acmi in December/January and a one-off showing at the George Cinema in St Kilda on December 14. They.re discussing with exhibitors engagements in other states. International sales are being handled by Paris-based Melimedia.
The film focuses on Shute.s most famous work,...
- 12/3/2013
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
First Footprints, Jabbed, Fallout and Once My Mother were among the winners of the 2013 Ipaf Atom awards presented in Melbourne on Thursday night.
Founded in 1982 and voted by members of the Australian Teachers of Media, the awards recognise film and media excellence in the education and screen industry sectors.
There were more than 600 entries from Australian and New Zealand media producers in 29 categories. The event was hosted by Brian Nankervis from RocKwiz. The Intellectual Property Awareness Foundation (Ipaf) was the naming sponsor this year.
Martin Butler and Bentley Dean.s First Footprints, which tells how the first Australians adapted, migrated, fought and created in dramatically changing environments, was named best documentary, general.
Sonya Pemberton.s Jabbed, which poses the questions how do you decide whether to vaccinate or not, and what are the risks?, took the award for best docu, science, technology and the environment.
Lawrence Johnston.s Fallout, which...
Founded in 1982 and voted by members of the Australian Teachers of Media, the awards recognise film and media excellence in the education and screen industry sectors.
There were more than 600 entries from Australian and New Zealand media producers in 29 categories. The event was hosted by Brian Nankervis from RocKwiz. The Intellectual Property Awareness Foundation (Ipaf) was the naming sponsor this year.
Martin Butler and Bentley Dean.s First Footprints, which tells how the first Australians adapted, migrated, fought and created in dramatically changing environments, was named best documentary, general.
Sonya Pemberton.s Jabbed, which poses the questions how do you decide whether to vaccinate or not, and what are the risks?, took the award for best docu, science, technology and the environment.
Lawrence Johnston.s Fallout, which...
- 11/29/2013
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
In her new book Rachel Cooke re-examines the 1950s through 10 women who pioneered in their careers. In this extract she tells the stories of sisters-in-law Muriel and Betty Box, two prominent women in the British film industry
Until recently, anyone who wanted to see the film To Dorothy a Son had to lock themselves deep in the bowels of the British Film Institute off Tottenham Court Road, London, and watch it on an old Steenbeck editing machine. A little-known comedy from 1954, To Dorothy is no one's idea of a classic. It has an infuriating star in Shelley Winters, a creaky screenplay by Peter Rogers (later the producer of the Carry On series) and a set that looks as if it is on loan from a local amateur dramatics society.
We are in the home of Tony (John Gregson) and his baby-faced wife, Dorothy (Peggy Cummins). Dorothy is heavily pregnant, and confined to bed.
Until recently, anyone who wanted to see the film To Dorothy a Son had to lock themselves deep in the bowels of the British Film Institute off Tottenham Court Road, London, and watch it on an old Steenbeck editing machine. A little-known comedy from 1954, To Dorothy is no one's idea of a classic. It has an infuriating star in Shelley Winters, a creaky screenplay by Peter Rogers (later the producer of the Carry On series) and a set that looks as if it is on loan from a local amateur dramatics society.
We are in the home of Tony (John Gregson) and his baby-faced wife, Dorothy (Peggy Cummins). Dorothy is heavily pregnant, and confined to bed.
- 10/5/2013
- by Rachel Cooke
- The Guardian - Film News
Six of the 10 homegrown feature-length films that will have their world premieres at the Melbourne International Film Festival (Miff) have been supported by the Miff Premiere Fund, including anthology drama The Turning and Anna Broinowski’s documentary Aim High In Creation!.
Australia’s oldest and largest film festival runs from July 25 to August 11, opening with Pedro Almodóvar’s I’m So Excited! and closing with Jc Chandor’s All Is Lost, starring Robert Redford.
