Strong and Moving!

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

This is probably one of the most infamous educational films about nuclear war. An animated turtle helps tell the children this is aimed at that, in the case of nuclear attack, they can protect themselves by dropping on the ground and covering their head and neck with their hands. It's not clear why you would want to spread this ridiculous misinformation ... most likely to create a false sense of security by creating the impression that your foreign policy isn't aiming towards the complete destruction of your society ... we can all survive kids. Just cover your head!

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.

Bert the turtle is walking along when a monkey with a firecracker comes at him. At the last minute he avoids injury by ducking down to the ground and covering his head. Bert's idea is so good in fact that, say there was an atomic bomb attack (no – stay with me here), Bert would probably come off not too bad. This public information film from the 1950's explains to school children what action to take if there is an nuclear attack in their area.We all know about this film and we have all seen it spoofed in things like Simpsons and South park but I really do recommend that you watch it because it is genuinely hard to describe just how surreal and creepy it is. Here we have the Government speaking to their people of the time – the people who they were leading into a period of history where atomic bombs were used on others and also likely to be used on them. This is the official and cheerful advice that they gave to the children of their nation. In fairness I suppose it would have been worse to come out and say "look – you're pretty much screwed" because the public reaction might have been to question why their government is putting them in that situation, so here is what they did.Done in the same style as "proper" educational films, this is eerie to watch because you cannot mentally make the jump back in time when this might have been accepted. It is hard not to think of the fate of those people advised to avoid bad burns by hiding behind newspaper or by ensuring that they cover the back of their neck with their hands. With this in mind the cheerful voice of the presentation shouting the slogan "duck and cover" like a kids TV host is all the more jarring for it.Fascinatingly disturbing stuff that is worth seeing even if it will only serve to upset and feed cynicism if you linger on it. That said though, it is nice to move past the easy spoofs that we all have seen and watch this for what it is.

Being too young to have been in school in the '50's, I had the privilege of viewing this little gem in US History.Starting off with a very catchy song about Burt the turtle, "Duck and Cover" describes how ducking and covering will make you safe in a nuclear blast. Needless to say, it's very amusing.I also liked it just for its '50's vibe (i.e. "Little Timmy knows what to do!"). This combined with the government's reassurance that a nuclear blast is not that big a danger made me utterly love every second of it, however ludicrous it might be."Duck and Cover," however, is also an interesting look at government propaganda. Again, very amusing for its not-so-subtle approach in this department.So if you have some time, check it out. It can be viewed on the internet (http://www.archive.org/details/DuckandC1951), and it's 9 minutes where you can just shake your head and laugh.So remember children, when you see a flash, DUCK AND COVER!