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On the Beach: Atomic Apocalypse in 1959
05/25/2025
On the Beach: Atomic Apocalypse in 1959
As always there are spoilers ahead! Trigger warning for a lot of discussion of suicide with analysis of the plot along with a side of dark humour. If you would like to support the podcast and get ad free versions you can subscribe for $3 or £3 a month at You can follow the podcast on , and . If you want to watch the film before you listen you can check the Just Watch website to see where it is available in your region. On the Beach is available online to buy and rent from Apple and other sources in many places. I can’t believe I am almost done and dusted with this film! I did really like the film and have to admit that perhaps I have been giving it a hard time. Perhaps because it gave me a hard time! There are moments of fun, flirtation and enjoyment but it is all within the backdrop of undeniable impending annihilation. I am definitely someone who prefers some depth and thematic discussion of the ethics of humanity in my science fiction (as well as some good old pew-pew led heroism) but I did find this film to be so very sad. Luckily I have two absolutely wonderful guests to keep me company and help me keep a stiff upper lip in the face of doom. Thomas Doherty is a professor of American Studies at Brandeis University, he is a cultural historian with a special interest in Hollywood cinema on which he has written extensively. John Wills is a Professor of American Media and Culture at University of Kent. He has written lots about popular culture including 1950s American and Nuclear film. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 02:10 Nuclear war is apparently not fun 08:09 Not your usual sci-fi 09:21 Scope, scale and cultural impact 13:43 We are ALL doomed 15:58 Gregory & Ava: Dwight & Moira 20:51 Fred Astaire as the scientist! 23:45 Peter and Mary contemplate suicide and murder 27:27 Love in the time of annihilation 30:03 Submarine: Signals and San Francisco 36:58 The Final Ferrari Race 39:30 Suicide 46:16 Legacy 49:09 Recommendations Correction: At 9:54 Tom mentions the film has not been revived but a joint US-Australia TV film released in 2000 was made. NEXT EPISODE! Next episode we will be discussing Teenagers from Outer Space (1959). It is a low budget indie film which seems to fit into the “bad film” category and so will not be for everyone! But I found it a relief full of lots of sci-fi tropes, funny parts, a coherent plot and likeable characters. The film is in the public domain. You can watch it on the Internet Archive website and there is also a weirdly colourised version of the film on YouTube where you can also find the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 episode on the film. I found that very funny too.
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