African-Americans are not discriminated against, mom doesn't want to work, she wants to bake in the kitchen all day until she can attend to father when he gets home from work, there is no pain or suffering in the world and: Yes! You too can survive a nuclear blast just by following the instructions to "Duck and Cover"! This short little film is an incredibly insightful look into life in America in the 1950s (without setting out to do that, of course). Problems didn't exist because the government said they didn't exist. What is incredible in the 21st Century is that, for the most part, Americans really believed this. Maybe the 1950s were a product of those that survived the horrors of World War II. Maybe they invented the "perfect" 1950s to hide the pain from what they experienced in the Pacific and in Europe during WW II. In any case, if you want a short encapsulated view of the surreal life in America in the 1950s, watch this little gem. This should be required viewing for any course about life in post-WW II America.

Duck and Cover (1953) ** (out of 4) Atomic scare film is part animation and part live action. The animated part has Bert the Turtle walking when a monkey lights a firecracker behind him. The turtle then teachers the kids how to duck and cover. We then get a narrator telling us what we should look for an expect in case of an atomic attack. Looking at these films today you can't help but roll you eyes but at the same time it's somewhat scary because of what we're told in this film. Had an atomic explosion really went off you can't help but this about how unhelpful films like this would have been. Informing people to put a newspaper on your head to prevent burns? Cover your necks with your hands to avoid burns? On a technical level this thing is pretty poorly done because if you pay close attention you'll notice then telling you how to "duck" during one scene at yet others showing us how to duck are wrong or at least don't match up with what was told earlier.

Such an excellent film! While today, without the Cold War hanging over our heads, it is a bit less biting, this film does a great job of illustrating how ludicrous our leaders were in preparing us to win The Big One.Throughout the 1980's, as the Reagan administration returned to this type of "civil defense", the movie was particularly hilarious. Today, it gives you a chance to see film footage that you won't see in many other places, and it still brings a chuckle.While others remember "Bert the Turtle", my favorite line was from the training film explaining how to stock your Bomb shelter with tranquilizers: "Be sure to include tranquilizers to ease the strain and monotony of life in a fallout shelter. A bottle of 100 should be sufficient for a family of four. Tranquilizers are not a narcotic, and are not habit-forming". This advise was interspersed with an announcement that Vice President Richard Nixon was ringing in National Mental Health Week...you get the idea!

All through grade school we did the various drills and I remember seeing the film during that time. After all that trained paranoia, it made the Cuban Missle Crisis far scarier than it looks like today in Thirteen Days.Of course the film appears comical today, but I do remember being cynical about the duck and cover drill back in 4th grade. I distinctly remember telling my desk partner (Pam) that I didn't think the drill would do any good if the bomb actually drops cause we'd all be killed anyway.It's fun to look back on this film and have a good laugh though. Even more ludicrous are the governmental lies and denials--on the second sequence they state that "thousands of lives at Hiroshima could have been saved if they had known to 'Duck and Cover'"