No pun intended but this film is a blast. I only recently became aware of it and promptly decided to order it up via my local library. For someone like myself who lived through most of the era represented in these archival clips, it's a wistful, melancholy trip down memory lane. Like so many others growing up in the Fifties I remember quite vividly how we'd practice those duck and cover drills and stockpile canned goods in a secure room at school in case we found ourselves under attack by those pesky Russkies. The film instructively takes us on a chronological journey from the end of World War II through the Cold War paranoia of the Fifties and Sixties showing how the threat of nuclear war was to be taken seriously, or at least as seriously as the government would have us believe. You know, even as a kid I had a pretty good idea that kneeling next to a wall and covering my head with my hands would make me a goner if the real thing ever happened.One of the more surreal moments offered here was that near rabid clergyman exhorting families with a fallout shelter to deny access to outsiders lest they imperil their own safety. It brought to mind that 1961 Twilight Zone episode 'The Shelter' which pretty much laid out the same scenario with some modification. In the story, a family man who built and supplied his own fallout shelter was besieged by his neighbors to allow them entry when the dreaded siren heralded a nuclear attack. The story demonstrated just how ugly people can become when faced with their own mortality; it was one of Rod Serling's better scripts.In terms of sheer absurdity (and there were numerous examples), the suggestion that doubled me over had to do with providing a bottle of tranquilizers for an extended period in a bomb shelter. How else to contend with the paranoia and boredom of being cooped up while waiting for an emergency to be over. Which would be good advice if you had the foresight to locate your shelter at least twelve miles away from ground zero because otherwise you'd be toast. By the way, a bottle of a hundred would be about right.For those of you interested in this type of stuff, the copy of "The Atomic Cafe" I watched came in a two DVD set from Docurama Films. The bonus disc features yet another eight government propaganda shorts from the era including 1951's 'Duck and Cover' with Bert the Turtle, and what looks like a must see - 'Self Preservation in an Atomic Attack'. For a more in depth treatment of the Bikini Atoll nuclear test, I'd recommend the 1988 documentary "Radio Bikini".

I just ran this film for a high school Social Studies class. Part documentary, part propaganda, part satire. I, too, remember "duck and cover" civil defense drills mixed in with fire drills. It is particularly interesting to consider this film in a post-9/11 world and think about the messages in the current news media and our security-phobia today. The more things change...the more they stay the same. I saw this film in 1982 when it was released, and it hasn't lost any of it's impact. It is entertaining, informative and a little frightening. There is an aura innocence as well as something sinister captured at a time in the history of the United States.

there are many famous and great documentaries, 'Harlan County', 'Taxi To The Darkside',etc, that inform us and provide us with valuable knowledge into events and help to deeply impact our thinking. 'Atomic Cafe' isn't that kind of documentary. It doesn't really tell us anything we don't know or provide us with information that isn't already out there. what it is, however, is one of the most entertaining and clever documentaries you could possibly imagine. one IMDb reviewer, who is also a filmmaker, even went as far as to say he liked this better than his own documentary.it's really something when you can take a subject like this and make it into a thing that is screamingly funny, enjoyable fun, without seeming ironically morbid in the process. the film never leaves you with a sour, bitter taste, but with a sense of awe and amusement at the messy predicament mankind has gotten into. everything about it is fascinating, and dare i say, even a little magical. not the bomb necessarily, but just the way the film puts things into it's clever, fun perspective. the film takes a negative subject and turns it into something that is good and cathartic for the viewer. instead of feeling depressed or negative after the film, a viewer is probably more likely to feel strangely elated,empowered, and a bit braver when facing world crisis. i'm not saying we should just laugh at everything bad, but a little humor always helps.the film is done without the help of any kind of narration which leaves the viewer free to make their own conclusions and decide their own feelings on the subject. not that it isn't skillfully done. the montages are excellent, especially the final montage which is timed to Mussorgsky's 'Pictures At An Exhibition'.this is a documentary everyone should see. it helps you cope with the idea of a "bomb"(or bombs), and helps you laugh at the things that seem like mankind's darkest hour. note: this makes a great double feature viewing with either 'Dr. Stangelove' or '5,000 Fingers of Dr.T'.

When I viewed this video all I kept thinking was, I actually lived through this. It's on target and shows just how bizarre the world was at that time. I've read many who have said it was at times boring, but for my generation, it was anything but. Imagine being 12, being at home after school, and watching cartoons....instead of watching commercials on Wonder bread, we were watching commercials on how to ...in an event of a nuclear strike...to run to the nearest shelter and continue to "wipe" off the nuclear fallout.In '62, during the Cuban missle crisis, my dad was busy building a bomb shelter in our backyard. It's still there though he made it into a workshop after the crisis was over. Someone else has since bought the house and workshop but I doubt they know the origins of the workshop, even though there is still a pipe for water in the middle of the structure. I still can't imagine 5 people living in a shelter roughly the size of 12feet by 12 feet for 30 some odd years. In retrospect, I think death by radiation would have been easier.As I've said...it was a bizarre world then. .