The 17 programme strands include activism on film and new Arabic cinema, both of which artistic director Michelle Carey says “effortlessly suggested themselves”, plus such perennial favourites as the backbeat music program, accent on Asia, night shift, international panorama and documentaries.
The Turning is an adaptation of the country’s most popular Australian book of 17 short stories set in one locale, interconnected and written by acclaimed author Tim Winton. A different person has directed each. Some are first-timers including actors David Wenham and Mia Wasikowska...
Australia’s oldest and largest film festival runs from July 25 to August 11, opening with Pedro Almodóvar’s I’m So Excited! and closing with Jc Chandor’s All Is Lost, starring Robert Redford.
The 17 programme strands include activism on film and new Arabic cinema, both of which artistic director Michelle Carey says “effortlessly suggested themselves”, plus such perennial favourites as the backbeat music program, accent on Asia, night shift, international panorama and documentaries.
The Turning is an adaptation of the country’s most popular Australian book of 17 short stories set in one locale, interconnected and written by acclaimed author Tim Winton. A different person has directed each. Some are first-timers including actors David Wenham and Mia Wasikowska...
- 7/3/2013
- by Sandy.George@me.com (Sandy George)
- ScreenDaily
Four Australian films and two feature-length documentaries will premiere at the 2013 Melbourne International Film Festival (Miff), which runs July 25 . August 11.
All were backed by the Miff Premiere Fund, which launched in 2008 and has supported more than 40 films and docos.
All told the festival will screen 310 films, 10 world premieres, 166 Australian premieres, 17 program strands, 26 forums, talks and master classes.
The curtain raiser, previously announced, is I.m So Excited! Pedro Almodóvar.s satire on contemporary Spanish society. The closer is All is Lost, the almost wordless survival-at-sea drama starring Robert Redford, writer-director J C Chandor.s follow-up to Margin Call.
Accorded the Centrepiece Gala slot is The Turning, the film adapted from the Tim Winton novel consisting of 17 chapters, each from a different director with a stellar cast led by Cate Blanchett, Rose Byrne, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, Callan Mulvey, Susie Porter and Harrison Gilbertson.
The Australian Showcase section features Zak Hilditch.s These Final Hours,...
All were backed by the Miff Premiere Fund, which launched in 2008 and has supported more than 40 films and docos.
All told the festival will screen 310 films, 10 world premieres, 166 Australian premieres, 17 program strands, 26 forums, talks and master classes.
The curtain raiser, previously announced, is I.m So Excited! Pedro Almodóvar.s satire on contemporary Spanish society. The closer is All is Lost, the almost wordless survival-at-sea drama starring Robert Redford, writer-director J C Chandor.s follow-up to Margin Call.
Accorded the Centrepiece Gala slot is The Turning, the film adapted from the Tim Winton novel consisting of 17 chapters, each from a different director with a stellar cast led by Cate Blanchett, Rose Byrne, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, Callan Mulvey, Susie Porter and Harrison Gilbertson.
The Australian Showcase section features Zak Hilditch.s These Final Hours,...
- 7/2/2013
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
This article first appeared in If Magazine issue #150
Producer Lizzette Atkins justifies the theatrical nature of Aim High In Creation! on several levels: the scale and scope of the ideas; its experimental style; the broad interest in the closed society of North Korea; and director Anna Broinowski.s cinematic eye.
.And Anna has proven she can sustain a story for 90 minutes,. says Atkins, referring to the bold Forbidden Lie$..
If the various threads can be woven neatly together, this intriguing project could be a pearler. Cinematic propaganda is the key theme and the film follows Broinowski as she travels to North Korea to meet with that industry.s leading lights and examine former leader Kim Jong-il.s passion for cinema and the filmmaking manifesto he published. Back in Australia, applying the advice she got on a script she took with her, Broinowski makes a short about a community overcoming gas frackers . after all,...
Producer Lizzette Atkins justifies the theatrical nature of Aim High In Creation! on several levels: the scale and scope of the ideas; its experimental style; the broad interest in the closed society of North Korea; and director Anna Broinowski.s cinematic eye.
