I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.

Good idea lost in the noise

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

... and this film is a big example of that. Small examples are when people ask "How are you?" and the only acceptable reply is "Fine, How are you?". It doesn't matter if your marriage is on the ropes or your parents are dying of cancer. The actual truth disrupts people's day. As for this film, I'm pretty much going to tell you all about it, but I don't think spoiler warnings are necessary on so-called public service information shorts.The narrator shows three very small houses lined up in a row on the Nevada atomic proving grounds. One is in disrepair on the outside - not painted for a long time, no external maintenance at all. Another one looks fine on the outside, but has untidy housekeeping inside which amounts to lots of extra papers and things in disarray that can act as kindling. The "house in the middle" has none of these problems. It is well kept inside and out. Then a nuclear blast 15 miles away occurs. The narrator notes how the unpainted house burns first. The house with the untidy inside looks like it will escape burning, but then begins to blaze from the inside out. The "house in the middle" escapes burning to the ground, the narrator says, because of its well kept condition inside and out.The narrator then encourages people to organize and go from neighborhood to neighborhood to clean up trash and encourages better housekeeping on the inside. He even instructs that people plant flowers around their house? Hey, won't plants act as kindling too? But I digress from what I think that the Federal Civil Defense Administration already knew - that good housekeeping and neighborhood clean-up efforts and gardening, just like duck and cover, are distractions to make people feel like they can actually do something to escape the certain death they would face if a nuclear blast ever hit anywhere near them. The lucky ones would die first, the unlucky ones would die a slow death of radiation poisoning or an even slower death from cancer years later, like almost the entire cast of 1956's "The Conqueror" which was filmed not long after the Atomic Bomb test in the Yucca Flats area. Merry Maids is not going to save you from the carnage of a nuclear attack. Recommended as a lesson in human nature.

Well folks, I am literally speechless. Do you think this was serious? I've seen my share of exploitation flicks from the Thirties and Forties dealing with drugs, alcohol and prostitution, but I have to say, this is a genre of film making that defies credibility. Right out of the gate I thought they were trying to pull a fast one with that business about 'The National Clean Up - Paint Up - Fix Up Bureau' but if you do a quick Google search you'll come up with a bunch of hits, although most of them lead you right back to this film short.Bottom line - a clean, white painted home with proper inside housekeeping may be the margin between life and death if an atom bomb explodes in your neighborhood. In it's short ten minute or so run time, the somber narrator practically begs you to keep your home tidy to ward off the destructive effects of an atomic heat flash. I bet you think I'm making this up, right? I was intrigued about a film I heard of called "The Atomic Cafe" that dealt with Cold War paranoia and the palpable threat of nuclear war back in the Fifties. There's a set of two DVD's put out by Docurama Films that contains that hour and a half documentary along with another eight or nine propaganda shorts including this one. This was the first one I watched on the bonus disc, and if the rest are as zany as this one, it will qualify as the find of the century. However as I sit here writing this review and check out the condition of my work area, I could be a goner when the big one hits. I should really take the advice of the guy in the film - he states emphatically that if you keep your house neat and tidy, THE REWARD MAY BE SURVIVAL. You know, I think he meant it.

I actually am affiliated with the successor to the organization that sponsored this, but no one in the organization even knew about this. So far over the top that people may have been embarrassed to admit to it. It seems to be a parody, but it isn't. Amazing how someone convinced the federal government to test the proposition of the film, but they apparently did. And the narrator seems to be the guy who narrated all of this genre of movies (which include the driver's ed and scary health education films I recall. I suspect this guy had cornered the market on the VD prevention movies they showed to poor GIs back then too. Anyway, worth the time to watch -- a real hoot.

House in the Middle, The (1954)** (out of 4) The National Clean Up- Paint Up- Fix Up Bureau produced this documentary teaching people how to save their houses if an atomic blast was to take place. The Nevada Test Site is the setting for the short that shows various houses and how well they take an atomic blast. I'm really not sure how true the details provided in this short are but we're told that if you clean and paint your house then it won't be destroyed by an atomic blast. If you leave newspapers around your living room or trash bags by your house then you're going to die when the blast comes. Again, I'm not sure how true this research is but the short comes off as a neat freak trying to use an atomic scare to get his neighbors to clean up the yard. The film is rather boring in all of its tests but those who enjoy the atomic scare films should get a few laughs. Telling someone to mow their lawn before an atomic blast is pretty funny in its own right.