.And Anna has proven she can sustain a story for 90 minutes,. says Atkins, referring to the bold Forbidden Lie$..
If the various threads can be woven neatly together, this intriguing project could be a pearler. Cinematic propaganda is the key theme and the film follows Broinowski as she travels to North Korea to meet with that industry.s leading lights and examine former leader Kim Jong-il.s passion for cinema and the filmmaking manifesto he published. Back in Australia, applying the advice she got on a script she took with her, Broinowski makes a short about a community overcoming gas frackers . after all,...
- 3/14/2013
- by Sandy George
- IF.com.au
By the end of the ninth chapter of The Kindly Ones, some characters may have found things they were looking for: Rose Walker may have found her heart, and the Corinthian may have found Lyta Hall’s son, Daniel. I say “may have found” because only a fool proclaims certainties about a Sandman story before it is finished (if then!), and I aspire to be less of a fool.
Rose’s heart is left behind by Desire after their conversation. The heart is in the form of an Art Deco lighter, something cold to the touch but full of fire when sparked to life. The Corinthian finds a lot of fire when he and Matthew track down Loki and Daniel: a fireplace fire and a fire that seems to emanate from Loki as a shield and weapon. The Corinthian is strong enough to overpower Loki’s fire, to knock him...
Rose’s heart is left behind by Desire after their conversation. The heart is in the form of an Art Deco lighter, something cold to the touch but full of fire when sparked to life. The Corinthian finds a lot of fire when he and Matthew track down Loki and Daniel: a fireplace fire and a fire that seems to emanate from Loki as a shield and weapon. The Corinthian is strong enough to overpower Loki’s fire, to knock him...
- 3/21/2012
- by Matthew Cheney
- Boomtron
Screen Australia has invested $1m in five documentaries through the signature documentary program.
The investment is expected to trigger $2.2m in production.
Recipients include writer/director Matthew Bate, producer/director John Cherry, filmmaker Lawrence Johnston, writer/producer/director Janine Hosking and the team of writer/director Juliet Lamont and producer Jessica Douglas-Henry.
Liz Stevens, Screen Australia’s documentary manager said: “This year’s exciting line-up of Signature documentaries were chosen from 50 plus applications. They’ll take audiences on inspirational journeys, touching on the personal and the political, and reveal that truth is stranger than fiction.”
The full list of projects:
The Call Of Conscience (working title)
iKandy Films Pty Ltd
Producer/ Writer/Director: Janine Hosking
Producer/Writer: Katey Grusovin
Synopsis: From the grave, a dead man identifies his alleged killers.
Fallout
Rough Trade Pictures Pty Ltd
Producer: Peter Kaufmann
Producer/Writer/Director: Lawrence Johnston
Synopsis: Following the atomic destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,...
The investment is expected to trigger $2.2m in production.
Recipients include writer/director Matthew Bate, producer/director John Cherry, filmmaker Lawrence Johnston, writer/producer/director Janine Hosking and the team of writer/director Juliet Lamont and producer Jessica Douglas-Henry.
Liz Stevens, Screen Australia’s documentary manager said: “This year’s exciting line-up of Signature documentaries were chosen from 50 plus applications. They’ll take audiences on inspirational journeys, touching on the personal and the political, and reveal that truth is stranger than fiction.”
The full list of projects:
The Call Of Conscience (working title)
iKandy Films Pty Ltd
Producer/ Writer/Director: Janine Hosking
Producer/Writer: Katey Grusovin
Synopsis: From the grave, a dead man identifies his alleged killers.
Fallout
Rough Trade Pictures Pty Ltd
Producer: Peter Kaufmann
Producer/Writer/Director: Lawrence Johnston
Synopsis: Following the atomic destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,...
- 12/12/2011
- by Colin Delaney
- Encore Magazine
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.